Students oppose Bush
Dover joins nation in protest
Approximately 60 Dover Area High School and intermediate school
students staged a walkout yesterday morning as part of a national
protest against the Bush administration. Dover students
left their classes and gathered in the borough square to answer the
call of the group World Can’t Wait, an organization dedicated to
ousting Bush. World Can’t Wait staged protests in more than
60 cities and encouraged students across the country to walk out on the
anniversary of Bush’s re-election. According to its Web site, the
group has a list of grievances against the Bush administration ranging
from the war in Iraq to infringements on civil rights.
World Can’t Wait was started in New York City, but now has chapters in
major cities across the country. First in a series: The
group says the Nov. 2 protest is the first in a series of large-scale
protests, with the next being planned to coincide with the president’s
next State of the Union address. The Dover students were
organized by senior Dustin Nispel and Sarah Deardorff, who
graduated last year. The Northern Regional Police
Department was called to the scene, but the protest was peaceful and
without incident, said high school principal Joel Riedel.
Riedel acknowledged that the students were there because they are
engaged in what is happening in the world. “The kids are
really attuned to what is going on in the country, they are interested,
they are taking courses in American history and government; they know
what is going on politically,” Riedel said. However, Riedel
said students did not have permission to leave class and will face
consequences for unexcused absences under the district’s discipline
code. “Their obligation and responsibility was to be in school,” he
said.
HEIDI BERNHARD-BUBB For The York Dispatch