* * Studying Peace
Making lemonade from lemons, the old admonition goes.
It was the dream of Jerzy Nowak, made a widower by the murderer who raged his twisted dream of death and destruction on the Virginia Tech campus six years ago in April, 2007, to form a Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention. Nowak has since retired, but the work continues now with people like Marc Lucht and his students. I met with him and four students recently to learn what’s going on and why they are motivated.
Lucht, an assistant professor of Philosophy, told me that after Nowak’s late wife, Jocelyne Couture-Nowak was shot and killed, Jerzy’s house was mobbed by reporters, looking for his reaction. He sent his daughter outside to meet with them. One asked her what she thought should be done with the space in Norris Hall where Jocelyne and most of the other victims had perished. She spontaneously said, ‘It should be a peace center.’ The university was considering what to do with the building. They solicited proposals from the campus community. Jerzy submitted a plan for a peace studies center. It was important for him that it be located here. It was a way to use the tragedy to produce something good. His proposal was accepted by the administration.
The physical renovation of the space and the hiring of an administrative office manager took a year or so. Three classrooms are now two office rooms. Lucht was brought on board a year later and classes and symposia were planned.
“We host academic conferences for professionals and students,” Lucht said. “We teach classes in peace studies and violence prevention. They are cross-disciplinary, meaning students receive credit in psychology, sociology, political science, geography, and others. We have cultivated connections with other institutions, including other universities, non-profits, the United States Institute for Peace, and the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict. We teach how to affect social change through peaceful means.
“I teach a course called Cultivating Peace. There’s another called Global Society. We support research projects here and with other universities domestically and abroad. We study gun violence and relate ownership to violence. Some of these research projects study and monitor hate groups.”
Lucht said there are careers now in promoting peace, either things like working in war-torn areas or in the State Department or as ambassadors.
One of the students, Alec Clott, said he was working in the Center on research into group violence. His project involves looking at violence towards the state. “Our case study is Syria. We’re looking at civil resistance and non-violent means of protest. It’s current. The situation is playing out as we speak. We will be going to Morocco to present at an academic conference where we will be presenting our research.”
Michelle Sutherland said about the shooting, “My dad went to school here, as did many of his friends. I’m from Northern Virginia. I always grew up with Tech. What happened here (in 2007) was tragic, but I always saw past it. In the aftermath, I saw coming from the people here such a great sense of community. That reinforced what I always thought about Virginia Tech. Seeing how positively this community reacted to something so tragic inspired a lot of people.”
Katie Ann Walsh is from Maryland. She said, “The shooting is not something to be forgotten. It is a part of what Virginia Tech is. Outsiders still now associate Tech with the shooting. Hokies associate Tech with all the wonderful connections we’re making.”
Elliott Wortham said, “My interest is in health and how health co-mingles with peace and non-violence.”
Michelle said, “I care about social problems and issues. I have been interested in race relations. I just care.”
Peace Studies as a Minor will be coming on line in December. But the center won’t offer a degree in it for awhile.
Elliott said, “When I leave Tech, I want to have learned how to think, to be a critical thinker, especially about non-violence. I want to think about how things interrelate.”
Alec agreed, “It is interesting to think about conflict resolution. Knowing how people have resolved conflict without violence will help me contemplate where I want to go with my career. I wish everybody knew how effective non-violent means can be for achieving goals versus violent means.”
Michelle said, “I love learning. I love finding out new things. I love sharing what I’ve learned. I want to apply it to a good cause.”
Waging peace is the best cause in the world.
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