"PURCHASE, New York It was the smallest of gestures inside the tiniest of college basketball gymnasiums, a half-revolution of the body that had gone unnoticed for months.

But a few weeks ago, people at Manhattanville College's women's basketball games began to recognize that a senior guard, Toni Smith, would quietly turn her back to the American flag during the pregame playing of "The Star Spangled Banner," a silent protest, they learned, of America's potential involvement in an Iraqi war. In that context, it soon was no longer a small step or a simple turn.

Smith's noiseless protest led to a clamorous, sellout crowd Tuesday for a game in Manhattanville's 50-year-old, 300-seat gym on the college's leafy campus 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of New York City.

It brought 15 protesters to the college's gate waving flags and placards. It attracted 20 photographers and a handful of television cameramen who encircled the Manhattanville bench to get a glimpse of Smith as she turned her back and stared at the floor. It brought chants of "USA" from a small band inside the gym, and it brought louder, more vociferous chanting - "We love Toni" - from a larger group at the other end of the gym. Minutes before the game, it moved one fan to yell, "You're a disgrace." Which moved another fan to yell back, "You're an idiot." Smith did not alter her routine except after the game, when she chose for the first time to explain her actions.

"I never meant this to be a public statement," said Smith, a 21-year-old sociology major raised on Manhattan's Upper West Side. "I did it for my own self-respect and conscience. My stance is not a personal attack on Vietnam veterans or any war veterans. I know the flag represents people who have died for this country, and I support them. But the flag means different things to everyone.

"A lot of people blindly stand up and salute the flag, but I feel that blindly facing the flag hurts more people. There are a lot of inequities in this country, and these are issues that needed to be acknowledged. The rich are getting richer, and poor are getting poorer, and our priorities are elsewhere." In a written statement last week, Smith referred to the potential for a war in Iraq as part of the reason for her protest. On Tuesday, she did not mention war, although it was clearly in the minds of the small band that congregated on campus.

"Not respecting the flag is disrespecting your country and all the people who died for it," said Kirt Sloan, 22, of Armonk, New York. who attended the game and booed Smith when she was introduced. Sloan said his father was a Vietnam veteran.

"You can disagree with the government's policies but not the symbols that every American should stand for. She could have protested in other ways that wouldn't insult veterans - especially now, when our soldiers are getting ready to go war again."

College officials said there had been a flood of e-mail messages and calls to the university, many in support of Smith's stand and the college's support of her right to express herself.

"But there are many who would like to see us all arrested," Mary Corrarino, Manhattanville's senior vice president, said of the response.

Smith's teammates on Tuesday universally professed their support for Smith, though they did not say they agreed with her views. College officials have indicated that there was some discord earlier in the season, but after a team meeting, it was decided that the team could focus on its collective commitment to the basketball season, and to Smith as a teammate.

"We've been to a lot of places in the last few weeks, and Toni has been taunted, and people have said nasty things to her," said the team captain, Latasha Carlos. "I couldn't have taken it. I probably would have cried. But Toni was poised and so composed. I'm so proud of her." Manhattanville beat the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, 67-51, on Tuesday. Smith scored four points and had eight rebounds. Asked if she thought her protest had given solace to the president of Iraq, Smith said, "I doubt Saddam Hussein is watching me right now." " (Bill Pennington, International Herald Tribune, February 27, 2003)