Miami Hurricane, January 22, 1991

              Butler: UM prays for best, plans for worst
By FRANK RECIO
oían wrner
Aa the conflict in the Persian Gulf escalates, the University of Miami administration is taking steps to prepare students (or possible conse-auences of the war.
UM has about 200 students from the Middle East, including 37 from Kuwait and 2 from Iraq, in addition to many more students who have family and friends somehow involved in the conflict.
"When you go to war you have to change your mentality?’ UM President Edward T. Footed said.
Although the University does not have any immediate plans to cancel classes or scheduled
Students hope for peaceful solution
Just one day before the United States launched a military assault
«Iraq, about 350
ni students gathered together in a candlelight vigil for peace.
Some sang songs while others sat quietly talking among ‘
Still others simply stared at the . The mood was somber but
I even though their desire for a peaceful solution to the Gulf crisis has not become a reality, participants say the vigil served an important purpose.
"It wu a way of supporting each other, and it gave students strength in dealing with this,” said senior Carrie Edmondson, a resident assistant in the apartment rea.
Edmondson helped organise the vigil which was held last Tuesday night near the sand volleyball court of the apartment area. "It was not for or against the war, but for students,” Edmondson said.
Another vigil, sponsored by the UM Chaplains Association, will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at the University Center Rock.
Reed Maxwell, a junior majoring in engineering, said he attended the vigil because he is opposed to the war and to any armed enforcement of U.S. policy.
"Even though the government was poised for war in the first place, the vigil was important,” Maxwell said. "It gave people a chance to express their feelings and showed that it’s not just one or two people who think the war is a bad thing.”
Some students at the vigil dis-chanting, "George Bush, rge Bush!”
One freshman who asked that his name not be used said military action was the only way to stop

campus events, Foote said such decisions will be ing a terrorist attack, made on an individual basis.
Dr. William Butler, vice president for student affairs, added, "These are difficult times. The
cal
system for every
University is praying for the best, but we are planning for the worst.”
“I think that we will beat serve the cause by continuing with our fundamental work,” Foote said. "If people in charge of an event don’t feel right about having it, maybe it shouldn’t happen. It depends on the context.”
“A blanket decision to cancel all events would hurt more than it would help,” Foote continued.
Added security measures will be taken during special campus events.
Foote said the University also has conti cy plans for any situation that could arise,
August Bremer of the UM Army e Hurricane Bataillon has received
We have an emeri itastrqphe,” Foote Lt. Col.
ROTC said the
no threats of violence or protest.
“We are taking normal precautions and using common sense, Bremmer said, adding that although problema are possible, the cadets’ program of training will not be interrupted.
Irwin Ran, UM Student Government presi-
itingen-, includ
dent, said, "It is up to us as a community to keep calm heads.”
Rajj added that if a student sees something happening, he or she should “take the initiative to prevent something ugly.”
COPING WITH THE CRISIS
•	The Community Development Center w« bey a series ol support group meetings at noon and 1P *
Mondays and Wednesdays and at 4 and 5 p m oo 1----
and Thursdays m University Center room 233. For more Information call 284-639«.	___
will be hoW^rom*10a' mMo ifp.m. today at the UC Rock
•	Free video miMsgi. will be taped and sent to U.8. troops stationed In Saudi Arabia from 11a.m. to 1 p.m. today and Wednaaday In the UC lower lounge.
•	Television sets located on the first and second floors of the Center will be available for student viewing throughout the
e University chaplains and Couneeling Center staff will be available 24 hours a day through the residential college front desks.
PPPMipHnHw
OIVR PEACE A CHANCE : Candlelight illuminates the face of freshman Jan ScheHhase at a peace vigil held at the apartment area volleyball courts on the evening of the U N. deadline for Iraqi wlthdrawl from Kuwait.
work,” Rose said.
While some college campuses across the country have staged anti-war demonstrations, the reaction to the war on the UM campus has not been as vocal Some students say they believe understanding the war and offering each other lake Rose, a senior in Army support is more important than ROTC, said people should support protesting.
living Ton, Higgins, Student Govem-
"that international dictator,” Saddam Hussein.
The student’s words, spoken the night before the U.S. air attack, warned that Americans must be ready to support a war if necessary. "Everyone wanta peace, but it a just not gonna happen," he said.
the decision and continue living their lives.
"Sitting around 24 hours a day, watching bombs fall, is not good for anyone’s mental condition. We gave peace a chance, but it didn’t
ment press secretary, said open discussion among students should be encouraged.
“We have to agree to disagree,”
Higgins said. “By discussing issues in a constructive way, we are educating each other.”
Kara Bonday, a member of Program Council, helped organise an expert panel discussion on the war last week. Panel members Rabbi Louis Feldstein, the director of the Hillel Jewish Student Center, Dr. Alexander Mclntire, a professor at the UM Graduate School of International Studies and retired Army Col. Bob Russell answered student questions and discussed U.S. policy ■KflMMINJt*
Program Council is sponsoring another discussion at noon tomorrow in the lower lounge of the University Center.
Chris Majerik, s film major, attended the first discussion and said he believed the media and the ovemment were conspiring to i the public from knowing the i about the war.
“The trooM are just pawns of the president,” he said. "I do support the troops. I just don’t want them over there.”
Possibility of draft increasing
Kuwaitis: War began months ago
By ROBERT MILLER
Contributing Editor
For Kuwaiti students attending classes at the University of Miami, Wednesday’s announcement of war in the Persian Gulf changed very Brae. After atI, Opetwfoe ftwmt Storm, aa it has been called by Pentagon officials, was not the beginning of the ww for them.
"For us, as Kuwaitis, the war started Aug. 2 (the date of the Iraqi invaaionl,” said Mohammad, a Kuwaiti student who wished to be identified only by his first name.
Kuwaiti students say they have been living with the threat of war for six months.
Mohammad, a junior engineering major, said he does not want his full name printed, because he said the Iraqi government keep* track of people who speak out against it. And, he said, he is afraid that the Iraqis might try to harm his family
—	still in Iraqi-controlled Kuwait
—	if they knew his identity.
He has not heard from his family since Iraq cut off all communication I with the small country after the invasion.
The Kuwaiti students, while afraid for their families still in Kuwait, say they are relieved that their "private war with Iraq” has become an "international war.”
“In general, there is a feeling, not of jov, but of hope,” Mohammad said. "We have hope that this thing will end soon. We were hoping that it would end peacefully, but now there is nothing else that can be done.”
According to him, five of his Kuwaiti friends at UM left school last semester to go home to Kuwait and join the resistance movement there.
Mohammad said "more than eight” have joined the remainder of the Kuwaiti Army in Saudi Arabia. Several others, he said, joined the U.S. Army and are working as translator* in the Persian GuR “We are willing to sacrifice any thing to get back Kuwait,” he said.
By ROBERT S. MARSHALL
Contributing Editor
The current call to war In the Middle East could result in the call to arms of many of the country’s men between the ages of 18 and 26, a number of military experts and senators say.
In fact, Congress is currently debating whether the United States would be able to maintain the military campaign against Iraq without conscription.
Prior to the beginning of an actual armed conflict, many military expert* in the Pentagon and Congress said it would be difficult, if not impossible, to maintain a military presence in the region without a draft.
Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Georgia), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said during an interview in November that he believed the U.S. would not have the ability to sustain the level of force* in the Persian Gulf.
Stressing that he was not calling for a draft, he skirted the isaue by not actually laying that a draft was necessary.
Now, although few are willing to comment on it, it that a draft may be inevitable.
Those currently serving in the reserves may be called at any time into active duty now that Congress has authorized the president to call up reservists. If more men were needed, a mandatory conscription would begin.
To institute a draft, Congress would have to approve a law giving the military the right to draft. Once this occurs, the selective service would fully activate its system and begin notifying men of their requirement to report for military duty. .
A man would have to file for an exemption or deferment within 10 day*, if he chose to do so.
The selective service would be able to mobilise 100,000 men within the first 30 days after a draft is authorised.
Many college students are under the mistaken impression that they would be exempt from a draft. •
In 1971, student exemptions from the draft were abolished. Under the current selective service policy, those students who receive notice that they have been
IF THE DRAFT WERE REINSTATED:
•	Congress will pass a law relnstat ing the authority to draft
•	Selective Service will assign a lottery number for each birth date.
•	Those turning 20 this year will be the first called, followed by; 21, 22,
23,24,25,19 and 18-In that order.
•	The next day, mailgrams will be
sent to registrants whose birth dates were given low lottery numbers.	/
•	Draftees will have 10 days from the date the mailgram was sent to report for active military duty.
THE DRAFT

•	Draftees will have less than 10
days to file for deferments and exemptions.
•	The following exemptions and deferments are available:
-	conscientious objector t hardship
-	minister or ministerial student (there are no other student deferments)
-medical
-	homosexuality
-	surviving son (if your mother, father, brother or sister was killed as a result of military service.)
drafted may file for a deferment.
Barbi Richardson, a public affair* apeciiliat for the •elective service told the Humean* last aemster, "If a — ia called up while he is in college, he would be
a senior,
a determent to < , he would bei
hia semester. If he is to complete the year, but
Pitas* Mr page 4/DRAPT

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