Lucye Rafferty/The Hoya On Friday, members of GU Peace Action unceremoniously dismantled the camp that had been a regular presence in Red Square since the beginning of March.

Red Square was a little quieter this weekend. Some students paused mid-step to survey the scene, puzzled by the lack of activity, before realizing what was missing: the conglomeration of tents, tarps and peace flags that had monopolized the corner of Red Square by White Gravenor since early March.

GU Peace Action’s “peace camp” came down Friday afternoon at about 12:30 p.m. There was no fanfare or final protest to mark the end of the camp-out that aimed to raise awareness and discussion about the war with Iraq.

“So many people just stopped and stared while we were taking things down,” Peace Action spokesperson Emil Totonchi (SFS ’06) said. “We didn’t want to make a big deal out of it because [Peace Action’s] work isn’t finished, just the camp phase is over.

Though originally planned as a 30-day demonstration, the time frame was gradually extended. However, participants recently had to start weighing their desire to keep the war in the forefront of students’ consciousness with their priorities as Georgetown students.With final exams approaching, participants decided it was time to end the camp out in Red Square and start camping out in the library.

“It’s the Georgetown mentality – people need to focus on schoolwork right now,” Totonchi said.

Participants also agreed that packing up was preferable to diluting the demonstration.

“It was a choice between maintaining the original intensity of the camp and packing up. There was a general consensus that it would be negative for our group’s image if there wasn’t always someone at the camp,” Peace Action member Diana Lee (COL ’04) said.

Totonchi, who spent several nights a week in a sleeping bag under the tents and tarps, estimated that 50 to 100 students were involved with the demonstration, from planning and support to staying in shifts at the camp. Though there was always a presence at the camp, Totonchi said no one actually lived there permanently. Outside of dealing with regular attention from local and national media outlets and engaging in regular debate about the war, Totonchi said participating in the camp-out didn’t dramatically alter the participants’ way of life.

“We did homework out there, it was really just a new place to study,” he said. “The only thing that changed for me was that now I kept my contacts and toothbrush in my backpack all the time. It altered my daily life more in that there was so much healthy discussion . for every person who stopped to thank us and agree with us, there was someone else who disagreed. There were a few cases of harassment, but it was mostly healthy, intelligent discussion.”

Walking through Red Square these days just isn’t the same for many of those who spent their days engaging in discussion with friends and strangers and long nights catching some shut eye on the unforgiving bricks. “It’s sad,” Totonchi lamented. “It was such a beautiful thing, it’s too bad to see it go.”