Father Roy Bourgeois to speak on SOA By Rebecca Rich Father Roy Bourgeois, founder of the School of the Americas Watch, will speak in a Yoder Public Affairs Lecture in Umble Center at 8 p.m. tomorrow as well as in convocation in the Church-Chapel at 10 a.m. Approximately 50 GC students trekked to Fort Benning, Ga., in November to join about 7,000 people calling for the closure of the U.S. Army's School of the Americas (SOA). The school trains hundreds of Latin American soldiers in combat skills. SOA Watch focuses on publicizing the implications of this training in the lives of Central Americans. Bourgeois, who spent three years in federal prison for nonviolent protest of the SOA's activities, founded the SOA Watch in 1990. The organization is located directly outside the school's main entrance. Graduates of the "School of Assassins" include Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, Salvadoran death squad leader Roberto d'Aubuisson and 19 of the 26 Salvadoran military officers cited in the 1989 murders of six Jesuit priests and two women. Bourgeois was ordained as a Catholic priest of the Maryknoll order in 1972 and since then has been publicly critical of the U.S. government's policy in Central America. His concerns were magnified with the 1989 rape and murder of four U.S. churchwomen by soldiers in El Salvador, two of who were friends of Bourgeois. Director of the peace studies department Ruth Krall said, "Bourgeois will make it clear that the U.S. government is involved in the atrocities that have happened. He's a man with a commitment and a man with a cause." Krall said that inviting Bourgeois to GC was logical. "I've always thought that because of SST, many students want to stay aware of Central American realities," she added. Krall first introduced the GC community to the School of the Americas when she showed a video at a peace studies forum two years ago. Since then, Pax club has worked at raising awareness about the school and rallied for its closing. Sophomore Pax member Debby Scott has traveled twice to Fort Benning to protest the SOA and heard Bourgeois speak. "I think he will allow us to see the humanity of the victims as well as the perpetrators. He's the next best thing to visiting the school or going to Latin America," she said. Tomorrow Bourgeois will also appear in the Religious History of the Americas class and give a luncheon for Pax and interested students in Westlawn lounge from 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. |