Contact Information:
Buff Lindau, Public Relations
802.654.2536
blindau@smcvt.edu
Twelve Saint Michael's College students carried out a month-long campaign through November, called Campaign 2,000, seeking signatures to support a bill to compensate innocent victims accidentally harmed by the U.S. military in war zones. They achieved their goal of enlisting support from a large percentage the entire college community of students, faculty and staff.
The students will present 2,121 signatures in support of the Civilian Claims Act to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Friday, Dec. 5, at noon at a rally starting at the top of Church Street in Burlington and proceeding to the Senator's office at 199 Main Street at the corner of Church. The students want to push the Senator towards introducing his bill to the Senate.
Senator Leahy authored the bill, which would provide monetary compensation for the harm done, in a more systematic way than is currently done. The program now in place, Condolence Payments, tends to be administered arbitrarily and with a cap of $2,500.
"We believe that our country can do better than this," the students said in the letter urging participation by the Saint Michael's community. They explained that "The Leahy bill would provide a permanent structure using military lawyers for adjudicating claims and calls for no artificial ceiling."
"Please join us in urging Senator Leahy to bring it before the Senate," said the letter. The students said the signature campaign "is a big vote of support for both the military and for the civilians caught in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan." They said further that, "It demonstrates the strong desire for social justice on the Saint Michael's College campus."
Approaches to Peace class
The students were inspired by their professor, Dr. Laurie Gagne, Director of the Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice, in her Approaches to Peace class. Participants include Kevin Brown of West Hartford, Conn., Katie Cassesse of Guilford, Conn., Sarah Ells of Amesbury, Mass., Lauren Fish of Bedford, N.H., Meghan Jaird of St. Albans, Vt., Kaitlin Kaster of Interlaken, N.Y., Katarina Lisaius of Warren, Vt., Colleen Moore of Duxbury, Mass., Joe Newman of Beverly, Mass., Dan Paulson of Lincoln University, Pa., Julie Relyea of Kensington, Conn., and Leah Ziegler of Stowe, Vt.
Saint Michael's College, founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's
Best 368 Colleges. A liberal arts, residential, Catholic college, Saint Michael's is located just outside of Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns and less than two hours from Montreal. As one of only 270 institutions nationwide with a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus, Saint Michael's has 2,000 full-time undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 200 international students. In recent years Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Science Foundation and other grants, and Saint Michael's professors have been named Vermont Professor of the Year in four of the last eight years. The college is currently listed as one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2009
U.S. News & World Report rankings.