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Wall of newspaper clippings draws attention to social justice of Sept. 11

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Social work graduate students Julie Cline (front), Wendy Tew and Donna Henault-Cole (pointing) take a look at the wall of newspaper clippings posted by Social Workers for Social Justice in West Hall. The clippings consist of stories about the Sept. 11 ev

Newspaper clippings showing consequences of the Sept. 11 attacks covered the front office window of the social work building in West Hall Wednesday, a campus group's way of demonstrating for social justice.

Social Workers for Social Justice, a group of eight students, stayed on campus late Tuesday taping about 500 articles from mainstream newspapers like The Arizona Republic, USA Today and the State Press.

The clippings were about issues like the anthrax scare, the racial backlash from terrorist attacks, the war in Afghanistan and civilian deaths.

The SWSJ was established at ASU shortly after the attacks. The group's goal is to give a balanced view of what is going on around the world, said Ashley Basson, a social work senior and organizer for the SWSJ.

Basson said the clippings would stay in the window indefinitely, and that the group did this because of the propaganda that current events have brought.

"In the midst of this patriotic parade we want to make sure people are paying attention to social justice," she said. "We want people to think about the questions: What does social justice mean? Are we promoting social justice? And have Americans put their own freedoms at risk? We don't want to answer those questions for them, but we want people to think."

Michael Yellow Bird, the group's facility adviser and associate professor of social work, called the creation "the window of events, reality and social justice" and said he supports student expression, especially this one.

"I think the students in this case are trying to make a powerful statement. I walked by the wall and there were a lot of people looking at it. There are definitely more people involved than just the few students in the group," he said.

Yellow Bird added that these social work students are practicing the skills of the field they study.

"This is what our profession is all about," Yellow Bird said.

Leslie Leighninger, director of social work studies, said she encourages the group even though she did not know about the idea until she walked into her office Tuesday morning.

"It is fine that they did this without talking to me specifically because that's the way demonstrations are supposed to work," she said.

Social work sophomore Sara DeSimone said she believes that the articles should cause some sort of uproar.

"They probably could have asked the professors before to be more professional, but at the same time, it should cause a disturbance because this is a disturbing situation. It stirs things up a little bit," she said.

Religious studies senior Frances Arvallo said she had mixed feeling about the clippings.

"There are all these stories about the Afghanistan culture and how badly they treat women, so I am very against it. However, I don't like the stories that I see about how America is going in there and pushing their own culture and government on them. Because we do that, no one outside of the U.S. likes us. It is a cycle that has been going on for decades," she said.

Reach Sandy Almendarez at salmend@imap2.asu.edu.


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