FARMINGTON – A teach-in on the effects of war Thursday at the University of Maine at Farmington featured Maine peace activist Rob Shetterly in place of war protester Cindy Sheehan, who canceled due to tendonitis in her shoulder.

Before Shetterly’s evening address, some students held a rally in support of U.S. troops because they felt the campus was being one-sided by showing mainly anti-war perspectives.

UMF College Republicans lined up outside Roberts Learning Center holding signs reading, “Bush is My Homeboy,” “I’m Ashamed of My School” and “My Shoulder Doesn’t Hurt” in reference to Sheehan, a founding member of Gold Star Mothers for Peace. Sheehan, who lost her son in the Iraq war, gained national attention for protesting outside President George Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.

“I think they made an almost effort to get it to be fair, but if you went to any of the events today you could see it was clearly anti-war,” said Keith Mahoney, a member of UMF College Republicans.

College Republicans from Colby and Bates colleges, non-Republican students and community members joined the group in holding signs and marching around the campus.

“Our goal in doing this,” said Krystal Loucka, secretary of the College Republicans, “is to show a different side to our school.”

The teach-in featured presentations and films during the day and Shetterly offering a general education to students and the general public about war at night.

Inside Lincoln Auditorium, Shetterly, artist and committed peace activist, presented portraits of people, past and present, who have made an impact on him and a difference in the world.

Shetterly started his portraits as a way to express his feelings. He said he thinks people are “believing in the myth of society without concentrating and learning about what society is or does.” He is active in informing the community about war and history, and he recently began talking to children.

His portraits represented a range of ethnicities and genders and included Eleanor Roosevelt, Sheehan and Dahr Jamail of the United States, who went to Iraq in 2003 to do independent reporting on the war.

Other presentations during the day included Women in Black, an international network of men and women who stand in silence every Friday to represent the dead from war, and an Iraq war veteran who spoke of his time in the war.