[Peace-discuss] YMCA partners with ARMY

[kstepans at uiuc.edu]

It is not everyday you can discover the "oportunities" of the 
ARMY on the front lawn of the University Y.  But today was 
such a day.  You could also get a free keychain, talk with a 
ROTC student, hear some rock blasting from speakers, and win 
some tickets to a basketball game.  107.1 (the planet) and 
the ARMY paired up to glamorize enlisting in the military.  
But why were they allowed on the Y lawn?   Is this common 
policy?  Does anyone know if this has happened before?  I am 
disturbed that the Y would allow people to recruit out 
front.  Even if they guise it as free speech (which I do not 
yet know their reasons) it will not lead to free speech 
wherever the people who enlist end up going.  I find this 
unethical and counterproductive to many of the events that 
take place at the Y.

-kate stepanski
student peace action member