A make-shift refugee camp of eight blue tents, constructed of plastic tarps stuck to 5 foot poles with duct tape, sit in front of the library.

Attached to the exterior of each tent is a poster. One reads: “Justice without violence.” Another: “End the cycle.” On a third poster, multi-colored hand prints surround the word “Tolerance” written in red.

Two tents have half sheets of poster board stapled to the front pole. On the signs, the words “refugee camp” appear in red glitter.

“When we were setting up this morning, we realized we didn’t have any markers,” someone says. “But we did have glue sticks and glitter. Use what you have.”

Members of Time for Peace, a campus group that advocates an end to the bombing in Afghanistan, erected the tents in the free speech zone as part of a national day of action for peace and justice, said Matt Denner, a member of the group.

“We did this because the U.S. bombing has led to the millions of Afghans losing their home,” said Denner, sophomore in liberal arts and sciences. “We wanted to call attention to the plight of refugees.”

Denner said more than 100 universities across the nation planned an event for Thursday, including Grinnell College and the University of Iowa.

“Most of the other universities participating were planning to erect refugee camps and stage sit-ins, too,” Denner said.

He said the Campus Greens and the World United Trauma Relief, a nonpartisan coalition from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were instrumental in planning the event.

Time For Peace members also asked passers-by for donations.

Denner said they will send funds to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which has been “very effective in distributing blankets, tents, food and basic resources for refugees worldwide.”

“They especially need help now to meet the needs of Afghan refugees,” he said. “That’s why we felt it was important to coordinate this fund raising effort with the protest against U.S. military action in Afghanistan.”

Denner said the group received “mixed reactions” from people who walked by the camp, but everyone had at least one common thought.

“Nearly all of [the passers-by] were really impressed that their fellow students cared about the Afghan people,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of people who support the war give money for the fund-raiser.”

Jonathan Mullin, member of Time for Peace, said he skipped class all day to be at the protest.

“I feel it’s essential that people realize nearly 7 million Afghans are heading into winter with minimum food and almost no shelter,” he said. “The refugee camp is a way to display how many people have been displaced by the bombing.”

Mullin, sophomore in biochemistry, said the reaction the camp received was “amazing.”

“We’ve had people who have sought us out,” he said. “This is such a visible thing, and we’re drawing out support from people we didn’t know felt the same way.”

Andrea Pusillo, sophomore in art and design, joined the protest around noon. She said she is not yet a member of Time for Peace but the flyers posted around campus made her think.

“I think we need to have a better awareness of what’s happening,” she said. “More people should be sitting here and helping us out.”

Pusillo said she doesn’t think the U.S. military should be bombing Afghanistan.

“I don’t see how going over there and making things worse is going to help us,” she said. “People are people, no matter where they are.”