Students take offensive

The last several weeks have seen a steady rise in the tempo of student demonstrations on a variety of issues across the nation.

Focusing on the impeachment of President Nixon, 200 people at the University of Cincinatti picketed an address by Vice-President Gerald Ford on Feb 20. At the State University of New York, 250 students marched and burned an effigy of Nixon. A White House representative who spoke to a still-loyal Republican club in Queens on Feb 23, was met by 250 demonstrators calling for Nixon's ouster.

Rallies and actions in seven cities also sought to protest the presence on campuses of corporate recruiters, especially representatives of the oil companies. A demonstration on Feb 25 at San Jose State College in California, called by the Radical Student Union there, blocked the recruitment efforts of an executive of Standard Oil of California.

The 300 demonstrators demanded that Standard Oil "rehire the ones you laid off", in a reference to large-scale layoffs at Standard refineries and other facilities. A company spokesman claimed later that the recruiter's visit had been called off "due to lack of interest".

An Exxon recruiter at the Ann Arbor campus of Michigan University was met by 100 students protesting his presence last Feb 5. On Feb 14, recruiters were targets of protests in Ann Arbor. Over 500 Berkeley students at the University of California staged an action to block an Exxon recruiter there Feb 6. A Marine Corps recruiter at Boston University and a Macy's recruiter at Columbia University were all targets of protest in the last several weeks.

Staggering rises in the prices of food and gas provoked actions of students on several campuses.

Students from Trenton State College and 15 independent gas station owners gathered at the New Jersey state legislature in Trenton Feb 6 to register their objection to price increases and to make a statement to their Congressmen. They were denied the floor and the session was adjourned by the legislators.

One hundred students at Kent State University in Ohio rallied to support the demands made by the Council of Independent Truckers for a rollback in diesel fuel prices. They had previously joined the truckers picketlines in Akron.

Demonstrations this month at Columbia University, called by the Attica Brigade, a national anti-imperialist student organisation, hit rises in tuition, financial aid cutbacks and called for an increase in the enrollment of third world and working class students. Fifty people interrupted a meeting of the University senate, Feb 22 to press the demands which were supported by 3000 signatures on a petition. Over 100 activists at the Buffalo campus of the State University of New York gathered Feb 7 to protest the cutbacks in funding of department offering courses in Black women and working class studies.

Other actions included a meeting last week at Iowa City State College called to support the Palestinian resistance movement in the Middle East.

—From The Guardian