About 25 students, faculty members and members of the Evanston community gathered around Crowe Hall Wednesday afternoon to rally support for detained journalist and Medill graduate James Foley.
The rally was held to bring attention to Foley, a freelance journalist who has been held captive by pro-Muammar Gaddafi forces in Libya for more than 23 days. Rallies for the detained journalist have been held in cities and on college campuses nationwide in an effort to raise awareness.
Clancy Ryan, one of the leaders of the organization “Free Foley,” led the rally along with graduate professors from Medill. Most of the Medill graduate professors in attendance taught Foley when he received his master’s degree in journalism in 2008.
Ryan, who knew Foley from their undergraduate studies at Marquette University, said he hopes the rallies will push the U.S. government into diplomatic negotiations with the Libyan government. Ryan encouraged the crowd to sign the petition online, which already has over 30,000 signatures in less than two weeks.
“We are here today to appeal for a peaceful return,” Ryan said.
Other speakers included Medill Dean John Lavine and Medill professor Stephan Garnett, both of whom taught Foley when he attended Northwestern. They both said they hope Foley will be released in a safe and diplomatic way.