University News

International Day of Peace Celebration at WIU Sept. 20-21

September 13, 2018

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MACOMB, IL – A celebration of the International Day of Peace will be held at Western Illinois University Thursday-Friday, Sept. 20-21.

The International Day of Peace ("Peace Day") is observed around the world each year on Sept. 21. Established in 1981 by a unanimous United Nations resolution, Peace Day provides a globally shared date to commit to peace above all differences and to contribute to building a culture of peace. This year's Peace Day marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "The Right to Peace- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70."

"This year we are thrilled a student and returned Peace Corps volunteer, Alicia Guyette, who served as a health educator in Moldova and is getting a master's degree in health sciences, gave us the idea of how to celebrate. She proposed that student groups and individual students, faculty and staff could chalk art and messages of peace throughout the campus," said WIU Political Science Professor Julia Albarracin. "Messages can be related to our community, our state, our country or the world. After a few years of crises in our state that affected WIU, we need to look forward and build more empathy and acceptance at WIU. I hope faculty, staff, students and administration will join us."

Guyette said she hopes the celebration will bring the WIU community together and start a dialog about peace.

Dana Sitsko, assistant director if International Student Services in the School of Global Education and Outreach added that she hopes everyone will take a moment to reflect on the importance of this day and commit to the ideals of diversity, tolerance and understanding.

"I'm very proud that WIU continues to celebrate International Day of Peace," she said.

More broadly, Karen Mauldin-Curtis, manager of the Peace Corps Coverdell Fellows Program in Community Development at Western, said the Peace Corps program at WIU is happy to co-sponsor this year's Peace Day activities on campus.

"Please join us in our efforts to chalk messages of peace across campus - in our ever more complicated/divided world, surely we can come together to shine light on peace for a day," she said.

For more information, look for the Peace Day table at the University Union from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20 to pick up some chalk. Organizers are asking participants to take a selfie with their chalked message and post it at facebook.com/Peace-Day-at-WIU-1918399108465113/.

The Peace Day celebration is sponsored by the WIU Department of Political Science, the office of Global Education and Outreach, the WIU College of Arts and Sciences and the Peace Corps Coverdell Fellows Program.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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