The University of Memphis Progressive Student Alliance (PSA) will take part in the National School Walkout on March 14 at 10 a.m. at the Tom the Tiger statue in front of the University Center. The student organization joined the nationwide event to push for gun control legislation after the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, last month where 17 people were killed.
The National School Walkout was created by EMPOWER, a youth branch of the Women’s March, as a protest to pressure lawmakers to pass stricter gun laws and as a memorial for the people who died in the mass shooting. This walkout will precede the March for Our Lives protest on March 24, created by survivors of the Parkland shooting.
The date chosen for the National School Walkout will mark the one month anniversary of the Parland school shooting. The walkout is expected to last at least 17 minutes — a minute to honor each victim.
Alexandria Broadnax, a sophomore music industry major at the U of M, is one of the co-chairs of the PSA. Broadnax said the activities planned for the walkout include various speakers, including herself and students holding posters and chanting.
“Posters are encouraged,” Broadnax said. “We will definitely be handing out chant sheets.”
Broadnax said she is not worried about any discipline from her professor because she took responsibility by notifying the professor before hand.
“I’m like, ‘Hey, there’s this thing happening, and I will be walking out of your class,’” Broadnax said. “‘You can stand with me or whatever, but just know that I am doing this.’”
Eleanor Fisher, a junior studio art major, is the other co-chair of the Memphis PSA, and she wants the walkout to influence students to share their views. She said lawmakers need to make a change before students and others force a change.
“We need common sense gun laws in this country, or people will continue to die,” Fisher said. “We need lawmakers to do their job and put a stop to this epidemic.”
U of M President M. David Rudd said he supports students taking action in the activism but encourages them not to forget about their academic responsibilities.
“I would simply encourage students to be attentive to the issue of unexcused absences and their individual class circumstances and demands,” Rudd said to The Daily Helmsman.
Shelby County Schools (SCS) are aware students are planning their own walkout April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting, where two students murdered one teacher and 12 students and injured 21 additional people before taking their own lives during a gun fight with police. Because students cannot participate in the walkout this Wednesday while they are on spring break, the march next month is their chance to have their voices heard.
SCS said in a statement they are open to embrace students’ rights and ideals on the matter, and they are working personally with students who are interested in participating in the demonstration.
“Many of our school leaders have been proactively addressing the topic in their schools, some working directly with students to help to ensure activities are planned safely and in a way that can be most productive,” the local school system said in their public statement.
Students walk out of their classes. There will be a campus-wide walkout this Wednesday at 10 a.m., organized by the U of M's Progressive Student Alliance.
