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Susan M. Schnall
DELAWARE, Ohio – In 1968, Navy nurse Susan M. Schnall dropped anti-Vietnam war leaflets from a plane over San Francisco and called for the government to “bring our boys home alive.” In 1969, she was court martialed for her anti-war activities.
In the decades since, Schnall has been remained a strong voice for those in the United States and Vietnam whose lives were changed forever by the war and, especially, by the use of the chemical herbicide Agent Orange. Schnall is a core member of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign, a group working to obtain compensation for Agent Orange victims and to force the cleanup of remaining contamination sites in southern Vietnam.
On April 13, Schnall will visit Ohio Wesleyan University, where she will be presented with an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree for her tireless work to aid others, which includes advocating for the healthcare rights of all people as well as Agent Orange victims.
Schnall has said she still weeps for the Vietnamese children, which she has described in writings as “second and third generation babies and children born with enlarged heads and bulging eyes … their bodies twisted and rigid, extremities bent so they replicate being in the uterus, tremors cursing through their limbs.”
She will participate in two free community events during her Ohio Wesleyan visit:
At 3:10 p.m., Ohio Wesleyan will screen “Sir, No Sir,” a documentary about G.I. resistance to the war in Vietnam that features Schnall’s role as an anti-war activist. She will participate in a question-and-answer session after the screening, in Room 27 of Beeghly Library, 43 Rowland Ave., Delaware.
At 7 p.m., Schnall will present “Agent Orange, GMOs, and Other Legacies of American Intervention in Vietnam: The Things We Leave Behind.” (GMOs are genetically modified organisms.) The free presentation will be in Benes Room C of Hamilton Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Schnall will be presented with her honorary degree during this event.
In addition to her role as a core member and co-coordinator of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign, Schnall is involved with Veterans for Peace and Vietnam Veterans Against the War. She is an adjunct assistant professor at New York University, School of Continuing Professional Studies, where she teaches healthcare policy and planning. Previously, she worked in executive administration in public hospitals in New York City for more than 30 years.
Schnall’s Ohio Wesleyan visit is sponsored by the university’s Honors Program; Poverty, Equity, and Social Justice Course Connection; Department of Philosophy; Office of the Chaplain; Women’s and Gender Studies Program; and Andy Anderson Symposium Fund.
Learn more about Schnall’s core organization, the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign, at www.vn-agentorange.org.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers 86 undergraduate majors and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Ohio Wesleyan combines a challenging, internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities to connect classroom theory with real-world experience. OWU’s 1,750 students represent 46 U.S. states and territories and 43 countries. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the latest President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.