The crowd of Wartburg students gathered around Interim President William Hamm's Greenwood residence to call for a Winter Outfly. The orange flags they waved had their concerns for the school and student body written on them and are now located in front of Luther Hall. Photo by Luke Shanno
MAC SLAVIN SPORTS EDITOR
Over 1,000 Wartburg College students gathered in Clinton field this morning and marched to Interim President William Hamm’s to declare a winter Outfly.
“I need each and every one of you to think today as not a chance to destroy our home, vent our frustrations or even cut classes for the day. We need to show the administration that we are responsible adults and we deserve a voice in their decision,” Student Body President, Travis Bockenstedt said.
Students began marching towards Hamm’s house at 6:30 a.m.
“Just to look down twelfth street and see a sea of people coming down the street … I think is amazing, it’s a true testament to what Wartburg students want here and that we want to make our college a better place,” Bockenstedt said.
Sarah Indra thought today was a day she would never see and was glad that the march was highly attended.
“It’s pretty amazing. I think the president and everyone else should listen to the students a little more. It’s crazy; there’s more people out here than on a regular Outfly,” she said.
Other students were out in support of Wartburg College Student Senate.
“I think senate is doing a great job this year and there’s a lot of issues that need to be addressed. We need to make a statement,” Sydni Williams said.
Overall, students that attended the march were very excited.
“It’s an Outfly for a cause; the student body is going to have a voice again. I’m so excited, we’re all excited,” Abbie Smith said.
Justin Novinger marched to the president’s house to advocate one of the grievances outlined by Student Senate.
Some students feel this movement has been in the works for quite some time.
“This has been the culmination of four years at Wartburg College. I wondered when I would get to put the mission statement. … This is where we get to stand up and say what we believe,” Matt Langston said.
“I’m marching because I think our school needs to be more aware of the environment and I think our recycling programs at school are incompetent at best and something that we really need to change,” Novinger said.
After marching to Hamm’s house, Hamm walked out and declared the today Outfly.
“It’s cool, you don’t usually have 1,000 students on your lawn when you get up in the morning, but it brings back some memories of days’ past,” Hamm said. “I’m sure there’ll be some faculty that will be unhappy about this … so there’ll be varied perspectives.”
After Hamm declared Outfly, students marched back to campus in an attempt to have their voices heard. Orange flags were planted outside Luther Hall with issues written on them, in hopes of Hamm seeing and addressing these issues.
“Today we did something as students. We came together, our voices came together … the most important thing about this is that you have a voice. People think we don’t care at all... but we do care, we care for this institution,” Bockenstedt said.