There in Webster's bookstore, on a dreary State College Sunday, things were pretty quiet. A couple was sitting in the window, quietly laughing together. Curled up in a corner, a tall blond woman was surrounded by books, papers and coffee, perhaps absorbed in her coursework. She looked rather anonymous, but when she conversed her eyes lit up with an enthusiasm that betrayed her appearance.

"War on Iraq is wrong," she insisted. I asked her if she thought the peace movement had any bearing on the administration's pre-determination for war, and she sighed with a bit of resignation. But, she reminded me, the peace movement also should exist to increase awareness and critical thought.

"Our foreign policy history is full of repeated mistakes," she reflected, mentioning U.S. weapons sales and involvement with regimes like the Taliban. The woman is peace activist Sacha Brown, and she's what's right about this university.

Earlier this semester, hundreds of students attended a "teach-in" on Iraq, where speakers debated the various merits and faults of war. For more than two hours, students leaned forward in the chairs and aisles, glued to the debate. When graduate student Scott Morris boomed "Ivory!" onstage, drawing from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, students anxiously eyed one another. When professor Jose Texidor assured that the U.S. military doesn't kill innocents, the crowd alternately rose with cheers and some jeers. Without the current peace movement these teach-ins would not exist, nor would the audience.

While watching peace protesters lying on the floor of the HUB-Robeson Center this semester, staging a so-called "die-in," one gets the feeling something significant has started here. But some onlookers, speaking under their voices, jested that the "dead" protesters are only significantly odd. As they left, they craned their necks back to see the signs reading "Blood is thicker than oil," and they muttered to themselves again: "Odd."

So who are these "odd" protesters, and what do they look like when they're not "dead?"

For a movement known to have so many different contributors, it's hard to get a solid feel for its character. At Penn State, the protesters range from freshmen to senior citizens. Their clothes range from Abercrombie to hemp. Their opinions of the motive for war range from oil to imperialism. They all, however, believe that America is going down a precarious path, and they are concerned.

Some national groups, such as United for Peace, are conglomerations themselves. United for Peace's Feb. 15 rally was a collaboration with groups like Women for Peace, Black Voices for Peace and Pax Christi. Other groups, such as leftist International ANSWER, are more controversial. While ANSWER's new mission is explicitly anti-war, it is true they have had communist affiliations in the past.

Other national voices against the war are from the right. Pat Buchanan continues to be an outspoken critic of war on Iraq. Brent Scrowcroft, former National Security Advisor to Bush senior, simply wrote, "Don't attack Saddam" in the Wall Street Journal.

What quickly becomes evident is that it is not important where these voices are coming from; what is important is what they are coming together for. Of course, the movement has various opinions and voices -- but so does any group. And, like any group, what is important is the collective effort. For this reason, the peace movement at Penn State and around the world is slowly seeping into various political communities.

From the Vatican to the streets of Tokyo, voices of concern are filling the air. These voices do not represent a certain political "faction" but, rather, are the sentiment of populations that are as much as 90 percent against the war, such as Germany.

On Feb. 15, one of the largest protests in history took place. Where were you? The concept of protests is not new, and on-campus groups have been staging protests for some time. But this protest movement, which is so much larger than any other in our lifetime, has brought with it much emotionalism and controversy. More important, however, the movement brings a proliferation of thought and questioning to Penn State. Questioning not only of the war, but of the protesters themselves. These questions create debate and scholarship, elements which all too often are lost amid a sea of 40,000 students.

We should have the maturity to view protesters in perspective, and embrace the culture it promotes.

Penn State, be proud of your protesters.