Last night, as the bombing began in Iraq, students across the University—in the midst of mid-terms, the housing lottery and pre-spring-break stress—put down their books to watch President Bush’s much-anticipated announcement of war.

Less than two hours after Bush’s deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq, the U.S. military attacked with tomahawk cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs dropped from F-17 stealth fighter bombers.

U.S. government officials said the strikes targeted Iraqi leaders—including Saddam himself—in what Bush called the opening salvo in an operation to “disarm Iraq and free its people.”

At Harvard, the outbreak of hostilities was marked by impromptu open-microphones, common room discussions and groups huddled around television sets across campus to hear Bush’s announcement of war at 10:15 p.m.

“The time for international dialogue may be past, but the time for dialogue within the University has only begun,” Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby wrote in an e-mail last night.

University President Lawrence H. Summers said last Friday that despite his hopes for peaceful resolution, in the event of armed conflict, he expected Harvard students to be tolerant of each other.

“I hope and trust that we will all be sensitive to the rights and freedoms of people in this community, regardless of their views on the war and regardless of their nationality and background,” Summers said.

The outbreak of war was met on campus with a wave of response, both ideological and personal.

“On e-mail lists and in the dining halls, faculty and students are really coming together and talking about this,” Undergraduate Council President Rohit Chopra ’04 said.

“Universities have always been a hub of viewpoints on both sides and we are all young. It’s good that we are being trained here to have independent minds,” he added.

Protesting the War

In the first major protest since the outbreak of war, the Harvard Initiative for Peace and Justice (HIPJ) has organized a campus-wide walk-out from classes today.

The group’s leaders said they expect more than 1,200 undergraduates to march from the John Harvard Statue to MIT tomorrow at 12:30 p.m.

HIPJ members desperately made phone calls to all 1,200 students signed up to walk out last night, asking them all to do their best for peace.

Members of HIPJ took a break from preparing their posters and buttons last night to watch the speech together in the basement of Mower Hall.