Student Peace Summit wants Department of Peace created

Representatives from the national Student Peace Alliance gathered with IU students from various clubs and organizations Friday in the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center for the Student Peace Summit.

The immediate goal of the Peace Alliance, other than promoting non-violent conflict resolution across the board, is to pass legislation to create a cabinet-level Department of Peace in the federal government.

“The department would have the responsibility of being able to show alternative to war,” said Kathryn Hessler, the Indiana state coordinator for the SPA.

International affairs, however, will not be the main focus.

“Two-thirds of it will be domestic,” Hessler said. “We want to open dialogue and compassionate, non-violent communication.”

The bill also proposes a great deal of peace education ranging from a peace curriculum for public schools addressing gang and school violence, as well as a Peace Academy, a four-year program modeled off of the Military Academy.

So far the bill has 70 co-sponsors and just recently signed-on its first Republican supporter. No Indiana politicians have chosen to back the legislation.

“This is just another voice at the table,” said Miranda Fisher, the organizer for the SPA at Colorado State University. “It would work together with the Department of Defense. War may happen, but we want that to be the last option. If we have to go to war, let’s provide conflict training for the military. The department gives it the heft it needs.”

IU’s chapter of Soka Gakkai International, a Buddhist association striving to promote peace in the world, was well-represented at the meeting. The group has supported such movements as the Earth Charter Initiative and Victory Over Violence, and also pushed for children’s rights and nuclear non-proliferation. Many SGI members seemed to take a more individual approach to achieving peace.

“The idea is that you can’t impose peace from above,” SGI member Christine Potter said. “It’s a change in people’s hearts and attitudes.”

Other members expressed the importance of humanity as a whole.

“We’re all in this together, right?” asked Kim Morris-Newson, a member of SGI. “We pray for our happiness. We pray for others’ happiness.”

All parties agreed on the significance of peace in the media. Continuing to cover more violence than peace, the attendees said, does little to advance the cause.

“When I think of peace, I think we need to change our whole thinking as human beings,” Morris-Newson said. “Instead of getting excited when the war starts, we need to do that when peace happens. Put the war stuff in the background.”