BG Reports

By Christina Hepner

Students against the National Defense Authorization Act protested at the Bowling Green city council meeting on Tuesday, February 21, 2012.

PANDAA, People against the National Defense Authorization Act, is the organization that these protestors support.  Dan Johnson, freshman at Bowling Green State University, is the leader of the movement in Bowling Green.  He tried to convince the council to pass one resolution and two ordinances. Johnson told the council that in one week he got 500 signatures to get the city council to pass this.

The protestors expected to have around 150 members show up but only had around 10 to 15.  They wore reflective tape across their bodies at the meeting and clearly stood out to the crowd.

Ian Zulick, sophomore at Bowling Green State University, also spoke on behalf of PANDAA.  He said that the act is against a lot of people’s values.  Zulick also stated that it violated the rights of the people.

The council members decided that they are not going to change their stand on the issue.  The council does respect the group, but do not agree with the approach they have taken on it.  Greg Robinette, city council board member, prepared a speech in anticipation of the protest and read it at the meeting.  Robinette said that he agrees that unconstitutional laws should be challenged and urges the group to go a step further.  He also said that the city council will continue and support the constitution.  Sandy Rowland, city council board member, thanked the group for standing up for what they believed and doing it in a respectful way to the council.

In response, Johnson said that he hoped that the city council would back them if they do decide to take this a step further.  He also said the PANDAA will continue to fight for this act.

In other news:

– The council appointed previous Mayor John B. Quinn with a resolution of Mayor Emeritus.

– Approved upgrades for Kreischer residence hall.

– Approved academic special course fee revisions for the 2013 fiscal year.

Tags: Bowling Green City Council, National Defense Authorization Act, PANDAA

This entry was posted on Monday, February 27th, 2012 at 7:17 pm and is filed under Bowling Green City Council, Spring 2012, Student Contributor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.