This Time, War Finds Berkeley Campus Quiet

The University of California at Berkeley became famous around the world in the 1960s when large numbers of students took to the streets to protest U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

Now the United States is once again fighting a war overseas and peace demonstrations have swept major American campuses. But at UC Berkeley things are different this time around--at least so far.

When students returned to school last week from winter vacation, there were no massive anti-war rallies and little evidence of ‘60s-style activism. Most students appeared to be more concerned with launching their studies than with protesting the war.

The few rallies that occurred during the last week were small compared to past Berkeley protests and to recent demonstrations at UCLA and other colleges, which brought out groups of at least 3,000 students.

On Wednesday, student demonstrators staged a “die-in,” lying down in the middle of campus to protest U.S. bombing of Iraq. But the two dozen protesters were outnumbered by a horde of spectators, television cameramen and reporters, all eager to see one of Berkeley’s famous protests.

The previous day, about 200 students gathered to hear a series of anti-war speeches on the campus’ central Sproul Plaza, scene of many clashes between protesters and police during the 1960s. But the turnout was smaller than UC Berkeley’s annual student demonstrations in favor of legalizing marijuana.

“Most people are concerned now with school,” said Lucia Borjon, 21, a leader of the anti-war group that organized Tuesday’s rally. “We’re going to have to educate them in order to mobilize them.”

It is not that students aren’t interested in the war. On the contrary, an educational forum sponsored by the university Tuesday attracted almost 1,000 people eager to hear the views of various professors on the course of the conflict. Instead of voicing sentiments against the war, the students politely gathered inside an auditorium to listen to all sides of the war debate.

But the campus has not exploded in protest. During a series of two dozen lunchtime interviews with students on Sproul Plaza, it became clear that many students are not protesting because they have not yet been directly affected by the war.

“It’s sunny outside, the skies are blue. People don’t feel like we’re at war,” said Steve Markowitz, 20, a Japanese studies major. “The reality hasn’t set in yet. I don’t know what it’ll take to convince people we’re at war.”

Other students said they will be galvanized into action if the war becomes protracted, if U.S. troops suffer heavy casualties, or, especially, if the draft is reinstated.

“If someone close to me gets drafted, that’s what it’s going to take for me to get riled up about the war,” said Karen Hui, a 20-year-old business administration major.

Leaders of the anti-war groups on campus concede they are having a tough time generating mass support, but they believe that a peace movement is starting to coalesce.

Rhodney Ward, 25, a social studies major who is organizing anti-war demonstrations on campus, argued that the peace movement is actually further along now than it was when the Vietnam War began.

“In 1965, there were no protests on campus. And here we are, right at the onset of war, we have people marching,” he said. “This movement is going to grow very fast in the next week.”

Still, the prevailing sentiment about the war among students seems mixed. Some, like 20-year-old John Nash, oppose the peace demonstrators and strongly support the war effort.

“Ever since this great country began, it’s been founded on fighting for freedom. Now we have to liberate a little country from oppression,” said Nash, a civil engineering major.

But many of the students interviewed said they are confused, that the issues today are not as clear-cut as they were in the ‘60s. While most said the United States should not be at war, they also expressed opposition to Iraq’s aggression against Kuwait and Israel.

“I can’t support the war, but I don’t see any other way now that fighting has started,” said Mike Burke, a 22-year-old English major. “If there would be a way to stop the war I would be in favor of it, but you can’t just pull the troops out now.”