There was something nostalgic about the sight of that ragtag column marching down Franklin Street Wednesday afternoon, chanting and carrying banners demanding peace.

The protesters -- organized by Students for a Democratic Society, which has risen, phoenix-like, from the ashes of the 1960s -- marched from campus to the site of the new Army recruiting station. They were intent on making their views loud and clear.

They had, of course, every right to do that. Their primary message was a little disheartening, though. It was, essentially, "Get out of our town."

That's an awkward demand coming from a political persuasion that generally tends to count tolerance and diversity as virtues.

Tolerance doesn't necessarily mean keeping silent when you disagree with the other guy; but it does mean respecting his right to exist alongside you and to hold and state his views, just as you expect him to respect your right to do the same. That's sort of a bedrock principle of the United States.

Accepting the presence in your midst only of those who agree with you isn't tolerance at all. And intolerance is as ugly no matter which end of the political spectrum it comes from.

Some see the recruiting station as a sort of brick-and-mortar referendum on the war in Iraq, a tangible incarnation of that travesty.

We share that view of the war. But it doesn't follow that the military by definition is an illegitimate institution or an unacceptable career path. On the contrary, for most who join up it is an honorable one.

Opponents allege that military recruiters frequently use deceptive claims to lure potential recruits. That is a reprehensible practice, and it is entirely responsible to require that the recruiters -- who are, after all, serving in our name -- do their work honorably and honestly.

But the bad apples aside, the Army has a right to set up its shop here and make its case. And the protesters have a right to peaceably assemble outside and make THEIR case. That's how we do things here.