U.S. military recruiters left a campus career fair an hour early on March 9 after extensive student demonstrations for and against military recruitment.

Over 100 students surrounded U.S. Air Force and Army Corps of Engineers recruiters’ tables at the Career Center Employer Showcase at Jack Adams Hall. A group of five College Republicans blocked protesters and yelled “Don’t join if you don’t want to.”

“Our military is racist, homophobic, sexist and screwing people,” said Students Against War (SAW) member Michael Hoffman, 24, a physics major. “Recruitment on campus is wrong.”

SAW members said they hoped the protest would rally students to take action against recruiters on campus.

“We don’t allow the recruiters on our campus because of the military’s discrimination of homosexuals,” said Alex Schmaus, an environmental studies sophomore. “(The) ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy … goes clearly against campus discriminatory policy. They shouldn’t be on campus.”

Sarah Ballinger, liberal studies major, said the recruiters’ early departure was due to the protester’s efforts.

“I think that if we weren’t there, they would’ve stayed until closing,” said Ballinger. “They realized that we weren’t going anywhere and they weren’t going to recruit anyone, so they left.”

Support for SAW’s protest was not unanimous, several College Republicans waved banners that read, “You don’t have to support the war to support our military” and “end the commie occupation of SFSU.”

Leigh Wolfe, 18, a broadcasting major and member of the College Republicans said he was disappointed that students were not more supportive of our nation’s military.

“I wish they had a little more appreciation for what our troops are doing overseas,” said Wolfe. “They’re fighting for us and dying to protect us at home and (the protesters) are pretty much anti-anything.”

The two-day career expo was co-sponsored by the science and engineering departments.
Jack Brewer, the career center’s director, said the center treats all recruiters the same and doesn’t distinguish between corporations, non-profits or the military.

“It’s my understanding that if a university would deny access by military recruiters, that they could lose federal funding for financial aid and also any funding from the department of defense,” said Brewer.

“If there is a policy set up by the university about denying access to (discriminatory employers) then obviously I’d have to follow that policy. I’m not currently aware of any such policy.”

Political Science professor James Martel said recruiters should be kept off campus.

"The ban against gays in the military is pure discrimination, pure bigotry on the part of the U.S. government with no rationale whatsoever," Martel said. "It sends a signal to the entire nation that it's OK to discriminate against lesbians and gay men."

Tyson Eckerele, a 25-year-old biologist with the Army Corps of Engineering, couldn’t recall any similar opposition or protests on other college campuses.

“This hasn’t happened to us before at UC Berkeley or at Stanford,” said Eckerele, who is a self-described liberal.

According to Jim Fizzell, employee specialist at Stanford University’s Career Center, the Army has attended past career fairs on their campus.

“There’s never been a problem with them being here,” said Fizzell during a telephone interview.
Brian Honeycutt, Master Sgt. and Air Force recruiter, was undaunted by the SF State protesters.

“They have the right to protest peacefully if they want to,” said Honeycutt. “But we aren’t leaving unless other employers want us to. They can protest all day and we’ll stay right here.”

Most employers who paid to attend the fair respected the students’ right to express themselves, but some felt the protest detracted from their goals at the job fair.

Nancy Peterson is a recruiter for John Muir and Mt. Diablo Health Systems said the protest discouraged students from entering the job fair and made the atmosphere uncomfortable.

“The temperature is about 98 degrees, we haven’t seen any nursing students, and you can’t be heard over the yelling,” said Peterson. “So it’s a bit disappointing for us here.”

Peterson said her organization wasn’t able to accomplish anything at the fair and would definitely ask more questions before paying to attend another job fair at SF State.

Pacific Medical Center recruiter Rachel Barnes has been to SF State three times before.
“It was the most entertained I’ve been since I’ve been here,” she said.

Jeff Boyette, an organizer with the International Socialist Organization (ISO) at SF State, was pleased by the fact that the recruiters left the career fair early.
“Yes, it was indeed a success because a lot of the students came out for this,” said Boyette.
Ballinger said she wanted the military out of the school.

“They’re a discriminatory organization that is taking our brothers and sisters and classmates to a war for oil and empire,” said Ballinger.

College Republicans vice-president Chris Finarelli demonstrated at Malcolm X Plaza and at Jack Adams Hall.

“I support SAW’s right to be here just like the Peace Corps has a right to be here, just like the environmentalists who solicit me every time I walk on campus here, just like UNICEF, they all have a right to be here,” Finarelli said.

“The military is an all voluntary organization, they’re not soliciting people they’re simply sit behind the table with their hands in their pockets and wait until somebody comes up and asks for some information.”

Ballinger said the recruiters’ early departure was due to the protester’s efforts.

“I think that if we weren’t there, they would’ve stayed until closing,” said Ballinger. “They realized that we weren’t going anywhere and they weren’t going to recruit anyone, so they left.”