As part of the of the national protest scheduled for March 14, NSU’s College of Psychology Student Government Association (SGA) has organized a walk out at 10 a.m.
The protests purpose is to remember the 17 victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting and to demand stronger legislation surrounding gun violence. It is scheduled one month after the shooting in Parkland.
The walkout will take place at 10 a.m. where participating students, faculty and administration will walkout of their classrooms to one of two meeting places, Gold Circle Lake or the clock tower outside of the Morris Auditorium and observe a 17-minute period of silence — one for every victim of the shooting. Participants are also asked to wear maroon to represent Marjory Stoneman Douglas’ school colors.
“These shootings are always terrible, but this one is different. Because it’s so close to home it really does hurt a little bit differently.”
-Carolina Barbeito, president of the College of Psychology’s SGA
Carolina Barbeito, president of the College of Psychology’s SGA, graduated from Stoneman Douglas in 2006 and said that the tragedy hits close to home.
“These shootings are always terrible, but this one is different. Because it’s so close to home it really does hurt a little bit differently,” said Barbeito. “We’ve been raising money. Once we heard about the walk out, we thought this would be a great way for everyone to process and come together as a community and grieve.”
Barbeito said the goal is to have all students, faculty and administration to participate in the walkout.
“We’re all kind of in this together,” she said.
Barbeito reached out to other SGAs on campus to ask them to help spread the word. She’s gotten responses from the College of Pharmacy and College of Nursing. The Undergraduate Student Government Association (USGA) is also in support of the walk out.
Alex Lopez, president of USGA, said that the organization would be sharing details about the event through social media and that he planned to send an email to all registered student organizations.
“I think it’s important to understand that this isn’t really a political issue. You don’t have to support one side or the other to know that change needs to happen,“ said Lopez.
Barbeito also said that students can raise awareness using social media hashtags like #enough #neveragain and #nationalschoolwalkout.
