Can War be Abolished? World Renowned Peace Educators Discuss How

WHO:   Betty Reardon, winner of the El Hibri Foundation Peace Education Prize
Cora Weiss, president of The Hague Appeal for Peace and three time Nobel Peace prize nominee.

WHAT: Discussion of peace studies and how to abolish war.

WHERE: American University’s School of International Service Building (located at intersection of Nebraska and New Mexico Aves., NW, Washington, DC) in the Abramson Family Founders Room. See map here

WHEN:  October 3, 2:30- 4pm

Contact: J. Paul Johnson, American University Communications, 202-885-5943 or jjohnson@american.edu

As the U.S. wraps up more than a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq where countless lives were either lost or resulted in traumatic injuries as a direct result of the violent conflicts, many are asking how to abolish war altogether?  Increasingly, students are seeking programs that don’t teach so much how to win a war, but how to avoid war in the first place. Exhausted by war, the public at-large seems to be in agreement as most recently demonstrated by the resounding disapproval of President Obama taking any military action to punish Syria lest the U.S. enter into another quagmire.  America seems to be looking for a Commander-in-Peace rather than a Commander-in-Chief after so much blood and treasure has been sacrificed.

American University’s  International Peace & Conflict Resolution Program  (IPCR) housed in the School of International Service has grown to 180 students in its Masters Program in International Peace and Conflict Resolution along with undergraduates and Ph.D. candidates who seek peaceful solutions over military means.

American University’s Mohammed Said Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace and the International Peace and Conflict Resolution Program is asking the question of how to end war to two of the nation’s leading peace educators, Betty Reardon and Cora Weiss.

Betty Reardon,founder and director of the Peace Education Center and Peace Education Graduate Degree Concentration at Teachers College, Columbia University,is the 2013 winner of the El Hibri Foundation Peace Education Prizeand one of the most widely cited peace educators in the world.  Reardon has focused her research on gender and militarism. She is recognized as a founding figure in the field of peace studies.

Cora Weiss, president of the Hague Appeal for Peace, is a three time Nobel Peace prize nominee,  and former president of the International Peace Bureau.  Weiss has spent a lifetime working on the front lines for civil rights, human rights, women’s rights, and peace.  She currently serves as the UN representative for the International Peace Bureau in Geneva.

American University is a leader in global education, enrolling a diverse student body from throughout the United States and nearly 140 countries. Located in Washington, D.C., the university provides opportunities for academic excellence, public service, and internships in the nation’s capital and around the world.