On Wednesday, March 14, schools across the United States saw walkouts in protest of gun violence. This protest marked the one month anniversary of the tragic and preventable shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School. One of the major forces behind the walkouts was ENOUGH: National School Walkout, which called on “students, teachers, school administrators, parents and allies” to walk out of school for 17 minutes (one minute for every person killed in the shooting) to protest gun violence and call for legislative action. Groups walked out in single digits and in hundreds, and faced varying degrees of support and opposition from administrations, as detailed in this Time article.
On the same day, several administrations encouraged students to Walk Up Not Out, which involved students going out of their way to be kind to one another. While treating other students with respect is of course not inherently flawed, the move has received criticism for promoting a false narrative of school shooters as “outcasts and loners” and blaming the victims of school shootings.
Closer to home, Agnes Scott College president Elizabeth Kiss released a statement via Twitter to potential Agnes Scott students that Agnes Scott supports “your right to protest peacefully and doing so will not impact your admission to Agnes Scott or your scholarship.” She further expanded on this statement that “if a student is suspended/expelled or otherwise disciplined as a result of peaceful protest it will not affect their admission status at Agnes Scott.”
Interested in preventing gun violence through legislative reform? Check out the March For Our Lives campaign. On the website, you will find both a petition and details about an upcoming march on March 24, where students and their families will “demand that their lives and safety become a priority and that we end gun violence and mass shootings in our schools today.” While centered in Washington, D.C., March For Our Lives provides a handy tool to search for protests around the globe, including several in the Atlanta area for my fellow Scotties. Also, check out Everytown for Gun Safety for more information on gun safety year round.