By SUSAN JONES
An upcoming event for the Pitt community and those throughout the region hopes to teach people nonviolent principles and how to put them into practice
The “Building a Beloved Community” event — from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 21 in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room — is a collaborative effort between the Center on Race and Social Problems, the David C. Frederick Honors College, and the Alliance for Humanitarian Initiatives, Nonviolence, and Spiritual Advancement (AHINSA). A light breakfast and lunch will be provided. Click here to register: https://ow.ly/VIQS50T29WJ
Ron Idoko, associate director of the Center on Race and Social Problems and director of social innovation in honors education in Frederick Honors College, said the University was approached by AHINSA — an interfaith, Intercultural forum for peace, nonviolence and spirituality — to partner on a nonviolence and peace building seminar, using many of the philosophies espoused by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.
The group’s interest “was spurred by, obviously, what’s happening around the world and their desire to be active in supporting the community, and particularly students, in learning how to leverage the principles of nonviolence to foster social change,” Idoko said. “They are big believers that there’s a lot of scholarship and education around nonviolence and peace building that isn’t always made prominent to the community.”
The event’s University sponsors, which also include the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, decided to tie the event to the International Day of Peace on Sept. 21.
Idoko said they wanted to stress that, “It’s not just about acknowledging our desire for peace. It’s learning how to build just communities and beloved communities. … And I think also to recognize particularly students that are trying to navigate their desires to see change happening around the world and in our communities, and to give them an outlet to actually learn how to practice these skills, connect with each other and reflect further on the world they want to live in and how they can make it happen collectively.”
The recent unrest on college campuses, including Pitt, over the conflict between Israel and Palestine was a large motivator for this event, he said.
“Our goal is to be solutions oriented, to help people learn how to navigate these really challenging social problems,” Idoko said. “We want to underscore that violence is never a meaningful solution to address these challenges, and that we do want people …, regardless of their race, their creed, their religious beliefs, whatever it might be, to understand that ultimately, our ability to affect change is connected to our ability to learn how to talk to each other meaningfully, to reflect on the world that we want to live in, and to determine what roles we have to play to make change happen.”
The workshop will include thought-provoking discussions and hands-on activities, including a session with Honors College artist in residence Morgan Overton, who will lead participants in creating art that reflects the world the want to live in.
The Assembly Room has space for about 250 people, Idoko said, and they hope to fill it up. “We also wanted to time it with Homecoming, because we recognize there are a lot of folks who will be coming back to campus that might be looking for alternate programming. They might not be heading to the football game, but want to do something on campus, want to learn new skills, want to better engage on a topic.”
Other featured speakers include: Raja Rosenhagen, assisitant professor of philosophy at Fresno State and former post-doctoral fellow in Jain Studies at Pitt; Sal Corbin from the DC Peace Team; and Rev. Paul Abernathy, director of the Neighborhood Resilience Project in Pittsburgh.
The Honors College and AHINSA also are discussing creating a peace and justice certificate program for students, Idoko said.
This again looks at “how do we center this work, make it really visible for students, so that the students that are feeling anxiety or frustration or are just really challenged with state of the world,” can understand there are practical skills they can develop and to put them in a position to be an agent of change, he said.
“Our goal is to really think about what we can do as an educational institution, partnering with community organizations, to really bring to bear the ways in which we can make positive social change happen.”
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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