Gray skies seemed appropriately somber on Wednesday when more than 100 symbolic coffins filled the campus lawn between East 13th Avenue and the Knight Library.
The installation comprised 105 symbolic coffins, with 100 draped in black cloth to represent Iraqi civilians killed in the war in Iraq, and five draped with American flags to symbolize American and Coalition deaths since the conflict started last year.
As students and community members wandered through the field of coffins, solemn music accompanied volunteers reading the names of Coalition and Iraqi casualties.
Coordinator Craig Mahaffy said The Viewing Project, organized by the Eugene PeaceWorks and the Concerned Faculty for Peace and Justice, was designed to raise awareness for war’s human toll. He also said the project is a response to the government’s decision to bar the media from showing images of coffins returning to the country.
“It appeared to me to be outright censorship and a deliberate attempt to keep the human cost of war from the American public,” he said.
As of Monday, more than 900 Coalition soldiers had died, according to The Associated Press.
Mahaffy also said the media have not shown pictures of Iraqi dead.
“It seems like there’s been a concerted attempt to keep Iraqi casualties out of the media,” he said.

He said it is important for people to see a visual representation of war casualties, emphasizing that more Iraqi civilians have been killed than Coalition forces.
“It’s a little ironic that images out of Abu Ghraib have horrified the American public and rightly so, but how much more horrifying are the actual shots of war?” he said.
The installation also included a visit by the Portland-based The Mourning Project, a memorial consisting of three large plaques covered with names of soldiers and civilians killed during the war on terror. The memorial, directed by Eric Bagai, attempts to list both noncombatant and military deaths beginning on Sept. 11. When names of foreign civilians are unknown, only dates, locations and numbers of deceased are listed. The project is shown in the Japanese American Historical Plaza in the Tom McCall Waterfront Park on the first Thursday of each month.
Associate history Professor Laura Fair, who helped set up the coffins and read names of casualties, said she thinks about children who have lost their lives during the war.
“I think this will … bring it home and put it in people’s minds and people’s hearts that they’re not faceless names,” she said.
Senior Jackie Prange, who helped set up the display, said the project counters government censorship.
“I think the impact will hopefully be that people can have a visual image of what’s going on,” she said. “When you’re all the way over here in the U.S., it’s kind of hard to understand how many people are dying.”
She said she is “pretty dissatisfied” with activism at the University regarding the war.
“I’m surprised there’s been so much silence about what’s going on,” she said.
Many students paused to look at the project. Junior Ben Ramirez said he was saddened by the display.
“I think it really helps us to gain perspective on the reality of what happens in war,” he said.

Sophomore Colleen O’Malley called the project a powerful reminder of the number of people who have been killed.
“I think there are a lot of people talking and opinions being thrown around by both sides (about the war),” she said. “Not enough people know what’s going on.”
Freshman Jenni Buczko agreed.
“I think it will definitely make an impact,” she said. “It will be a reality check as to how many (deaths) there are. (The war) may be thousands of miles away, but it definitely affects us.”
Organizers hope to take the projects to Portland on Sept. 2.