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Veterans group denied access to schools

Activists say they should have the same access to students as military recruiters.

By MELANIE AVE
Published September 6, 2005

TAMPA - William Hines wants the same access to high school students as military recruiters.

The 74-year-old Korean War veteran wants to sit with the teens and tell them the other side of Uncle Sam's story, the one he says crisp-uniformed recruiters don't usually talk about.

"The No. 1 goal in the military is combat. You can be killed," says Hines, a former Air Force recruiter and New Jersey school board member who lives in Tampa's Town 'N Country neighborhood. "Instead, kids hear, "You could go to Hawaii or you could get a free college education.' "

So far, Hines has been unable to share his message.

Through a local Veterans for Peace chapter, Hines and others have asked to speak with high school students in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. But officials in both districts have said no. They say the veterans want too much time and their message doesn't correspond with school goals.

"What the Veterans of Peace group wants to do is come in and basically, through an open forum, promote their cause," says Pinellas schools spokesman Sterling Ivey. "This is not an open forum setting for those types of discussions."

As tensions over the Iraq war worsen, more groups across the nation are fighting for time with students. One reason is the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which requires public high schools to give military recruiters the same access to students as colleges and businesses.

The act, President Bush's sweeping education law, also provides military recruiters with student records, including phone numbers and addresses. If schools refuse, they can lose millions in federal aid. Students can tell schools not to disclose their information, but few do.

Hines says he wants high school students to know as much as possible about the military before they join. He wants to tell them to take a witness when they speak to a recruiter, to carefully read any enlistment agreement and to get any promises made by recruiters in writing.

He says Veterans for Peace want to camp out in school cafeterias, just like recruiters do. It wants to give students a flier by the National Youth and Militarism Program called "Ten Points to Consider Before You Sign a Military Enlistment Agreement."

"Veterans speak to this matter with a special perspective," says 72-year-old Dwight Lawson of St. Petersburg, president of the 50-member Tampa Bay chapter of Veterans for Peace and a local activist who has been jailed for his protest actions.

"If they're really education institutions," Lawson says, "they shouldn't stand in the way of students seeking out the right information."

Several local high school students say they have no problem with "peace recruiters" on their campuses.

"It will help us know more," says 16-year-old Hang-Ny Nguyen, a sophomore at Tampa's Robinson High School who has thought more than once about joining the military.

Classmate Kevin Weekes, 17, has talked to recruiters and may join the military after graduation "to help get into college."

And the thought of going to war? "I wouldn't like that," Weekes says. The recruiters said "if want to stay in Florida, I can request that."

Hines says some recruiters who have quotas to fill give students "a bunch of bull." He says some of them will even lie in their efforts to sign recruits at a time when enlistment is lagging.

U.S. Department of Defense spokesman Michael Shavers says he's not aware of recruiters lying or withholding information from students.

"These folks are certainly entitled to their opinions," he says. "From my experience, military recruiters do an excellent job providing information to students to be able to make informed decisions about whether military service is right for them."

Only a few peace groups have sought school visits in Florida, home to tens of thousands of veterans. One of them is the anti-war Truth Project in Palm Beach County.

The school district gave that group the green light to work with individual schools on visits.

The group discusses claims by military recruiters and distributes information about other career or education options available to teens after graduation. Truth Project board member Marie Zwicker says groups like hers have a constitutional right to spread their message.

"We're standing up for truth," she says. "We know the lies being told. The purpose of the military is to wage war, bottom line. Kids are told totally different stories."

The St. Louis-based Veterans for Peace is a national organization of about 5,000 veterans of all eras, from World War II to Iraq. The purpose of the group is to raise awareness about the consequences of war and to encourage peaceful alternatives.

About half of the group's dozen or so chapters that have requested high school visits have been turned away, says Chris Snively, a program specialist at the group's national headquarters.

"We're trying to let people know they have other alternatives than just joining the military," he says. "We want well-informed citizens. It's not unpatriotic."

Members of the local chapter have spent the last several weeks on sidewalks passing out fliers to students at various high schools.

St. Petersburg attorney Marcia Cohen, a member of the Pinellas American Civil Liberties Union legal panel, questions why school districts are refusing to give peace groups access to campuses.

"If military recruiters are given a time to come on the premises and promote the military ... it would seem equal time should be given to folks who could give students a little different picture of military life," Cohen says. "I'm not sure whether schools have an untrammeled right to say, "You can't come on our premises.' "

In Hillsborough County, Hines, the Korean veteran, sent his proposal to a district review committee made up of school administrators, education foundation members and school volunteers.

The committee turned down the Veterans for Peace proposal, saying the 40 minutes the group requested was too much of an educational disruption.

The decision wasn't unusual. Last year, Hillsborough turned away about half of the groups looking to speak in classrooms. Those allowed in included Avon, the Coast Guard Auxiliary and numerous churches.

Judging from the Veterans for Peace proposal, the group wanted to give advice to students rather than offer an educational program, says School Board attorney Tom Gonzalez. He says it appeared the group wanted to impart opinion, not knowledge.

Just because military recruiters are given access, he says, doesn't mean peace groups can be there as well.

"The reason (military recruiters are) there is because the law says they can be there," Gonzalez says. "That doesn't give (peace groups) a countervailing right to speak against that."

But at least one Hillsborough School Board member says she thinks Veterans for Peace should be allowed to speak with students.

"I don't see any real harm in having folks like that talking to that specific group of kids," says Susan Valdes, whose son is a freshman at Chamberlain High School. "Military life is not for everybody."

Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Melanie Ave can be reached at 813 226-3400 or melanie@sptimes.com

[Last modified September 6, 2005, 18:41:02]