Third Day of the National Community College Peacebuilding Seminar

By: David J. Smith, October 19, 2014

Teaching peace,  case studies, nonviolent strategies, and human
rights were featured on the third day of National Community College Peacebuilding Seminar held on October
19.

The morning started with Colman McCarthy advocating for the need to teach peace studies.  He was followed by a presentation from representatives of  the Student Peace Alliance, Sally Kaplan and Dan Kahn.

During lunch, Karina Korostelina of George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution discussed identity and the crisis in Ukraine.  She was followed by Hardy Merriman from the International Center on Nonviolence Conflict who presented a mock lesson on teaching about nonviolent activism.   Jean Schindler then shared about the opportunities for students participating in the Emergent Leaders Network.

In the afternoon, Rhonda Fitzgerald engaged participants in activities that might be used in a Sustained Dialogue training.  This was followed by several faculty who attended last year’s program talking about what they are doing at their colleges.   This was followed by Lindsay Padilla for the Stanford Human Rights Education Initiative talking about her approaches to teaching human rights.  The day ended with Nabil Al-Tikriti from the University of Mary Washington discussing the work of Médecins Sans Frontières.

Coffee breaks were sponsored by  Street Law, Inc. and CCID: Community Colleges for International Development, Inc..