Kansas City, Kan., junior Kristin Werner paused in front of the newspaper kiosk on Wescoe Beach last week before picking up The Lawrence-Journal World.

Werner was looking for a paper with news other than Iraq coverage.

“That´s why I grabbed this one, because it´s not on the front page,” she said.

Werner said she was getting tired of being fed “war cheesecake” by the media.

“The coverage is definitely not real. There´s flying flags and crying mothers, but give me a break, that´s not what it´s about,” she said, “Thousands of people died.”

With President Bush´s announcement of the end of major combat in Iraq on Thursday, some students at the University of Kansas and other universities stopped following the conflict closely.

But protesting and advocating debate about Iraq are still central issues in the lives of some students.

At The University of Iowa, students feel strongly enough about the conflict that a group of 10 to 20 are still protesting, camping out in an area in the center of campus. For these students, the issue is not only the military conflict in Iraq, but the U.S. foreign policies surrounding the war.

The visibility of demonstrations on all sides of the issue have contributed to dialogue on the war, influenced student opinion and affected campus atmospheres.

Students from KU and three other campuses have diverse opinions on the conflict as the focus turns to the United States´ role in rebuilding Iraq.

Marching toward

The University of Iowa

A group of about 20 students at The University of Iowa continue to camp out every night in the center of campus, said Matt Blizek, Centerville, Iowa, senior, who did not camp with the group.

Students began camping March 25 and have permission to continue until May 16. He said since President Bush declared the military combat officially over, protesters were focusing on the need for a change in U.S. foreign policy.

Students have been involved in other ways at the university to address the Iraq situation. Those who support the war organized a one-day protest they called Coalition Camp.

Teach-ins were also held almost every day at noon, and they typically attracted anywhere from 20 to 50 people, Blizek said. He described the teach-ins as an outdoor forum where professors would speak to educate students on topics related to the war.

“I think it´s been a really good thing just as far as opening up debate,” he said. “Right now people are waiting to see what happens next.”

The question of how events will unfold is on the minds of many students.

Julia Miller, Omaha, Neb., sophomore at The University of Iowa, said Americans could not assume they knew what was best for people of a different culture.

“I don´t think the government should claim to understand their culture when they don´t know their needs,” she said. “We can´t impose our liberal values on a society that doesn´t hold liberal values to be true.”

Miller is the Senate executive for undergraduate activities at The University of Iowa. Student government senators at Iowa polled students and wrote a resolution saying the student body was opposed to war, but Miller said it failed by a narrow margin. The student government passed a revised resolution in March saying students supported a diplomatic resolution to the conflict.

She said there had been lively debate on the campus as the war unfolded, but Blizek said he thought things seemed to be dying down as the war drew to a close.

Georgetown University

At Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., members of the student group Peace Action set up camp in Red Square, a prominent gathering space on campus, to encourage dialogue about the war. Someone from the group camped in the square 24 hours a day from March 19, the day the war began, until April 25.

The dedication of the group gained national media attention. The Washington Post wrote an article on April 11 that noted the students´ continued presence even after U.S. troops gained control of Baghdad.

Joe Sciarrillo, Novato, Calif., freshman, was among the core group of 20 students who rotated sleeping in a tent for about five weeks. He said anywhere from four to eight students would sleep in the camp every night, with more students joining on weekends.

The peace camp began with a small group of students intending to stay three nights in the square, Sciarrillo said. After that, about 40 students decided to continue the protest. He said the group quit camping because of the demands of schoolwork and finals at the end of the semester. Sciarrillo said he wished the group was still camping.

“It was something really visible all the time, so students going about their daily lives could always see our presence,” he said. “It was just to draw attention to policies that a lot of us aren´t aware of that we should be pressuring our government to change.”

He said the dialogue at the peace camp was beneficial for challenging opinions within the group as well as promoting an anti-war message. Peace Action students will keep making students aware of other issues surrounding the Iraqi conflict once school resumes, Sciarrillo said.

Most students at Georgetown followed current events closely throughout the war, said Amanda Pape, Olathe junior at the university, but now students are simply catching updates.

Pape said she supported troops stationed there, but disagreed with the way the Bush administration had been handling the conflict.

“It´s failed diplomacy,” she said. “And I don´t think war solves all the problems. Students across the country now are our future - if we could come up with better ways to solve problems.”

Another student at Georgetown, Octavio Gonzalez, Los Angeles freshman, said he opposed any kind of military action. But Gonzalez also acknowledged the need for a change in regime in Iraq because of Saddam Hussein´s systematic torture of his people.

“We need to get rid of the idea that we can topple the government and not occupy the territory to start a new government. The responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the U.S.”

The role of the United States in rebuilding Iraq and establishing a new government is still evolving, although the United States appointed Lt. Gen. Jay Garner as the American head of Iraq´s interim government. Garner will be working with about five Iraqi representatives to build a new government.

Stanford University

The strength of opinions on either side of such a controversial issue made Vamsi Adusumilli, Columbia, Mo., senior at Stanford University, hesitant to take sides in the war.

“I didn´t want to throw my hat in one way or the other because so many people have conflicting opinions,” he said.

Adusumilli said it was important to keep up with new developments in the war because of their possible future implications.

“It´s something that will affect the social and political landscape of the U.S. for our generation,” he said. “It´s the art of being a good citizen, whether you supported the war or not.”

An online poll administered by msnbc.com in an interactive report on rebuilding Iraq shows 40 percent of people polled think the United States should play only a minor role in helping the United Nations rebuild the country.

Wichita junior Michael Scrafford, also a Stanford student, does not think the United States should withdraw troops immediately.

“The U.S. should be involved now to protect our commitment and investment of sending soldiers and other resources to Iraq,” he said. “However, I think we should pull out a strong military presence as soon as we deem the country stable.”

Scrafford said the U.S. government should use this opportunity to search for any potentially dangerous chemical and biological weapons.

Stanford students did not have a peace camp, but they organized and participated in numerous peace rallies, Scrafford said. Professors and other speakers also came to the university to talk about the war and keep students informed.

Being informed about the war is one example of the need to be knowledgeable to participate in American government, he said.

“It´s a microcosm of important issues to exercise the process of educating yourself on political issues, forming an opinion and taking part in democracy,” he said.

University of Kansas

Compared to the level of student activity at Georgetown, Stanford or Iowa, students at the University of Kansas are much less vocal about their views of the conflict in Iraq.

University students participated in the national “Books not Bombs” day of protest, and Lawrence residents and some students set up a peace camp for about a week, but tents were pitched near South Park, on Massachusetts Street, rather than on University grounds.

Allan Hanson, leader of the Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice, said protesters still gathered every Saturday morning outside the Douglas County courthouse, but the number of students attending has fallen.

Mike Brough, Kansas City sophomore, likes to keep up with current events in the Middle East. He said he tried to catch a recap of events at the end of the day.

“I´m interested because what happens over there definitely has an effect on the political landscape here,” he said.

Other students at the University are less concerned about international affairs.

Kyle Lupercio, Overland Park sophomore, reads USA Today, The Kansas City Star, The Lawrence Journal-World, and The New York Times, but looks only at the sports sections and throws the rest of the papers away.

Jaimie Heldstab, Junction City junior, said she paid less attention to the war since military attacks began to taper off, but she thought students wanted to be updated on what was happening in the Middle East.

“I don´t think there are very many students that are following it very closely,” she said. “But I think most people have a general idea.”

Heldstab said she got tired of seeing the same thing on the news after a while, but she still liked to know what was going on.

The United States should continue to be involved in reconstruction, said Heldstab.

“We should listen to what they want, but I think we also know what they need, and we should help them get this started,” she said.

But Piero Eugster, a sophomore from Bogota, Colombia, does not think the United States should be allowed to remain in Iraq unsupervised.

“The U.N. should impose sanctions on the U.S. so it won´t go and attack somebody else, and for basing its attack on the possible location of weapons of mass destruction, which haven´t been found yet,” he said.

The future of Iraq could be anything from a democracy that transforms attitudes in the Middle East to an established religious regime, said Ted Wilson, professor of history.

Ultimately, students can only keep up with events and make an independent judgment based on their knowledge of the situation.

But for some students, the trouble lies in forming a knowledgeable opinion.

“I can't give an exact decision because I don't know all the facts,” said Kansas City freshman Marie Peil. “I don't think anyone actually knows the whole story.”