Some people thought the beat of the drums and the warm weather would coax more people to the King Memorial Commons Thursday for a peace rally.

Volunteers from the NIU Community for Peace started beating buckets with sticks at noon and took turns until about 4:45 p.m., when the rally began.

About 65 people came, but by 6:30 p.m., when a march was scheduled to take place, only 20 people were left.

Those who wanted to speak were asked to sign a list and were given five minutes on the microphone.

The rally opened with a song from Marna Coldwater. She said she composed the song in August when U.S. troops first were sent.

“As long as money talks, there will always be war at home,” she sang. “Fight the war at home.”

Several people spoke against President Bush’s decisions.

“Bush talks about Hussein—he should talk about what he did to the Third World countries,” said Monica Lemaitre, an associate professor of language and literature.

Eric Dale of United Campus Ministries said if Bush wants the war, he should go and fight it.

“The American people have been robbed. This is not our war. It’s Bush’s war,” he said. “This is a war of power.”

Steve Honchell, a member of the Illinois National Guard, said the low attendance was “pathetic.”

“You’re the people who are supporting the troops—not the ones waving the flag,” he said. “If I go, I am not going to go for Bush or to liberate Kuwait. I am going to go so that my people can come home alive.”

DeKalb resident Diana Barnes, whose sister is in Saudi Arabia, passed by the commons and decided to speak.

“I personally don’t think that we should be policing other countries when there are so many problems here in our own (country),” she said.

NIU Judicial Officer Larry Bolles said his office got a couple of anonymous calls during the day from some war advocates that threatened to come and run everyone off of the commons. However, the rally went without incident.

Shamus Shubert, junior marketing major, was one of few people who disagreed with the peace advocates.

“The anti-war support has dwindled since the last rally. These people here are missing the point,” Shubert said. “People aren’t seeing the good reasons for us being out there, like Kuwait being turned into a scrap-yard by Saddam.”

Because of cold weather, the group dropped its plans for marching to the West Lagoon and went to a recruiting station, where they sang a peace song.