As the clock finally struck quarter till nine, swarms of students and a few teachers walked out of their classrooms to express their anti-war sentiments against Iraq in a protest demonstration yesterday morning in front of the main office. The majority of students who attended the event found it successful.

“It went pretty smoothly,” sophomore Scott Kellum said. “Everyone was very cooperative.” He, along with art teacher Aaron Stratten and Stratten’s fifth period class came up with the idea of the protest about two weeks ago and had it carried out.

“Dr. Weinheimer was very open-minded [about the protest],” assistant principal Ed Tabish said. “He didn’t want to obstruct freedom of speech, and it was done in an orderly fashion.”

The protest began with junior Paul Baumbusch climbing up onto a nearby bench and listing reasons why he believed the United States should not go to war with Iraq. He ended it with the “hope that others recognize the true, eminent threat, and join us in preempting the war that would preempt Iraq,” with much enthusiastic applause.

After Baumbusch finished, many others stepped up onto the bench to voice their own opinions. Junior Mike Singer wore a T-shirt that displayed “Bush is a Fa[s]cist.” Senior Elizabeth Kata, who had also attended an anti-war protest in Washington, D.C., emphasized that “the U.S. Army isn’t [used] for personal grudges.”

Another protest was also scheduled after-school on the same day in front of the rock entrance. Kellum said that they were planning to hold up signs in front of Westmoreland Street at cars passing by.

According to school rules, students will receive unexcused absences for leaving their classrooms for the protest unless their teacher stated otherwise