Close to 100 pairs of shoes representing Iraqis killed since March 2003 were on display Monday in the Library Quad as part of an anti-war demonstration to mark the four-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The Campus Progressive Alliance, in partnership with the Davis chapter of CODEPINK, coordinated the event. Men, women and children’s shoes were all on display; each featuring a tag that had information about the victim it represented.

The Campus Progressive Alliance also had a sandwich sign with the ranks and pictures of U.S. soldiers killed during the war.

Nancy Beland is a teacher of child development at Cordova High School. She was guiding 27 students across the campus when they passed the display.

“It is truly a shocking visual,” Beland said.

Alex Souza, a senior geography major, was intrigued by the protest. Along with the shoes and pictures of fallen soldiers, the protest featured fliers and pamphlets with information about the war. According to John Hopkins University research, more than 655,000 Iraqis have died since the start of the Iraq war in March of 2003.

Campus Progressive Alliance began the protest at 8 a.m. and continued throughout the day. Many students stopped by the display to see what was going on, and many were upset by what they saw.

“It makes it more personal,” undeclared junior Cali Halvorson said.

Melissa Breech is a psychology major who was just passing by the protest.

“It caught me off guard. It is really sad,” Breech said.

Chris Smith is a business major and president of the College Democrats at Sac State. He said that the protest makes a strong impression and that the coordinators are trying to make students think about the war.

David Hills, an undeclared freshman, criticized the protest. Hills served as an Army specialist and infantry rifleman in Telafar, Iraq in 2004-05. He read the causes of death on the pairs of shoes and pointed out that not all of the deaths were caused by the military.

“This pair of children’s shoes represents a child killed by a car bomber,” Hills said. “We didn’t do that.”

Hills said that the protest provided a skewed perspective, and that many of the shoes represented Iraqis killed by other Iraqis and not necessarily because of the U.S. invasion. “I understand the attempt to make the protest a visual gesture. I don’t agree but I understand,” Hills said.

Jordan Guinn can be reached [email protected]