*The previous headline Protest held at Willamette to raise held at Willamette to raise awareness on 'Stop Line 3' has been changed.*
Amaya Latuszek
Staff Writer
Chalk left by students in Jackson Plaza after the Line 3 protest. Photos by Amaya Latuszek.
Climate Action Alliance (CAA) and the Native and Indigenous Student Union held a protest in Jackson Plaza on Oct. 13 against Line 3, a proposed pipeline expansion that would run [tar sands] from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin. The expansion is set to run through the territory of the Anishinaabe peoples in Minnesota as well as untouched wetlands. The educational rally concerned the [Stop Line 3] organization. Former Director of the Chemawa-Willamette Partnership Program, Vellena Howard, spoke at the rally to create awareness of the negative impact the pipeline would cause to the Native peoples in the area.
Participants wrote on the ground in chalk, phrases such as ‘Stop Line 3 Protect Indigenous Land!’, ‘Protect Our Water’ and ‘Decolonization or Extinction’. They chanted “Protect our water! Stop Line 3!” and “Hey hey, Ho ho, fossil fuels have got to go!” to create engagement with those standing around. Flyers were handed out stating what Line 3 was, why students should care and how they can get involved. Professor of Sociology, Janet Lorenzen suggested that if students wanted to get involved in climate change activism, they could join [350 Salem] and “if you sign up for the newsletter you get a digest of all the ways you can get involved.”
Kaylie James (‘25), a member of the CAA, stated that: “the issue with this pipeline is that a third of this route is brand new and it’s going through really sensitive watersheds and Indigenous treaty lands. There’s also the issue with disposing of the previous pipeline which is eroding, has had several spills and has had various disasters linked to it already and there is currently no plan to actually take that one out of the ground, but rather to just create this new one which has double the capacity and is much longer.” CAA organized this protest in order to create more awareness on Willamette’s campus and provide students with information on how they can get involved in stopping the expansion. Students can join CAA to “talk to our politicians, speak up at hearings, march in protests, and take nonviolent direct action.” James stated, “we also do have various things that we’re attending with the Indigenous clubs around campus, so we’re supporting these movements in our free time as well.”