For a brief half hour Thursday, traffic at the University suddenly resembled Lower Manhattan at rush hour. Anti-war protesters joined together arm-in-arm in a human wall, thwarting all traffic and bus flow to and from West Campus.
At approximately 12:15 p.m., a group of some 30 students, believed to be the same group that staged a teach-in at last Wednesday's Duke Student Government meeting, gathered at the traffic circle intersection of Chapel Drive to stage a protest against the war in Iraq, which by some accounts essentially ended Wednesday.
The demonstration, planned to coincide with a time of heightened traffic between 12:10 and 12:40 p.m., caused a wide-ranging disruption of campus as halted cars, police and media presence brought movement to a standstill. Protesters, who refused to comment, handed out flyers explaining their cause and argument and stood in solidarity unhindered by the rain, shouts from bystanders, or the police.
"By preventing the usual business of our lives, we are saying that there cannot be, and should not be business as usual," their statement read.
The environment quickly turned sour under the pouring rain as people and the mechanisms of campus reacted to the protest.
Buses dropped off and picked up passengers at the top of the traffic circle on Campus Drive. Many angered students had to walk a quarter of a mile through the cold and rain just to get to or from a bus and numerous students found themselves late to their next class.
Passing students provided a consensus of general annoyance that ranged from anger to curiosity. Some supported the ideals of the protest, but not the manner in which it was executed.
"I think it's great that we have a politically active campus," said freshman David Krauss, "I just think it's awful that they're preventing people from going to class."
Others were not as willing to see past the methods of the protesters and lambasted them with mocking and shouts of obscenity.
"I think if we had a monorail, this would never have happened," joked sophomore Daniel Stepner.
A few expressed their outrage with marked words. "This is quite possibly the most obnoxious way to protest," said freshman Esther Houseman. "The protesting at Duke is getting out of hand. If there's a cause you would like to fight for, go about it in a more respectful manner."
That sentiment was echoed by others. "I don't have a problem with people protesting. It's the fact that they took it upon themselves to shut down the University, it's disrespectful and it discredits their cause," said senior Kevin Neveloff.
The most accentuated feelings of indignation came from a driver of a green Ford Focus, one of the first to be impeded by the protests, who attempted to drive his way out of the traffic circle, at times endangering the safety of protesters and bystanders.
However, as the protest unfolded, police arrived at the scene to calm tensions and ensure the safety of those present.
"The No. 1 priority was for the protesters' safety," said Duke Chief of Police Clarence Birkhead, who arrived on the scene shortly after the start and negotiated with protesters to stop the demonstration after 30 minutes. "They have the right to peaceful assembly and we tried to minimize the disruption. Once we found out the particulars of the protest, we made an informed decision to allow it to happen."
Professor of Literature Kenneth Surin, who watched the events unfolding, called the protest an act of dissent and a way of drawing attention to events that are happening in other parts of the world.
"We don't know what the repercussions of something like this will be, but this is probably the first time in decades that something like this has happened at Duke," he said.
In the face of the brash outcry from inconvenienced and angered students, the protesters believed they had accomplished their goal.
"We were here to disrupt people and we weren't surprised at the anger. This was about disruption, civil disobedience, no business as usual," said a spokesperson for the group who refused to provide his name.
The administration also offered its views on the protest. Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta - who was notified of the protests and witnessed its closing moments - said afterward in an e-mail, "As a university, we have a special responsibility to enable the variety of voices to be heard, even in occasional uncomfortable means. While I can support acts of civil disobedience that inconvenience the protesters themselves, I don't endorse those that inconvenience others not choosing to participate."
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