One hundred or more members of the Homewood community paused at midday on Oct. 31 before the steps of the Eisenhower Library for a peaceful "Time of Reflection," an event planned by graduate students in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. Conceived and run as a responsible exercise of freedom of speech, the event provided an open forum for the voicing of diverse, informed views on current U.S. policy and the war in Afghanistan.

Speakers--invited by the event's organizers and introduced by History of Art doctoral candidate Christina Neilson--included Ben Parris, a graduate student in the Department of English; Ben Stark, an undergraduate majoring in English; and, representing an older generation, JHU's highly respected former chaplain, Chester Wickwire. Philip Wheaton, an Episcopal priest from Washington, D.C., who heads the Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Caribbean, reviewed and interpreted currents of conflict in the Middle East. And Eunice Maguire, curator of the Hopkins archaeological museum, read a moving poem she had written on the fall of the World Trade Center towers and the dark days that followed.

Late in the proceedings, Chris Powers, a Humanities Center student, summarized the purpose and spirit of the event by reflecting on the mandate of intellectuals to analyze and express views on the political environment, noting in particular the need to assure that "the homeland remains secure for dissent."

To join the group or find out about its future events, go to jhu4peace@yahoo.com.