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# SMC students protest possible Iraq invasion
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/smc-students-protest-possible-iraq-invasion/
- Published: 2002-09-25T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:45:20.000Z
- Author: Andrew Fixmer
- Tags: Education, Pico, #archive-import

Chanting anti-war slogans and waving banners proclaiming peace, more than 150 Santa Monica College students protested a possible U.S. invasion of Iraq on Tuesday.

The protest was sponsored by the college’s social science department and led by political science professor Richard Tahvildaran, along with supporters from several campus groups.

At the beginning of the rally, students marched through the campus before convening in front of the school’s clocktower, located in the center of the campus at 1900 Pico Blvd.

Participating campus groups such as The Movement: People for Women, The Progressive Alliance, the SMC Green Party, among others, hoped the rally would convince the college’s faculty and students to fight against war.

The Bush Administration has recently begun lobbying the nation and the world to invade Iraq and remove its president, Sad-dam Hussein, for developing weapons of mass destruction.

Speakers at the rally tried to localize what they see as negative side effects of a war in Iraq. Many said the money could be better spent bailing out the health care system in Los Angeles County, which due to budget constraints may have to close several clinics and trauma centers.

Other speakers reminded students that if the war dragged on, a draft could be re-instated.

“I think that really got them thinking,” said sociology professor Gail Livings.

One student said she was required to attend the political rally even though she disagreed with its political views.

To show her disapproval, she wore a T-shirt with the phrase “I’m for killing Saddam Hussein” scrawled on the back of it.

“I’m being forced to participate in a rally I don’t believe in,” said Danielle Lewis, a student of Livings’ class on the Sociology of Gender. “This has nothing to do with what we are studying in class.”

Livings said attendance at the event was for extra credit only, and none of her students were forced to participate.

“Whenever there are public events going on I give my students the chance to attend them and act like journalists,” she said. “These are topics we deal with in class anyway, so going to these events is like going to a lab.”

“I try to keep it real for my students,” Livings added.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/092502-04_02.jpg)

Santa Monica College student Lana Kirkpatrick of the San Fernando Valley signs a petition Tuesday during an anti-war protest on the possible U.S. (Photo: Andrew H Fixmer/Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 25, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/092502.pdf?ref=smdp.com)