NORTON -- Wheaton College students are taking a stand against the Patriot Act.

Campus organizers collected more than 1,000 signatures of students opposed to the controversial anti-terrorism measure over a two-week period.

That was followed by a resolution from the student government and more than half the faculty association opposing the law.

There are about 1,500 students and 120 faculty at the liberal arts college.

The petition drive and resolution are part of a grass-roots movement led in part by the American Civil Liberties Union to modify the Patriots Act, said Alex Bloom, a professor of American history at the Norton college. He said the ACLU was so impressed with the success of the Wheaton petition drive that it could become a nationwide model for college campuses.