Reconciliation and Peace at Pace University

Contents

Peaceful Action through Reconciliation, Global Peace through Reconciliation

Pace University, October 28, 2009

See photo gallery HERE!

In celebration of UN Day and the 2009 UN Week of Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns, the Campus Peace Center Working Group of the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns-NY presented “Peaceful Action through Reconciliation, Global Peace through Reconciliation.” The event was held on Wednesday, October 28^th, 2009 from 6:00pm-8:30 pm at the Manhattan campus of Pace University.

The evening began with some original peace music presented by Justin Kim, accompanying himself on the guitar. Leonard Burg of the Division for Student Success at Pace opened the program by comparing campuses of today with those of the 1960s. He introduced Swamini Sri Lalitambika Devi, who offered a brief but lovely peace meditation.

Neil Altman and Deborah Moldow, co-founders of the Campus Peace Centers working group, gave some of the vision behind the project, while the website was projected behind them. The opening address on “Global Peace through Reconciliation” was given by Meghana Nayak, Associate Professor of Political Science and also Women’s and Gender Studies at Pace University. Prof. Nayak reminded us that conflict resolution is not something that happens “over there,” but that mobilizes the “inner rabble rouser” in all of us

Deborah then introduced the Student Peacebuilder Panel, and the youth spoke in turn. First up was Todd Brogan, who spoke about organizing a multi-stakeholder observance of the International Day of Peace 2008 when he was a student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. This required meeting with groups that did not want to work together, an important step towards peace. Todd explained the importance of “making peace matter to everyday people and showing that they can make a difference.”

Rami Qubain, a Palestinian from Manhattanville College, gave a moving presentation on the Seeds of Peace Program, which brings Palestinian and Israeli youth together at a summer camp in Maine and shifts their perspective forever. Rami attended when he was 14, and he learned that “peace is harder than war,” and that “peace will be made by people, not by governments.” He showed a video of Seeds of Peace, which you can see here.

Pace junior Lorendra Pinder told us that students have a different way of expressing peace than in the 1960s – through dialogue rather than confrontation. “Discussion is our generations movement,” making campuses a planting ground for their own seeds. She offered examples from her work with the Model UN and with the Free Speech Forum at Pace, giving value to student voices and an outlet for demanding rights, such as those of the LGBT community on campus.

Victoria Roomet spoke about her experiences as chair of the MLK Day of Service 2007-2009 at Brandeis University. She brought together student clubs of different religions for an interfaith event based on God as our common Father. Victoria asserted, “Every action you take creates a ripple around the world.” It is important to do work together that is uplifting and helps everyone to focus on shared goals.

Maria "Gaby" Espin, a student in Peace and Conflict Studies at Vassar College who grew up in a violence-torn region of Ecuador, outlined some of the creative ways the international students at Vassar come together around entertainment, food, the arts and teaching their languages in local schools through the innovative “Language in Motion” program. They also share in service, participating in the Vassar Haiti Project, which is based on the values of love and faith.

Inspired by these youth presentations, Joan Katen, Adjunct Professor of Political Science whocreated the Peace and Justice Studies minor at Pace in Pleasantville, stressed the importance of “marketing” peace in all fields of endeavor, saying, “The UN needs help!” She has written a novel titled “Love at the Edge” to illustrate the way young people face seemingly intractable prejudices, and has recently lectured on “Keys to Global Peace: Nonviolent Conflict Resolution and Sustainability.” She declared that, “each Campus Peace Center will be a nugget of that peace.”

In the open discussion that followed, members of the audience, the student panel and the faculty respondents answered the following two questions:

1. What is one challenge you’ve faced and helped moved towards reconciliation in your campus peacebuilding work?
2. How might a movement of Campus Peace Centers support your peacebuilding work on campus?
   

The discussion was both personal and deeply moving, touching on issues of Jewish-Arab relations at Pace, student safety both on and off campus, and what it is like to experience violence personally. Danielle Twum of Vassar told of the challenging journey to reconciliation in her native Ghana. Oliver Carlson spoke about attending the University for Peace in Costa Rica and also about the movement for Departments and Ministries of Peace. Isabel Dueri vowed to work with Prof. Nayak to create a Campus Peace Center at Pace University, in time for Pace’s peace celebration on Nov. 30^th.

Panelist Todd Brogan remarked that the event had re-inspired him to work for peace, and Rami Qubain offered to encourage Seeds of Peace graduates to create many Campus Peace Centers across the globe.

Deborah Moldow closed the event by asking everyone to join in saying, “May Peace Prevail on Earth.” As the students enjoyed the refreshments, no one wanted to leave the lecture hall that was so charged with the vibrant energy of peace and reconciliation.

In the words of event organizer Hanako Ikeno of the Campus Peace Centers working group, “Peace is indeed the hope of all the ages. In that lecture hall at Pace Manhattan, four generations were gathered, those of us from the peace movements of the 60-70’s, those from the 80-90’s, and the generation of the new millennium that has emphasized our shared global destiny. In our discourse on Peace and Reconciliation we realized that at the heart of each generation, the desire for peace resides."

 Special thanks to Kimihira Miyake for the flyer, the program and much more.