AUSTIN, TEX. ? On a sun-soaked lawn at the University of Texas’s sprawling campus here, three college juniors lounged, cross-legged, between classes the other day, sipping soft drinks on the grass. But the image of carefree undergraduate torpor at one of the nation’s largest universities dissolved when the subject turned to the prospect of a new American war in the Persian Gulf.

“It’s just a grudge match, unfinished business between Saddam Hussein and (President Bush’s) dad,” said Blake Chaifetz, 20, an American studies major from Houston whose dreadlocks spilled from the bandana on his head.

“I haven’t seen the evidence (of Saddam’s threat to the United States), if they have any,” said Caren Panzer, 20, a journalism major from Houston. “He’s committed us to war whether we want it or not.”

As the Bush administration presses its case for deposing Saddam and committing U.S. troops to what could be a long stay in the region, many American students seem far from convinced. Protests and rallies a hallmark of campus life in previous conflicts are still a distant prospect, but anti-war sentiment made up the plurality of opinions expressed in scores of interviews at universities around the country.

At several campuses, anti-war organizing and petition drives had begun, apparently unmatched by similar pro-administration efforts. And while the academic year is young, and the odds of U.S. troops fighting in Iraq are uncertain, a number of students’ comments suggested that their campuses could contain the seeds of a peace movement.

“You definitely wouldn’t see me in a uniform,” said J. Patrick Bland, a sophomore at Tulane University in New Orleans. “I don’t care if they call my number or not. This isn’t war; this is political posturing.”

Bush’s arguments that the Iraqi regime poses a threat to the United States and the world have hit home with some students. Eric Israel, a freshman at Tulane, said: “It’s a good idea. Saddam Hussein needs to be ousted. He needs to go. Little Bush needs to clean up what Big Bush didn’t.”

Yet even among some students who were more receptive to Bush’s position, there were wincing acknowledgments that a war and its aftermath could be painful, costly and fraught with risks for the United States.

“My first choice would be a covert operation 21 guys go in and take out Saddam Hussein,” said Dale Freytag, 19, a sophomore at the University of Texas.

Few students defended the Iraqi regime or expressed doubts about U.S. military capabilities. Rather, most were skeptical about Bush’s motives.

On Tuesday morning, Marie Frisoff was plastering Columbia’s stone buildings and sober statues with neon-green posters headlined “Not so sure?” and inviting classmates to a meeting to discuss the potential war on Iraq. “There are a lot of people that just have a lot of questions,” said the 21-year-old political science major from Cleveland.

Within yards of Frisoff’s green poster trail, James Catrambone, 20, polished off an early lunch and offered his support to Bush. “We should just set a deadline and use force,” said the sophomore economics major.

At New York University, there seemed little enthusiasm for a war. “I feel like there’s absolutely nothing any of us can do about it,” said Sara Schwartz, a 20-year-old sophomore from Philadelphia. “I don’t think it’s going to help our relations in the Middle East.”

In the Washington area, some students said they were preoccupied with sports and studies. But Sean Douty, a freshman architecture major at the University of Maryland, pronounced himself unworried by the Bush administration’s designs for Iraq. “If they decide war is necessary and the right thing to do, then I support that,” he said.

Protesters let their shirts do the talking while standing silently during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney to the University of Wyoming campus in Laramie, Wyo. Cheney was visiting his alma mater Friday to help promote a University of Wyoming fund-raising campaign. On campuses across the nation, the prospects of a U.S. attack on Iraq are generating debates.

At St. John’s, the liberal arts college known for its Great Books Program, politics had touched the school only lightly. Yet when a group of sophomores fell into a discussion of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Treatise on Law and how it related to the overthrow of a head of state, Matt Gates brought the discussion to the real world.

“I feel like Bush is kind of obsessed with this,” Gates said. “I question whether pre-emptive military strikes are legally justified by international law.”

At Berkeley, Tulane and Notre Dame, there was little organized opposition to a war, but little enthusiasm for an attack on Iraq.

“We were responding to aggression before,” said Jon Kocarnik, a Notre Dame sophomore. “This time, our motives seem unclear.”