Students and Middletown area residents collaborated to demonstrate against the war in Iraq on Thursday.

“For these people to come out with no incentive [but to] fight something because it’s wrong is terrific,” said Vice President of the United Electrical Workers Marie Lausch, who spoke at the rally.

Students and Middletown residents first gathered in front of Olin library to paint signs and rally nearby pedestrians. The group of approximately 100 then marched from the library, across campus, and to the South Green on the corner of Church and Main streets.

Despite a publicity campaign on and off campus that included an announcement at a Middletown church and an advertisement in the Middletown Press, the demonstration did not see the 300 marchers that organizers expected.

“I think that if people in this knew how this war is affecting them, they would be against it,” said student organizer Erik Rosenberg ’08

The demonstration received media attention, including ­­helicopter coverage for Channel 8 News and a ground reporter for Channel 3’s Eyewitness News.

“I feel like the amount of media attention we got shows that this country – or, at least the media – respects the opinions of Wesleyan University and students,” Rosenberg said. “I wish more people would’ve come because it was a real opportunity to make a statement. People were listening, people were watching.”

Rosenberg is a founding member of the group Students for Ending the War in Iraq, which sponsored the demonstration. He and fellow members Ellen Dinsmore ’08, Devaka Gunawardena ’09, Nat Lichten ’09, and John McNeil ’08 have been organizing Thursday’s event since early February.

At the Green, Marie Lausch and other local activists spoke on “The Costs of the War on the Middletown Area.” The speakers included David Lazerow of Connecticut United for Peace, Alfred Marder of the Greater New Haven Peace Council, and Executive Director of the National Priorities Project Greg Speeter. They criticized the Iraq war from several angles, from economic to political to ethical.

Speeter explained that the war has cost Connecticut $6.5 billion in federal tax dollars over the past three years, and has cost Middletown alone $87 million. This has cut budgets for education, affordable housing, healthcare, job training, and police and fire departments.

Wesleyan student Zac Meyer ’08 identified with Speeter’s economic concerns.

“I’m out here because I’m vehemently opposed to a war in which the benefits are not visible to anyone but the economically elite,” Meyer said. “I’d hope that the message [of the demonstration] would be education about the drastic economic repercussions of the war.”

Marder raised evidence suggesting that the Bush administration was planning a war on Iraq before 9/11 occurred, over the struggle for oil. She cited a recent study that claims that every United States soldier currently stationed in Iraq believes that the United States should pull out of the country within a year.

“We as Americans have a responsibility to get our sons and daughters out of there,” Marder said.

Lausch presented death toll numbers for both Americans and Iraqis.

“These are not statistics, but fellow human beings . . . [including] Americans of uncommon valor that died for Bush’s never-ending gluttony for oil,” Lausch said.

Lausch concluded by rousing listeners.

“I want you today to help me stop this illegal, immoral war,” Lausch said. “I am here to tell you that we are the patriots!”

Joan Bosco ’09 was appreciative of the noise that the demonstration made.

“I hope it shows that people are active,” Bosco said. “I feel like people have almost forgotten about the war. I hope this brings attention to it.”

Students for Ending the War in Iraq hoped that the demonstration would be a strong collaboration between University students and Middletown residents. However, apart from the contribution of Meg Scata, the secretary of the MEIU Local 506, the University occupied the predominant role in the events organization. Rosenberg hopes for stronger collaboration on future events.

“In retrospect, I wish the demonstration could’ve included [local residents] more,” Rosenberg said. “The main focus of the protest was to get people in Middletown involved in the process.”

Students for Ending the War in Iraq was formed in the spring of 2005. In November 2005, student members performed a die-in demonstration on Main Street. Before spring break, the group sponsored a series of lectures on the war.

The group is currently planning a demonstration for Tax Day on April 17. Students will join members of the Middletown Alliance for Peace to distribute information outside of the Middletown Post Office about where taxpayers’ money goes. The group also hopes to sponsor bus transportation to the New Haven train station on April 29, where participants will be able to take the Peace Train to New York City for a large anti-war demonstration.