I sympathize with the motivations behind the student strike on March 5th and will excuse absences on that day.
To all Stanford University professors and graduate student instructors. The Coalition of Students Against War (C-SAW) is organizing a student strike on Wednesday, March 5, 2003 in protest of a pre-emptive strike against Iraq. This one day event, called BOOKS NOT BOMBS, is being coordinated with over 200 campuses nationwide in conjunction with the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition. We are asking students to pledge not to attend classes on March 5 and instead educate themselves at one of the many events that we are sponsoring throughout the day. In addition to movies, music, spoken word, and a keynote address at noon, we are holding small teach-ins on various subjects related to the possible war. We hope that you excuse your students¹ absences from class on March 5, so that they may attend these educational events. If you hold class, we ask that you direct your teaching and discussion to the issues surrounding war on Iraq that are relevant to your curriculum. Please support this nationwide effort to engage students in this important dialogue and educate the University community about the consequences of war. A student strike will be made much stronger through the support of faculty. We would like to hear your comments on our effort and questions that you may have. If you have a half hour free between 10:30am and 12pm or between 1 and 2pm on March 5th and are interested in participating in or leading one of our alternative classes, please e-mail: Krs1123@stanford.edu or cpicker@stanford.edu To pledge your support as a faculty member, visit www.scpj.org Sincerely, Asian American Students Association (AASA) Black and Queer at Stanford (BlaQS) Muslim Students Awareness Network (MSAN) Pilipino American Student Union (PASU) Querillas Resistance Art and Social Protest (RASP) Stanford Asian American Activism Coalition (SAAAC) Stanford Community for Peace and Justice (SCPJ) Stanford Labor Action Coalition (SLAC) Stanford Vietnamese Student Association (SVSA) Student for Environmental Action at Stanford (SEAS) Students of Color Coalition (SOCC) Young Communist League of Stanford(YCL)