| Students pray for peace
By Will Refvem
News Editor
Students and faculty gathered on the Commons lawn at 6:30 pm Wednesday for a peace vigil organized by the history department.
The vigil comes after an eventful spring break week in which President George W. Bush issued an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein 48 hours before the first bombs dropped on Baghdad. Bush gave Hussein 48 hours to leave Iraq.
Hussein did not leave.
This vigil is not unprecedented. Last year a similar vigil was held on the Commons lawn to pray for an end to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Students this time were less emotional than in the previous vigil as they took turns praying, asking for peace in Iraq, Palestine and elsewhere in the world.
“When you pray for peace, it’s not just for Iraqis or for Americans, you pray for peace across the board,” said junior Vito Russo, who attended the vigil. Russo felt positive about the vigil.
“At least someone’s doing something on campus and not just sitting around thumbing it,” he said.
The war has continued to divide the campus and the nation, though spring break seems to have calmed everyone down at Calvin.
Junior Mark Schemper did what most of Calvin—and most of the world—were doing as he watched the bombing of Baghdad on television.
“As accurate as they say those missiles are, I just can’t imagine that there aren’t innocent people dying,” said Schemper, who has participated heavily in Calvin’s anti-war movement.
He also watched as protests continued to escalate across the nation, often times with anti-war protestors being themselves the target of protests.
“It definitely seems like it’s a divisive issue from the protests,” he said.
“I’m a little disappointed with both sides of protesters. I feel like the anti-war protesters really don’t serve their cause well with some of the stuff they use.”
All signs are that Calvin students are concerned as their nation plunges into a war of uncertain outcome.
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