Possible war with Iraq stirs campus discussion
Students, faculty and staff are divided on whether the United States should go to war with Iraq.
By Jill Meninger
Staff Reporter

Hours before President Bush was expected to address a joint session of Congress Monday evening, students, faculty and staff were debating whether the United States should go to war with Iraq.

The TCU Peace Action organization held an open panel discussion Monday opposing the war against Iraq that was followed by a protest in front of the Student Center. Students in former Speaker of the House Jim Wright’s Congress and the Presidents class held debates focusing on a possible war with Iraq.

Jeff Brubaker, vice president of the TCU Peace Action, said his organization chose to have a discussion and demonstration about the war because it marks the one-year anniversary the United States began attacking Afghanistan.

Although their actions violate guidelines set in the Student Handbook that stipulate student protests must be restricted to Frog Fountain, he said his group proceededbecausehe said his groupdoes not think there should be designated areas as long as the protests are peaceful.

“We bring this situation not only about war with Iraq but also about designated protest areas around campus,” Brubaker, a sophomore history major, said.

Following the protests, professors from the religion, history and political science departments participated in a panel discussion in the Student Center Lounge. Each of the three professors addressed why the United States should not go to war with Iraq in their own opinions.

Dr. Brent Plate, an assistant professor of religion, said the United States has been at war with Iraq for 10 years and Americans should pull back and focus on America’s domestic life, such as education and poverty.

“War is a distraction from things that matter,” Plate said.

Meanwhile, in Wright’s Congress and the Presidents class, opinions of war were divided among students.

“What was heard today reflects what is on the minds of people,” Wright said.