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A group of Olympic College students held signs, chanted slogans and marched around campus Wednesday, all protest of the Toys Topless advertisement that is currently running on the back page of The Olympian.
Krystal Handy, a member the Black Student Union who organized the protest with BSU president Tracy Kendrick, said ultimately the group would like to see the advertisement pulled favor of something that more accurately refl ects the values of the college.She also said the advertisement sent a negative message to the community.
Roughly two dozen students marched with Handy and Kendrick around campus, shouting, "Pull the ad, it's bad," "Vision, mission, values" and "Students have a choice, and a voice."
Handy said she supported the paper, but didn't agree with the decision to accept money for an advertisement she viewed as exploitive to women.
"The paper is great," Handy said, "but an advertisement that exploits lowincome women is not fair."
Students that observed the protest as it marched through the Bremer Student Center at noon greeted the group with a mixed and somewhat bemused reaction.
A few students appreciated what was being said and showed support for the protest, and a few shouted out that the protest itself was the unnecessary distraction, and that the paper had the right to print whatever it wants under the First Amendment.
"I think (the protest) is crap," said OC student Derek Ormiston. "It's (the paper's) right (to print the ad) as a public establishment. It's guaranteed in the First Amendment. If they pull this ad, then what's next?"
Handy said she understands that the newspaper has a legal right to publish the ad, just as their group has the right to protest it.
Rachel Wellman, director of the Multicultural Center, who gave a few encouraging words to the students as they left the center to begin the march, said she felt the fact that students cared enough to form the protest in the first place was a good sign and an excellent example of student leadership.
Kendrick said that in light of the encouragement that she and a few other students received from peers at a recent student leadership conference, she felt it was especially important to step up and take a stand for something if they care about it, regardless of whether or not the advertisement is pulled.
"It's like they always say," Kendrick said, "'If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for everything.'"
However, some students felt that the protestors didn't necessarily represent everyone's point of view of the ad on campus. ASOC secretary Sonja Buckalew said she was annoyed by claims that the whole student body is upset over the ad.
"It's not everybody," she said. "It's a few loud people."
Scott Ware, editor of the Kitsap Sun, which published a story about the protest on their front page Thursday, said the event was an interesting story because it combined elements of free press, student activism and the exploitation of women, perceived or otherwise. He said that the Kitsap Sun carries a smaller ad for that promotes Toys Topless directed at customers; however, the paper does not have an advertisement policy that would preclude that an employee recruitment ad for Toys.
Anthony James, editor-in- chief of The Olympian, said that he knows the protesters have every right to make their voices heard, but the newspaper is protected under commercial speech rights.
"The debate is all about morality and conflicting views," James said. "This business has every right to advertise just as these students have every right to protest. Why would I want to take away the First Amendment rights of this business?"
The Olympian adviser Mike Prince, viewed the situation regarding the ad and protest as a great learning experience for all of the students involved, and applauded the protestors for taking a stand.
"It takes a lot of a courage to exercise your First Amendment rights."
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