Local News in Brief : Pepperdine Students Protesting Apathy
In what is being called the first organized student protest at Pepperdine University, some students inspired by a visit from the Soviet National Debate Team have set up an around-the-clock vigil at the Malibu campus. The focus of their protest: apathy.
“Pepperdine is the land of BMW’s, and we’re trying to make people aware that there’s more going on in the world. We’re trying to wake the students,” said Scott Talcott, one of the leaders of the group called IMPAKT.
The students wrote to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev asking him to help set up a student exchange program with Pepperdine and requested that a sister school be established in the Soviet Union. As many as 40 students have stationed themselves under the massive cross that looms over the college entrance, with fewer than a handful sleeping there at night.
The students say the vigil they began two weeks ago will continue until Gorbachev replies or until the Christmas break, whichever comes first.
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