Boston University students participating in the 2004 Republican National Convention descended upon the Big Apple from each end of the political spectrum and with a variety of reasons.

While the Democratic Party set up camp in BU’s backyard with the 2004 Democratic National Convention at the FleetCenter, BU students weren’t shy about making the trip south for the RNC.

College of Arts and Sciences junior Adrian Grabicki signed up to volunteer for the convention early in the summer. After attending two training sessions – one in New York and one in New Jersey – he had a photo ID taken and received a background check, Grabicki said.

All communication was via email and the location for training events and convention assignments were disclosed just days ahead of time, he said.

On the Saturday before the convention, Grabicki was assigned to greet delegates at Newark Airport.

Grabicki said that security was visible everywhere he went, especially at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, where he said police were stationed at every corner.

“I think it was very well-organized,” he said, “I felt very safe.”

Nicole Levitz, a CAS junior, worked as an intern for United for Peace and Justice this summer and helped organize the protest on Aug. 29, which attracted half a million protesters, according to the organization’s website.

After applying for the position in the spring, Levitz spent May to September organizing volunteers to distribute leaflets at events and in high-traffic areas. She also managed artists working on posters and flyers.

“The RNC was such a historic event,” Levitz said. “I just had to be a part.”

During the Sunday protest, Levitz marched with Axis of Ease, a group of women adorned in “protest panties” bearing a variety of double entendres punning on the president’s last name.

Later at Battery Park, Levitz and the Axis of Ease performed a “Mass Panty Flash,” marching in formation with American flags draped around their waists, disrobing on command and flashing their messages-laden panties at the gawking crowd.

“The whole thing just deteriorated into people dancing in their underwear and celebrating Bush leaving their city,” Levitz said.

Rebecca Arlander, a senior in the School of Education, said she had planned on attending the protests in New York, but was still in Boston during the Sunday march.

After watching the march on television, which was estimated at around 120,000 participants, Arlander said she felt compelled to join them.

She and a friend hopped on a Fung Wah bus from Boston’s Chinatown the next day.

“I’m just really against this presidency,” Arlander said.

On Tuesday, after taking a subway to the New York City Library to join a protest, Arlander said she found a large group standing, but not protesting, in front of the library. Without warning, police descended on the group with orange netting to trap the protesters, she said.

Arlander said she and a friend escaped by running around the side of the building, but others were not so lucky. More than 200 people were arrested from that incident alone, she said.

“I thought it was very unnecessary,” Arlander said. “It’s almost like with their actions they were inciting problems that would not have been present otherwise.”

A number of BU students headed for New York with no political intentions.

A team of four College of Communication graduate students worked for Hearst-Argyle affiliates – each writing, shooting and editing his or her own material – said Anne Donohue, a journalism professor who oversaw the project.

Donohue said the students, who worked independently for separate affiliates, spent their days following around delegates from their assigned states and rubbing shoulders with such notables as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and first daughters, Barbara and Jenna Bush.

Katie Ullman, a graduate student in COM, said the four students were not involved in the COM coverage of the DNC a month earlier and arrived in New York with little understanding of how much work lay before them.

Ullman, who covered the convention for KSBW in Monterey, Calif., described 15-hour days spent lugging heavy camera equipment through long detours and past complicated security in muggy New York weather.

Each student was a one-man crew, often simultaneously interviewing and filming, Donohue said.

“It was more than we expected,” Ullman said. “But we dealt with it, we made the most of it and the stations were happy with our work.”

And in the end, the work was worth it, Ullman said.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she said.

The notion was shared by Arlander, who said even though she was disappointed and discouraged by what she saw in New York, she did not regret going.

“I would do it again,” she said. “I definitely learned a lot.”

Levitz had no regrets either.

“I learned a lot about activism,” she said. “It was history in the making and I was happy to be a part.”

The College Republicans did not send any students to the convention, said vice president Jacob Cote. College Democrats Treasurer Peter True said his group also did not send any students.