Concerned Eastern students will link together this week to fast and call attention to the alleged human rights violations of the U.S. Army’s Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

The juice-only fast began on Sunday and will continue until Friday. Those interested in participating will meet at 5 p.m. every night of the week at the Peace Pole in front of the Newman Catholic Center.

Sean Barth, a junior philosophy major, said the fast is in connection with a scheduled trip to Fort Benning, Ga., where the institute, formerly known as the School of Americas, is located.

He said 15 people from Eastern and the Charleston community will travel there on Saturday to participate in a non-violent protest.

Those who want to participate in the fast can volunteer for a 24-hour period sometime this week, Barth said.

One person each day will volunteer to wear a chain symbolizing “the chain of oppression that people in poverty have to wear.”

“They can’t take it off, even when they’re in the shower,” he said.

Each night at the Peace Pole, Barth said he will read something pertaining to non-violence, such as writings by Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr., and the chain will be passed from one faster to the next, he said.

Barth said he wore the chain for 24 hours last year. “It’s really uncomfortable, but it’s really powerful because it makes you aware of all the people that have to suffer.”

Anyone can participate in the fast, he said.

The U.S. Army founded the SOA in 1946 to train soldiers from Latin America, a press release said. However, many graduates from the school have gone on to commit acts of violence and injustice, such as kidnapping, murder and massacres.

Protesters of the school are appealing to the government to consider alternative options for the people of Latin America, such as establishing reasonable living conditions and strengthening civil institutions.

The people killed by graduates of the SOA far outnumber the number of people killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Barth said.

“These days, when the U.S. says it’s committed to stopping terrorism, some people think that for the past 55 years, we’ve been running a terrorist training camp right here on American soil,” he said.