Campus Antiwar Network

The Campus Antiwar Network (CAN) is the largest campus-based anti-war organization in the United [Page 289]States, with chapters at more than 50 colleges and high schools. Describing itself as independent, democratic, and grassroots, CAN strives to connect anti-war activism across campuses and thereby foster a stronger student movement.

CAN was founded during the movement to prevent the war in Iraq. Students organized a series of national meetings and conferences, culminating in a 300-person conference in Chicago in February 2003, representing 100 schools. This conference established a structure for the group, based on elected delegates from school-based anti-war coalitions. Shortly after the war began, CAN adopted, through a series of regional student conferences, a position opposing the occupation of Iraq.

One of CAN's most significant activities has been counter-recruitment: opposing military recruitment in schools. CAN's counter-recruitment activities range from organizing speaking events with anti-war veterans to producing educational materials about the U.S. military, but the tactic that has received the most attention has been CAN's tendency to directly protest military recruiters in schools. More than a dozen CAN chapters have organized protests sufficiently lively to induce military recruiters to leave the premises.

This phenomenon first received national attention after January 20, 2005, when—during George W. Bush's second inauguration—300 Seattle Central Community College students walked out of classes and marched to the military recruitment table on campus. There, students made confetti from the recruiter's literature until he left, then followed him down the hallway, chanting, “Don't come back!” A photograph of this scene was widely circulated on the Internet and inspired similar actions around the country.

In addition to counter-recruitment, CAN's most significant activity has been defending student free speech. Since the Iraq war began, nine colleges have threatened students with expulsion for their involvement in peaceful anti-war protests. In each case, CAN organized a defense campaign, protesting at the school and mobilizing support around the country, charges being dropped.

CAN also has been the target of governmental surveillance. Nearly 20% of the actions listed in the Pentagon surveillance database leaked in December 2005 were organized by CAN. One, a protest at the University of California at Santa Cruz, is the only protest in the database labeled both “credible” and a “threat.” In April 2006, additional Pentagon documents were released, showing that the government had sent an undercover agent to a protest organized by the CAN chapter at Southern Connecticut State University. In response to these revelations, CAN has announced that it will investigate whether university administrations are cooperating with government surveillance on campus, and it will not be deterred from continuing to organize anti-war and counter-recruitment activities.