Sam Dunaway | News Editor
At 10 a.m. on the morning of March 14, nearly 250 Western students, staff and administrators left classrooms, evacuated offices and gathered in front of the Werner University Center. There, students of all backgrounds, races, genders and political beliefs joined schools across the nation in participating in the National School Walkout, a nationwide movement to end gun violence.
The walkout, according to ABC news, was one of over 3,000 scheduled events around the U.S. The purpose of the event, stated by the National School Walkout campaign was to “demand Congress pass legislation to keep us safe from gun violence at our schools, on our streets and in our homes and places of worship.”
Each individual involved in the National School Walkout had their own reason for participating. For sophomore early childhood education major Ellie Oven, that reason was acknowledging the lives lost to gun violence.
“I walked out to honor the students that have lost their lives to school shootings, and to remember those teachers and administrators who lost their lives trying to protect those students,” said Oven.
For others, like junior humanities major Bridget Reaume, it was about being part of the larger movement.
“It’s really easy to feel like we don’t have a part in the bigger movement … Especially not being home in Portland where I can feel a lot more of the movement happening, it feels really nice to feel as though I have a hand in the change,” said Reaume. “To see other people coming together and wanting to make the same movement and have the same goals that I have, it really feels we have a chance at changing things.”
Western’s branch of the event, organized by senior gerontology major Lila Gardner and senior interdisciplinary studies major Alyssa Chiampi, gained support early on from University President Rex Fuller. Fuller sent an email to all faculty and staff on March 6 notifying them that this event was being planned and encouraging staff to support participating students.
Fuller expressed, “I believe this action is consistent with Western’s values and our strategic plan which states that our community will strive toward a ‘caring, safe environment for the cultivation of peace, civility and social justice; connections extending beyond the classroom, across campus and into our local and global communities.’”
Gardner and Chiampi felt overwhelmed by the amount of support from faculty and administrators, as well as the number of individuals that participated in the walkout on Western’s campus.
“Getting involved in a young age is really difficult when you’re in an area that doesn’t support your activism,” Gardner explained. Her goal was to get people more involved in voicing their opinions, stand in solidarity with hundreds of students around the nation and work toward positive change.
When asked what she hopes students take away from the walkout, Chiampi replied: “I really hope they take away that belief that they can do really anything they want to.” Gardner added that she hopes students “believe in their voices, their beliefs and their passions, and … always fight as passionately as (they) can for it. Even if two, four, five people show up or 250 people show up. Fight for it.”
Contact the author at journalnews@wou.edu
