A new group called PeaceWorkers has formed at Ball State University in an attempt to provide peaceful alternatives to conflicts locally, nationally and internationally.
The intention of PeaceWorkers is to provide an open forum for students, faculty and staff where they can peacefully express their concerns and plan events advocating peace on campus, Carmen Siering, the meeting coordinator for PeaceWorkers, said.
Tony Piazza, a peace studies minor and a founding member of the Ball State chapter of PeaceWorkers, said he got the idea for the group from a similar organization at Anderson University.
Members said they hope to make a difference by arranging public forums, providing information to the campus and writing elected officials about issues concerning them, according to their constitution.
Yolanda Collins, the publicity director for PeaceWorkers and a peace studies and conflict resolution minor, joined the group hoping to present Ball State with peaceful alternatives and solutions to conflicts without participating in protests or violent forms of communication.
"We are not here just to protest war, we are here to work for peace," Siering, a graduate student, said.
Siering said while the main focus is on the possible war with Iraq, they are also interested in social justice issues such as homelessness and equal pay.
"Violence can occur in forms other than physical, such as emotional, socioeconomic or anti-environmental," Piazza said.
The first event PeaceWorkers will participate in will be to promote Books Not Bombs on March 5.
Books Not Bombs is a national event in which students are encouraged to speak out against war with Iraq and promote better funding for educational systems, according to the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition Web site.
Ball State PeaceWorkers will meet at 11 a.m. on McKinley Avenue outside of the LaFollette Complex to participate in the event. The march will continue to the Art and Journalism Building where they will gather in room 175 for an educational meeting.
Piazza will speak at the meeting and said his goal is to "show that there is a widespread resistance to war policies being proposed in Washington."
Nicole Wick, a senior at Ball State, said even if the march does not change the possibility of war, promoting awareness of their views will hopefully trigger more people, including politicians, to speak out against war.
The group will hold "call-out" meetings or planned events at least once a month and they encourage everyone who would like to promote peace to attend.
For information about upcoming meetings, email Carmen Siering at cdsiering@bsu.edu
To read more about Books Not Bombs, visit http://nyspc.net/actions.html
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