University of Virginia Library

Students Organize Protests
Over Indochina Escalation

By Philip Kimball
and Mark Pirrung
Cavalier Daily Staff Writers

In reaction to the U.S. supported
South Vietnamese invasion of Laos,
student groups across the nation,
including the People's Coalition for Peace
and Justice based in Washington, are
calling for and are organizing a
nation-wide student strike on Wednesday.

A student conference, organized by
the National Student Association and
held in Ann Arbor, Michigan this past
weekend called for a general strike in case
the Laotian invasion took place.

The National Student Association, of
which the University is a trial member, is
endorsing the strike but is not organizing the
one planned for Wednesday.

Steve Darazien, press secretary for the
Peoples' Coalition for Peace and Justice, told
The Cavalier Daily yesterday that his
organization would aid university groups in the
formation of strike plans but added that most
of the strikes would be planned on a "grass
roots" level.

The conference in Ann Arbor was held to
ratify a proposed Indochina peace treaty which
was written recently at a meeting of U.S.,
North and South Vietnamese students held in
Hanoi. The joint treaty's preamble states that
"Be it known that the American and
Vietnamese people are not enemies. The war is
carried out in the names of the people of the
United States and South Vietnam. It drains
America of its resources, its youth and its
honor."

Student action tomorrow will vary in
protesting what the Conference calls "the
invasion of Laos." While most plans nationwide
are not yet definite the University of Wisconsin
plans a full strike while Stanford plans "street
action." The University of Chicago will stage a
sit-in today and a "mill-in" is planned for
Madison Square Garden. In San Francisco, the
Downtown Coalition is planning a rally.

The National Student Conference, with
more than 2,000 people from around the
country in attendance, also called for a
demonstration in Washington during the first
week of May. Spokesmen said the May rally in
Washington will be designed to disrupt the
Federal Government. The details of the plan
will be decided later by a committee of regional
representatives to be selected.

The wording of the proposal approved by
the Conference here says "that we call for
demonstrations across the nation on February
10 and that we issue an ultimatum to the Nixon
administration that if he doesn't stop the war
by May 1, we will stop the Government of the
U.S."