On Campus: The Microphone War

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They hooted. They jeered. There was even one scuffle between the opposing sides. But it wasn't just another football game that roused such passions at the University of Texas last week. It was a debate about whether the U.S. should wage war on Iraq. That's become an increasingly divisive subject on college campuses across the country, and perhaps nowhere more so than on U.T.'s Austin campus, the largest in the nation, with some 50,000 students, including the President's daughter Jenna.

The tension first surfaced in October when the student government passed a resolution condemning a U.S. attack on Iraq by a 20-to-17 vote. Pro-war advocates on campus jumped on it and immediately began pushing for a repeal. On Veterans Day, more than 300 students poured into a campus auditorium for a formal exchange of views between the Young Conservatives of Texas, strong supporters of the President's plan for Iraq, and the Campus Coalition for Peace and Justice, a group formed after the Sept. 11 attacks to oppose the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and which is just as fervently against a second war front. Speaking for the Young Conservatives, Erin Selleck told the audience that the al-Qaeda terrorist network and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein were one and the same. "They are enemies of the civilized world. Even more frightening is the idea of Iraq having nuclear weapons. Imagine if he supplies them to terrorists," she argued. Countered Campus Coalition member Joel Feldman: "The U.S. dictating who will be in power in the Middle East is part of the problem, not the solution. This war will be seen by the rest of the world for what it is, an act of aggression for a strategic purpose."

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Most listeners in the audience seemed to agree with the Campus Coalition, or at least people on that side seemed more vocal about their feelings. Still, the Young Conservatives also had defenders. When an antiwar advocate began heckling a student in the pro-war camp, other supporters of the President's policies stood up, and a fistfight almost broke out. The evening's moderators managed to restore order before any damage was done, and the meeting ended civilly two hours later with each team thanking the other for its participation.

But the debate is far from over. The resolution against a war could still be overturned should a government member file a motion for a new vote. So the antiwar students continue to make their case. "With the passing of the U.N. resolution, it seems more important now than ever. We have to add our voices to the growing resistance and check this war before it gets started," says Andy Gallagher, 28, a senior majoring in psychology. Jordan Buckley, 20, a junior who wrote the resolution, is in the process of constructing a website to help other campuses get organized against the war. Buckley concedes that the peace efforts at U.T. may have little bearing on the country's actions, but he hopes that they will at least catch the ear of the President, whose daughter Jenna is a junior and nephew George P. Bush attends the law school. Neither of the younger Bushes has participated in the campus discussions about the war. "I don't think they are particularly interested in joining this debate," Buckley says. But, he speculates, "maybe word will get to Mr. Bush that we don't want a war; maybe he'll hear it through the grapevine."