"Drexel is a tech school. The kids here are more concerned with their jobs and the economy than about human rights," said Sean Gallagher, a information systems major from Norwell, Mass. "But I think Hollywood's done a lot with concerts and movies to make people feel the plight of Tibetans."

Sandra Esner, co-founder of the Tibetan-American Resource Alliance, based in Langhorne, Pa., spent the afternoon shuttling three Buddhist monks between Drexel University, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, for activities scattered throughout the day.

"I believe in justice and equality," Esner said, as she taped Free Tibet Now signs on topoles. "Tibetans get neither."

It is not the Chinese people that Esner protests, but the government represented by Jiang. "The Chinese people are wonderful, as Tiananmen Square has proven. They have as much of a love for democracy as we have in America."

Esner took President Clinton to task for, in his words, not following up his campaign promises of 1992, when he chastised President Bush for buckling on human rights issues in the face of business leaders who wished to extend China's Most Favored Nation trade status. "If anyone has a memory, I do recall that our president ran on a human rights platform. Where is he now?" she asked.

Its not that easy, Professor of Physics Feng Da Hsuan would argue. "I'm not so sure I believe that human rights is an absolute concept with an absolute time frame," the professor said.

"America can't just jump in and ask for changes. It is arrogant and insensitive," Feng said.

Hu Xiao Ping, a Drexel graduate student from China, agreed: "Some of the protesters are completely ignorant about China. They have never visited China. They don't know what it is like to live there. How do they know about human rights in China?"

For Hu, Western ideas of democracy and human rights must take a back seat to basic needs, like food and shelter.

"I see big problems in human rights," Hu said. "But there are bigger problems in life--like feeding 1.2 billion people.