There was a time when the impending arrival of the president of the United States to a small American town conjured images of red, white and blue bunting on porches and hand-lettered signs of welcome in storefront windows.

Today, it isn't quite the same.

	John Heller, Post-Gazette While on campus signs were posted welcoming the president, a group of protesters showed up at the college entrances last night to voice a contrary opinion. Click image for larger version.

President Bush flies into St. Vincent College in Latrobe this morning to deliver the commencement address to the graduating class of 2007, but to look around the city of fewer than 9,000 residents, you'd never know it.

There will be signs, but not many. And as of yesterday afternoon, they were the signs protesters were preparing to display in the area authorities set aside for them along Route 30, just off the campus.

And the flags flying in front of the homes aren't just for today. They are invariably permanent shows of patriotism, most in support of American troops.

Part of the explanation, according to Latrobe Mayor Tom Marflak, is that Mr. Bush is not running for anything. Unlike a candidate who is eager to shake hands and stump for votes in the corner coffee shops, the president is coming to town for a specific purpose, and then he'll be on his way.

"One of the reasons it's so low-key is the amount of time he's expected to be in Latrobe," Mr. Marflak said. "It's really going to be a brief visit -- just enough time to do the commencement speech and then right back out of town."

But there might be another reason, the mayor said.

"It's a very unique situation, having the president of the United States in the neighborhood, and with that comes controversy," he said. "I think that's why some of the business owners aren't putting up the signs that say 'Welcome President,' and things of that nature, because we are in some trying times and that man has a very difficult job.

"There's going to be protesters, and with controversy like that, the small-business owners in a small community ... they aren't going to get themselves in the middle of a political rally.

"It's kind of risky to put out a sign -- even one that says 'Welcome' -- that might be seen as a political statement."

On the campus, it's different.

Yesterday, the college hung banners on lampposts reading "Congratulations Class of 2007" and "Welcome President Bush." While the president's advance team and members of the Secret Service bustled about the Robert S. Carey Student Center, where the commencement will be held, student volunteers planted zinnias, lilies and hibiscus in the flower bed along the entrance.

"Every year, we prepare the area around the student chapel," said the Rev. Brian Boosel, director of campus ministry. "But this year, because we're having such a special visitor, we're doing it a little bit earlier than we usually do."

Most of the people at this small Catholic college -- students, faculty and members of the administration -- are happy and excited that the president will be on their campus today. There has been some vocal opposition, but college President James Towey said it is a minority that, he hoped, had expressed its views and today would welcome the president "with Benedictine hospitality."

Those opposed to the college's invitation to the president have had weeks to vent their frustration. Thirty students debated the issue in a forum that was televised on C-SPAN. Twenty-nine current and retired faculty members sent an open letter to Mr. Bush decrying his policies.

Last night, about three dozen protesters held signs and candles and sang hymns at a vigil on the road leading into the campus, drawing both cheers and derision from passing motorists.

"The president of the college has the right to invite anybody he wants to be commencement speaker, and to snag a sitting president of the United States is certainly prestigious," said Barbara Roseborough, of Erie, a member of Benedictines for Peace, whose daughter graduated from St. Vincent in 1993. "However, for this man at this time to be presented as a model for young men and women at this institution is just wrong."

Today, Mr. Towey said, it's time to put the spotlight on the 296 graduating seniors.

Security is tight on the campus, which will be closed to traffic today. An estimated 2,000 friends and family members will be in the auditorium watching the president speak. Large view screens have been erected on each side of the stage for those in the back of the room.

The protesters who were planning to line the road leading into the campus this morning were told that they'll be confined to an area set aside off-campus. That will be fine with Francine Porter, the Pittsburgh coordinator for Codepink, a peace and social justice group that has protested visits by Mr. Bush across the country.

"It's harder to organize a rally in Unity Township because we don't know the roads, we don't know the permit process, we don't know the police," said Ms. Porter, who expects more than 100 protesters to gather today. "But we'll be there, in our designated spot."

It is a spot, she acknowledged, that the president probably won't pass. Even with Arnold Palmer Regional Airport only a short distance away, the White House has already practiced more than one landing of Marine One, the president's helicopter, in a parking lot on the college campus. It's likely he won't set foot off campus.

Other protest organizers weren't as serene about the ground rules. They gathered in Downtown Pittsburgh yesterday to complain about stonewalling of dissenters by the Bush administration.

Mr. Bush's policy of keeping protesters at a distance while allowing supporters greater visibility during his speeches amounts to "discrimination" and violates the First Amendment, said Jeff Garis, co-director of the advocacy group PA Action.

Jeremy Shenk, communications director at the Thomas Merton Center, said keeping demonstrators outside a perimeter more than a mile from the event was a blatant attempt to keep them out of sight and out of mind.

Then there were the protesters' critics, who can't figure out why these people would want to create such a distraction.

Justin Epler, a senior who will graduate today, said he is excited that the president is speaking at his commencement. The presence of the protesters, however, confounds him.

"Everyone has his valid points, and I'm not going to say they're wrong," he said. "It just seems like the minority is a little louder.

"We've had protesters near the campus every Sunday since the president's visit was announced. They're orderly and respectful, but my point is, they're not graduating. This isn't their commencement. This is my college. It's about the seniors and [Mr. Bush] coming to speak to us."

"No one has any intention of ruining the seniors' graduation," Ms. Porter said. "But this is where we need to be, where people are opposed to us. That's all the more reason to do it here. If we were rallying where everyone agreed with us, we'd be preaching to the choir.

"We're here to raise awareness. That's what dissent is all about."