Once each session, the Summer Peacebuilding Institute community at Eastern Mennonite University gathers together for lunch and to hear from a guest speaker. Lunches are open to the community for a small fee. If you are not taking a course and would like to come to one of the lunches from 12:30-2:30 p.m., please contact the SPI office at spi@emu.edu for more information and to make a reservation.
Since 1994, more than 3,200 people from 120 countries have attended SPI, gaining concrete strategies and practical skills. This summer, the program spans five sessions from May through June. Learn more about course offerings here.
Thursday, May 31: Ari Wilkenfeld
Ending Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
[NOTE: This event was previously scheduled for Wednesday, May 30.]
Harassment, both overt and due to the status quo, is but one tool that the prevailing workplace uses to keep woman from advancing at the same pace as men. To dismantle sexual harassment, we need to recognize whom it benefits (even if they do not realize it) and work together to create change and transform the prevailing workplace into a tension-free environment where all people can work productively and without fear or shame.
Wednesday, June 6: Daryl Davis
Race Relations and Constructive Dialogue with the KKK
In the current political climate, strangers on opposite sides of issues rarely speak civilly to each other and families have been torn apart depending upon for whom they voted. The art of conversation and civil discourse appears to have vanished. Race relations expert Daryl Davis will discuss the need to restore constructive dialogue with those with whom we may disagree. He will demonstrate his methods by using the extreme example of a Black man coming to the table with a Ku Klux Klan leader.
Wednesday, June 13: Annette Lantz-Simmons, CJP Peacebuilder of the Year
Annette will talk about the personal and professional path that helped her to create the Center for Conflict Resolution in Kansas, City, Missouri. This growing and thriving organization is seen in the Western Missouri region as the place to go for conflict transformation, training and restorative justice processes. Read an EMU News profile about Annette.
COMPLETED
Wednesday, May 16: Tiffany Fitzhenry
Hollywood and the Pentagon: A Relationship of Mutual Exploitation
The American movie community can be one of the most influential mechanisms for propaganda. War propaganda in movies is not new, it began almost a century ago. These days, the Department of Defense not only gives funding towards movie creation, but demands a certain level of control over script writing, narrative, and imaging. Join us to hear about what has occurred over the last 100 years, how that has changed in recent years, and what we can do in the future to remove the military industrial complex from our entertainment.