Students also stressed that NATO meant the bombing as a demonstration to the Serbians that they would no longer be allowed to kill the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

"I think the NATO bombing is a reaction of a society that feels a responsibility and won't watch one's neighbors getting killed," said Berislav Marusic '01, who is from Croatia.

Though students' reactions to the cease-fire and continued bombing are the latest in a long list of differences in opinion, the most recent events have polarized feelings on both sides of the issue.

Most Serbian students said NATO's attack on their sovereign country is illegal.

"What NATO is doing is against international law, against their founding charter and they aren't endorsed by the UN," said Marina Jovanovic '01, from Belgrade.

"NATO is definitely overstepping its boundaries," said Srdjan L. Tanjga '01, also from Belgrade. "NATO is bombing a sovereign nation which has not jeopardized NATO members and...which has not provoked NATO."

But other students from the region who had already expressed support for the NATO bombings said that recent events have strengthened their commitment to NATO's actions.