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Hundreds of students walked out of class on March 5, 2003 in protest of the impending war with Ir

The Royce Hall bells chiming for noon today will not signify anything of particular importance. It will be just another Friday, with many students in a rush to gain some extra time on their weekend and others not on campus at all. Things will be largely uneventful.

One year ago (plus one day, actually, because of the leap year), the campus atmosphere was anything but mundane. Compared to the sparse humdrum of students on campus today, March 5, 2003 was probably the loudest day on campus last year.

Students were cutting class, but not to get to the beach or to steal a three-day weekend. They were walking out of class to demonstrate against the United States’ pending military invasion of Iraq, which would occur just over two weeks later.

The campuswide “walkout,” as it became known, was a large-scale organized movement by students, faculty and staff as part of a bigger worldwide effort that day to protest war in Iraq.

Now after a year, the world has a vastly different perspective on the context in which the United States committed itself to invading and subsequently occupying Iraq. The search for weapons of mass destruction reportedly possessed by deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein have yet to turn up. U.S. military casualties have long since passed the 500 mark.

There have been bright spots, most notably the capture of Hussein in December. But there is still doubt surrounding the exact role the United States is playing in rebuilding Iraq, as American soldiers are killed by insurgents on a regular basis, and as prospects of an international coalition monitoring the situation get dimmer.

As one of the more than 1,000 students who marched, chanted, yelled – or just walked – Vicente Corrales said the United States should not impose its will on other sovereign countries.

“I’m against any U.S. involvement in other countries,” said Corrales, a fourth-year economics and international development studies student. “It’s not the United States’ right to go in and oppose what we think is not right just because we think it is not right.”

And though the vast majority of participants during the March 5 demonstration rallied against military action, the day had its fair share of counter-demonstrators.

Chris Riha, a fourth-year economics student and current executive director of the Bruin Republicans, sat in the balconies of the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center during the walkout. Intermittently, he actually walked along the front lines of the wave of people holding up a banner protesting the protesters.

That banner was reportedly torn up by other students sometime later in the demonstration.

“All these people calling for non-violence couldn’t keep themselves under control,” he said, adding that he showed up to the walkout to provide what he called a “counter-voice.”

“Saddam was a threat that should have been taken care of 10 years ago,” Riha said. “I still think it was a legitimate war.”

As for the issue surrounding weapons of mass destruction, he said the fact that weapons haven’t been found isn’t too important because Hussein was removed from power.

On another side of the situation were professors who were faced with the dilemma of conducting class knowing that students would be walking out to demonstrate. Reactions to the action, which was advertised well in advance, ranged from implicit approval to admonition and direct participation.

Scott Bartchy, a professor of history and director of the Center for the Study of Religion, was teaching a course that lasted through the noon walkout time. He estimated that about 10 percent of his class – about 30-40 students – walked out, and “made a lot of noise” as they left.

“It was disruptive in the sense that it looked like more people were more interested in making a scene than standing up for the issues,” he said.

He initially criticized the students for not positioning themselves on an aisle to make their exit less disruptive, but added that after meeting with his class in the days following the walkout, that sentiment waned.

Bartchy also threw in his two cents about the explanation the Bush Administration gave to the public for going to war.

“I thought we were being lied to at the time,” he said. “I was at the time very skeptical of the weapons of mass destruction.”

But overall, student sentiment about the war and throughout the demonstration fell somewhere in between the arguments of Riha and those of Corrales and Bartchy.

Third-year cognitive science student Matt Guybert didn’t walk out of class, saying he didn’t feel strong enough about the issue and opted to study important course material. He said he supported students’ right to protest, but didn’t fully agree with them on the Iraq situation.

“I’m glad Saddam’s out of power. Looking back at it, I don’t think (the war) was that bad of an idea,” he said.

The political middle ground on the Iraq issue – marked by uncertainty about U.S. military presence in the region, exacerbated by frequent reports of soldier casualties, but supportive of the regime change – has been staked by many students.

“In the long run (the war) might have been necessary, but it wasn’t a good enough reason for me,” said sixth-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student Carlos Martinez, with the “reason” referring to the weapons claims.

On Martinez’s leaning toward participating in an future walkout: “Definitely.”

For many, the walkout afforded a guilt-free opportunity to leave class.

When asked if she would participate in another walkout, third-year psychology and environmental studies student Blossom Kallumkal said “probably.”

“It depends on the class I’d have to miss,” she said with a laugh.

With reports from Richard Clough and Charles Proctor, Bruin senior staff.