Columbia Coalition Against the War

At both the figurative and literal center of this week’s anti-war efforts are two figures standing atop the College Walk sundial, with one sounding a hand-held gong as another reads off the names of the dead in Iraq. While the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War in March came and went with little on-campus attention, student groups are now working to turn the spotlight back on the American presence in Iraq with a week of anti-war action intended to spark community discussion.

The university system in the U.S. is deeply militarized—and increasingly so. While Columbia is, thankfully, not leading this trend, Columbia's record has some definite black marks. More recently, at the end of winter break Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing rejected a proposal recommending that Columbia divest from military contractors, at least for the duration of the war in Iraq.

We are coming off the peak of yet another propaganda push by the Bush administration, attempting to spin the war in Iraq as a success, but not many are buying it. The war has killed over 3,000 U.S. soldiers and, according to a study published in 2006 in the British medical journal, The Lancet, over 655,000 Iraqis.