Many students oppose draft revival

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), an outspoken proponent of reinstating the draft, recently announced his intention to introduce legislation for the reintroduction of selective service. Rangel said he believes that this will prevent politicians from launching unnecessary wars.

This point of view has met much criticism from college students, including several student activists at the UW.

"I think the draft is a bad idea," said Alicia LeVezu, president of Young Democrats at the UW (YDUW). "The lives of young men and women are important and need to be taken seriously. We can't just arbitrarily send them to war."

The supporting side of the draft holds that it will eliminate the socioeconomic inequalities in the military, in that service will no longer be an alternative for the poor, but a necessity for the rich as well, said Nicholas Fusso, vice president of development for YDUW.

"It does have validity," he said. "I think diversity can be a great thing....I don't think diversity should be enforced."

While many consider this a legitimate point of view, some hold that it has its flaws.

"I think the point that Rangel is trying to make is that the rich don't fight the wars," said Nicholas Baptise, president of the Socialist Alternative student club at the UW. "If you ask people in the military, I'm sure the majority of them would say [that they] don't have enough money."

"We totally disagree with Rangel," he continued. "The thing to do is end the war instead of spending billions. Take that money and put it into health care and education and creating jobs."

Still, many believe support for a reinstatement of the draft is lacking.

"This isn't the first time since the Iraq war that this has been proposed," Fusso said. "It's gained a little bit of support," he said, although LeVezu estimated that about 70 percent of the American public is not in favor.

Regardless of whether selective service was invoked or not, the socioeconomic injustices of the military would not be solved, Baptiste said.

"In the military, there's no democracy," he said. "[If] people are drafted from Harvard and people are drafted from the factories, the people from Harvard are automatically given these nice office jobs...and the poor people are sent to fight."

"The draft is still very oppressive to the poor in any situation," he said.

Reporter Jeffrey Tripoli: jeffreytripoli@thedaily.washington.edu