On Wednesday, students across campus will stand up in their classes, jobs and other activities and walk out.

They will do this simultaneously with communities all over the country as part of March for Our Lives, a national movement dedicated to student-led activism around ending gun violence. The date will mark one month since the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17 people.

The walkout was arranged by St. Thomas students Danielle Wong, Sofía Leyva, Bizzy Stephenson, Kaitlyn Spratt and Tessa Schmitz, who all felt the St. Thomas community could benefit from a demonstration like this, as long as it was inclusive and safe.

To ensure that, they notified the Dean of Students Office and submitted a Notice of Intent.

“Administration isn’t trying to take away your rights or anything,” Wong, a sophomore, said. “St. Thomas just wants to be able to facilitate it in a safe way.”

St. Thomas’ Statement on Student Freedom of Expression and Demonstration Policy states that the university “is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge by means that respect the dignity and diversity of all.” It approves of demonstrations such as marches, rallies and protests as long as they are organized and nonviolent.

“We respect the dignity of each person and value the unique contribution that each brings to the greater mosaic of the university community,” it states.

Linda Baughman, the dean of students, said demonstrations like this walkout are part of what higher education is about.

“I think part of a college education is the ability for college students to voice their opinions, have thoughtful discussions, have really thoughtful moments on campus,” she said. “It’s important we have policies to allow that space for that to occur.”

Baughman added that while Wednesday’s walkout was approved by the university, faculty was not officially notified of the demonstration. Because of this, the administration encourages all student participants to let their professors know they will be leaving class.

At 10 a.m., students, staff, faculty and other community members are all invited to leave wherever they are and walk to J.P. Monahan Plaza. At 10:15, the organizers will lead 17 minutes of silence, and at each minute they will ring a bell and hold up a different sign with the name of a Parkland shooting victim on it.

“We’re going to raise it up, over our heads,” Wong explained. “So it will be one-by-one, so each person gets their minute, which is obviously not enough, but it’s what we can do.”

After the 17 minutes, the organizers will facilitate a reflection period, with two whiteboards to which participants can add notes.

“One of them will say ‘thoughts and prayers’ and another one of them will say ‘ideas for action,’” Wong said. “It’s just really important that we’re actually actively doing something in order to initiate change.”

More than 200 people are interested in or plan on attending the event, according to its Facebook page. The organizers additionally reached out to club leaders at St. Thomas, and while they have heard from a lot of interested individuals, clubs have been slow to collectively jump on board.

“I think the people are hesitant as a club collectively to be like, ‘Yeah, we support this,’” Leyva, a sophomore, said. “because, you know, you’re representing this whole group of people.”

The organizers said they are aware of the polarizing nature of gun control activism. For this reason, they have set no specific agenda for this demonstration. Instead, they are inviting participants to come with any ideas they might have for positive change.

Leyva thinks Wednesday’s demonstration can impact the university as a whole.

“Showing that we are large numbers and we are strong and we care enough to organize and to meet in a central location to say ‘we want change’ is going to help bring awareness and bring those conversations on to this campus,” she said.

Stephenson, a sophomore, said the organizers also hope individuals leave feeling motivated to make a positive change, whatever that may be.

“If you leave, saying ‘I’m going to pray more,’ great. If you leave saying ‘I’m going to call my senator,’ great. If you leave saying ‘I’m going to donate to some group that’s doing something to end gun violence,’ great,” Stephenson said.

Lauren Andrego can be reached at lauren.andrego@stthomas.edu.