The scene was right outside East Halls on a Saturday morning in 1968.

Ten thousand people gathered on the 15-degree day to protest the Vietnam conflict. They were from Penn State, State College and the surrounding areas.

Michael Schaeffer, a Penn State student from 1965 to 1968, was there, and he has vivid memories of some protests on campus and the emotional atmosphere the war created.

"At one point, we thought the protest was turning ugly as a great commotion grew near the speaker's podium, but it was just him sliding down an embankment about 100 feet. It was pretty funny now that I think about it, but then we just started chanting, 'U.S. out of Vietnam' for about an hour," he added.

Flash forward from 1968 to today. Dave Prouty (sophomore-psychology) said in his two years at Penn State, he has not witnessed a protest.

"I've never seen one. I mean, I've seen ads and chalk on the sidewalk, but no sit-ins or anything like that," Prouty said.

The reason for the diminishing awareness and action is a lack of interest, Prouty said.

However, Danielle Goetz (junior-marketing) said she remembers people protesting the Iraqi war outside the Allen Street gates and controversial pro-life protests near the Willard Building.

"I bet no one forgot the graphic photos depicting abortions and comparing it to the holocaust and lynchings," Goetz said.

To Goetz, Penn State is not an apathetic place. "Penn State awareness isn't dead. I think there are definitely people that are trying to make a difference and show their beliefs if there is a big issue like war."

The war on Iraq has taken many American and Iraqi lives, yet the campus seems quiet and uninterested to some professors, students and alumni.

The Vietnam War resulted in about 60,000 American soldiers' lives and the United States losing the war. Today, as America has become involved in the war on Iraq, protests on campus during the Vietnam War are memories told by professors and parents who attended Penn State.

James Eisenstein, professor of political science, said there is a blatant difference between student action and awareness on campuses across the country in comparing the Vietnam War to the war on Iraq.

"There is a huge difference. People were being drafted, boyfriends were being drafted, and they were going to Vietnam and getting killed. That got peoples' attention," Eisenstein said.

The difference, Eisenstein said, is direct self-interest. "Now students are thinking about graduating and getting a job, while in 1965 and '66, the question was, 'Is my lottery number going to get me drafted, and am I going to get killed?' " he said.

Current students on campus may have the opportunity to live their undergraduate years at Penn State without witnessing one protest.

"It seems like there aren't any protests, in general, at school, or they last only a day, and no one even knew about it. I guess compared to Vietnam, kids are much less interested in politics and what's going on in the world," Prouty said.

Although he has yet to see protests for any cause, pro-war, anti-war, abortion, environmental or racial issues, Prouty said demonstrations for a cause are a good thing and should be used. "I'm all for people protesting and saying what they believe. If there is maybe 50 scattered people here and there, it doesn't seem like anyone will pay attention or care, which is so different from Vietnam."

Not only was campus life alive outside of the classroom during the 1950s and 1960s, inside the classroom was a great forum for discussion, Schaeffer said.

"Everyone everywhere talked about the war or whatever else was going on in the world. Every class, it didn't even matter the subject, there would be a discussion about war, and there would be people arranging protests and sit-ins for that weekend," he said.

Schaeffer said that there were bus trips to Washington D.C. for protests, and the government was starting to listen.

"We wanted to create the feeling of unrest, cause commotion, but most importantly, be heard. And we were," he said.

Schaeffer's strong feelings against the war were a result of his fear of being drafted.

"I was in dire panic because I did not believe in the war, and I didn't want to fight for a questionable cause," he added.