Though the majority of people who attended yesterday's Walk Out supported the cause, a group of anti-protesters held an anti-Walk Out rally asking students to give victory a chance.
Protesters at the Anti-Walk Out, standing near the Walk Out in Voorhees Mall on the College Avenue campus, sought to show that not all students were in support of an immediate withdrawal from Iraq.
Kian Barry, Rutgers College senior and president of the Rutgers College Republicans, said having the anti-Walk Out shows that while they may be a minority on campus, there are people who still believe in the cause of fighting in Iraq.
"We think its very important that we both get messages out, and we need to make sure that people don't think everyone at Rutgers is against the mission in Iraq and that supporting the troops equates to supporting the mission," Barry said.
Members of the group waved American flags and held up signs asking people to support the American soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A similar rally was held last year when the Walk Out took place.
Rutgers College junior Kevin Nedza said he felt the Rutgers Walk Out Coalition was not showing support for past soldiers who died by staging their rally at the Vietnam Memorial.
"[The coalition] is having a walk out against the troops and are disrespecting the military and the nation right now," Nedza said. "They are holding a Walk Out and are standing at a Vietnam Memorial dedicated to the men and women who died in Vietnam defending our freedoms, and to me, that is defacing their graves right now."
Nedza also said they are not showing support for the troops by marching to the recruitment station in New Brunswick, and it was more an anti-troop protest than an anti-war one.
He said by blocking Route 18, the protesters were posing a hazard because people may need to go to hospitals in New Brunswick or may have some other emergency. Blocking the route could hurt normal citizens who should not be bothered by the Walk Out, he said.
One of the speakers at the event, Sue Niederer, spoke about her son and University graduate Lt. Seth J. Dvorin who was killed in Iraq in 2004 while looking for improvised explosive devices. While speaking, she asked those at the anti-Walk Out rally to go to the recruitment station in New Brunswick and sign up for military duty.
"They are entitled to do what they are doing by protesting, but if they are Republicans and also support the war, then I'll personally take you right down to the recruitment office," Niederer said.
Speaker Awinna Martinez, a Livingston College senior and the academic chair of Lambda Theta Alpha, said even though the group had a right to free speech, the numbers of people that came out in support of the Walk Out showed how many people want to stop the war.
"They have the freedom to be here but look at how many of them there are, and look at how many of us there are and see who has the most power and support," Martinez said.
School of Arts and Sciences junior Jonathan Pelka said he thinks the protesters were not doing anything positive by marching and that going to war is justified.
"I think the people out here today are here for the wrong reasons, and even though they might not really realize it, they are actually sending mixed signals," Pelka said. "War is hell and nobody likes it, but at times, it is going to be necessary."
