New London - Holding a diploma wrapped in gold ribbon and dressed in a graduation cap and gown, Ronna Stuller was not walking across the stage at the Coast Guard Academy graduation Wednesday. Instead, she stood outside the gates, advocating for public education grants.

Stuller, a member of the Peace and Justice Network of Southeastern Connecticut and a New London school board member, walked 3 miles around downtown New London with others from the coalition to protest the cost of a college education, government spending plans and cutbacks, health care and affordable housing.

Nearly 40 protesters arrived at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument Wednesday morning to send the group's message to President Obama: Keep your promises.

"He knows people are opposing him. A lot of us here voted for him, but we voted for the promises he made in his campaign run that he has not kept. That's what we want out of you, Barack," said protest coordinator Joanne Sheehan of the War Resisters League. "Our power is in our nonviolence and in the messages we are carrying today, not in our actions."

They pinpointed seven sites that they said represent community needs and a lack of funding for those in need.

Two men wore orange prison jumpsuits to call attention to Obama's promise to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The men stood in silence before the start of the walk and let a sign do all the talking. It read "Close Guantanamo Bay."

Before beginning the walk, the group focused its attention on the General Dynamics shipyard across the Thames River.

"General Dynamics is benefiting from our tax dollars and even in the bad times, they've seen an increase in their profits," Sheehan said through a handheld microphone. "So many more people could be employed if we weren't putting money into making war weapons. We should be employing people to create life instead of death."

On the way to the Thames River Apartments on Crystal Avenue, a handful of protesters pushed shopping carts, something Sheehan said "have become the home of the homeless."

The group stopped at the playground across the street from the high-rise. Paul Jakoboski, who lives and works at the St. Francis House, a ministry and residence on Broad Street, spoke briefly.

He said that according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, about one-quarter of renters in the state earn less than 50 percent of median income and are spending more than half of that on housing.

Members of the Westerly branch of the Raging Grannies stood on top of the slide and sang "Listen to the Tenants" to the tune of "Frere Jacques."

"Hear the tenants, hear the tenants, what they say, what they say. Show us some compassion, show us some compassion, we mean now, we mean now," they sang.

The third stop of the route was the main gate of the Coast Guard Academy where Maureen Logan, a member of the Raging Grannies, said she would like to see more of the country's money invested into education.

"I was a public school teacher for 40 years, and if we spent the money we've spent on the war on health care and education, we'd have a healthy, educated country," she said.

The Raging Grannies is a social activist group with branches across the country and internationally. Members are women who are old enough to be grandmothers. At protests they dress up in clothes that stereotype older women.

Other stops on the walk included Williams Park, the courthouse and Bank of America.

The group then returned to the Soldiers and Sailors Monument and shared a bag lunch from Food Not Bombs, a group that shares meals with the hungry around the world to protest war, poverty and the destruction of the environment.

j.hanckel@theday.com