Just like many of you, we have been closely following the activity in Ukraine as the Russian invasion continues and escalates. Many of us have brought this conflict into the classroom, into our activism, and into our own hearts. While members of the PJSA’s board of directors are engaged in their own interventions, we wanted to offer a collectively-authored space for resource sharing. This is the same approach we took during the George Floyd Uprising in Summer 2020–to establish and curate a space to share resources. We would like to do this once again.

To this end we have set up a shared document here.

Within this document, folks can share and borrow resources. Have a good news site? Share it in the document. Did you find a good video, or a particularly well-written analysis? Share it in the document.

Joy Meeker, a member of the PJSA Board has committed to monitoring and helping to curate this space, and we would encourage you to engage in whatever way you can. If you have questions about posting content to the page, you can reach out to Joy.

As a reminder, like like when using the listserv, we ask that members follow basic decorum including:

1. Please be mindful of how much you post, how ‘loud’ your voice is, and if your actions or tone are making others’ participation less likely. We want PJSA to be a place where folks ‘share the air’ and this resource list (and listserv) should reflect those values.

2. Before posting to the listserv, please ask yourself, ‘Does everyone need to read this?’ If your contribution is to show support for a previous post, this is probably best done through a direct message to the author and not a ‘reply all.’ We have noticed that when a lot of emails go out in this manner, people unsubscribe.

This collectively-authored space to discuss the war in Ukraine is part of a larger effort we have engaged with. From posting resources for direct support early in the conflict, to our forthcoming issue of the Peace Chronicle focused on Ukraine (get in touch with Anna Hamling for details and submissions), PJSA is looking to find way to engage as educators and activists. If you know of a way to plug in, let us know.

The post On the Ongoing War in Ukraine first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

GoFundMe has set up a hub with links to all of the fundraiser campaigns the charity site has verified as being legitimate. Every fundraiser is reviewed to make sure that funds are delivered to the correct recipients. The list includes the Ukrainian Humanitarian Fund, which is collecting, “Tax-deductible donations will be distributed to verified nonprofit organizations providing relief to those impacted.”

The International Rescue Committee

The International Rescue Committee, a global humanitarian organization that has been in existence since the 1930s, set up a fund to help Ukraine. The IRC’s website says, “Families affected by the Ukraine crisis need your help. The IRC is on the ground in Poland and preparing to support displaced families. Your emergency gift will help us provide food, medical care and emergency supplies to refugee families in countries like Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen. Please give what you can today.”

Voices of Children Ukraine

Voices of Children Ukraine has been providing help to children who have been affected by the Russian military’s actions in Ukraine since 2015. “Thanks to you, we provide psychological and psychosocial support to children. It helps them overcome the consequences of armed conflict and develop. Today, during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, we are providing non-stop assistance to affected children and families from all over the country, providing emergency psychological assistance, and assisting in the evacuation process,” the charity’s website says.

Army SOS Ukraine

Army SOS Ukraine is collecting money to support soldiers and civilians fighting in Ukraine against Russian forces, including through donations of medical supplies and tactical equipent, according to its website.

United Help Ukraine

United Help Ukraine is raising money for medical supplies, humanitarian aid, wounded warriors and to raise awareness.

Razom, a Grassroots Organization Providing Humanitarian Support in Ukraine

“Razom’s Emergency Response is the SOS button that is pressed in times of need. We created this project to provide urgent help and support in face of an extreme and unforeseen situation in Ukraine. Today, the sovereign nation of Ukraine has to deal with the most horrendous and catastrophic emergency – a brutal invasion. Razom is responding to this by providing critical medical supplies and amplifying the voices of Ukrainians,” the charity’s website says.

FARA Foundation: Providing Help to Refugees in Romania

The Fara Foundation has set up a fund to help Ukrainian refugees who are now in Romania, according to its website.

Polish Humanitarian Action: Helping Those Who Have Been Displaced to Poland

Polish Humanitarian Action is, ” providing humanitarian aid including food and other forms of support to people who had to leave their homes. Our actions include people affected by conflict both internally displaced as well as refugees coming to Poland.”

Keep Ukraine’s Media Going: A Fundraiser to Help Ukrainians Telling Their Story on the Ground in the Warzone

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help Ukrainian journalists who remain on the ground tell the story of what is happening in their country. “They have shown extraordinary courage, but the reality on the ground is that most operations cannot continue from Ukraine alone. This fundraiser is aimed at helping media relocate, set-up back offices and continue their operations from neighboring countries,” the campaign says.

Help Children With Cancer in Ukraine

This Global Giving verified fund helps children who are battling cancer amid the crisis in Ukraine. It supports the Tabletochki Charity Foundation.

UNICEF

The long-running charity UNICEF has created a fund to help children in Ukraine. The charity’s website says, “Children are the least responsible for armed conflict in Ukraine, but they suffer most from its consequences. Your 100% tax-deductible donation will help UNICEF ensure that Ukraine’s children have access to safe water, nutrition, health care, education and protection. Less than 3% of funds go to administrative costs.”

Project C.U.R.E.: Support Ukrainian Hospitals Directly

Project C.U.R.E. is providing financial support to hospitals in Ukraine. “Project C.U.R.E. meets global health challenges at the community level every day by delivering critical medical supplies to hospitals, rural clinics and community health centers in need in developing countries. Your gift will give the most vulnerable patients, families and children around the world access to healthcare and access to hope,” the website says.

Support the Kyiv Independent News

The Kyiv Independent has set up a fund to help it continue its English-language newsgathering efforts on the ground in Ukraine’s capital city.

World Central Kitchen

Chef Jose Andres and the World Central Kitchen is providing food to refugees who fled from Ukraine.

The Global Empowerment Mission

The Global Empowerment Mission has set up a fund to help Ukraine.

The Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund by Global Giving

Global Giving has set up the Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund. “Russia has invaded Ukraine in the biggest state-against-state attack since World War II. Millions of civilians are caught in the middle of an escalating war and humanitarian crisis, and casualties are rising. Your donation to this fund will support Ukrainians in need, with a focus on the most vulnerable, including children,” the charity’s website says.

Save The Children’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund

Save the Children has set up a fund to help in Ukraine. The charity says, “Ukraine’s children are in grave danger of physical harm, severe emotional distress and mass displacement. Save the Children is concerned for children caught in the middle of armed conflict, forced from their homes in freezing temperatures, and exposed to injury, hunger and cold.”

The International Medical Corps

The International Medical Corps is providing support on the ground in Ukraine. “International Medical Corps relieves the suffering of those affected by conflict, disaster and disease, often in difficult and dangerous environments. We deliver vital healthcare services and training that help devastated populations move from relief to self-reliance,” the charity says.

Sunflower of Peace

Sunflower of Peace is named for the official flower of Ukraine. The charity prepares and provides medical aid backpacks and first-aid kits to paramedics and doctors on the frontlines, according to its Facebook page. The charity was started in Ukraine in 2014 by Katya Malakhova .

Revived Soldiers of Ukraine

According to its website, “Revived Soldiers Ukraine (RSU) is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing aid to the people of Ukraine so that they may fulfill fundamental rights and freedoms such as right to life, right to appropriate and affordable medical care, freedom of belief and freedom for an adequate standard of living.”

Ukrainian Red Cross

The Ukrainian Red Cross is working on the ground in Ukraine and in areas where refugees from Ukraine are being displaced to. The Red Cross says, “For its part, the Ukrainian Red Cross has sprung into action distributing more than 30,000 food and hygiene parcels and assisting with the evacuation of people with disabilities. On Monday night alone, Red Cross teams provided basic food and necessities to over 8,000 people sheltering in subway stations during the shelling. Additionally, teams have provided first aid training to 2,000 people in metro stations and bomb shelters. Across the country, more than 3,000 staff and volunteers are supporting firefighters, medical and civil protection units. Meanwhile, volunteers are welcoming people at reception centers set up in schools and coordinating with partners like the Polish Red Cross to assist people at the border.”

Project Dynamo

Project Dynamo, which started as a group to help rescue Americans and allies from Afghanistan during the 2021 withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from the country, is now assisting with evacuations from Ukraine.

Lifeline Ukraine

Lifeline Ukraine provides suicide prevention support and help to Ukrainians suffering from mental health crisises.

Vostok SOS

Vostok SOS helps internally displaced Ukrainians and those in the country who have been exposed to violence and war. It is also raising money for soldiers and civilians who are fighting Russian forces.

Come Back Alive

Come Back Alive is a fund to help the Ukrainian military. The fund provides military equipment and other support. It was founded in 2014 during Russia’s invasion of Crimea.

Phoenix Wings

According to its website, Phoenix Wings, “provides the Ukrainian army with the necessary assistance in regards to the appropriate equipment & uniform, personal non-lethal protection (vests, helmets), required treatment of the wounded soldiers and acquisition the personal first aid kits, and repair of the buildings used by the army.”

Hospataliers

According to its Facebook page, “Hospitallers” is a volunteer paramedic organisation. It was founded by Yana Zinkevych at the beginning of military action in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and initiated warfare actions in the South of Ukraine with the assistance of the Russia-quasi-controlled forces.”

Have a resource to add? Let us know!

Source: https://heavy.com/news/help-ukraine-verified-charities-aid-relief-gofundme/

The post Want to help Ukraine? 27 organizations looking for aid! first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

Ground Rules for Community Engagement

1. Be open to new perspectives and seek understanding rather than trying to persuade. Ask clarifying questions before assuming intentions or arguing positions.
2. Challenge ideas not people: Always give people the benefit of the doubt; do not invent intentions for others, instead ask questions if you disagree with someone. 
3. Take space and make space. Allow for a healthy exchange of ideas instead of asserting your opinions or expertise.
4. Speak your truth: Freely share your experiences while also respecting other’s experiences as their truth. 
5. Emotions are allowed when they are directed at ideas and not at people. 
6. Do not tone police – focus on what a person is saying and not their emotional expression. (For an understanding of tone policing see: https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/12/tone-policing-and-privilege/ and https://femmagazine.com/feminism-101-what-is-tone-policing/)

The post Ground Rules for Community Engagement  first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

The PJSA affiliated Journal of Transdisciplinary Peace Praxis (JTPP) is excited to announce a second year of collaboration with the PJSA. All members who elect to receive the JTPP will receive an ecopy of our 8th and 9th issues during the 2022-23 academic year. Our call for the 8th issue is out here, and the 7th issue should be in your inboxes soon (releasing February 21, 2022). Please support the JTPP by reading, sharing the content, and sending in your manuscripts for possible publication. If you are not a PJSA member, or want to update membership, please go here to see the many individual and institutional membership options available (with or without journal subscription).

Happy New Year from our families to yours.

Sincerely,

the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Peace & Justice Studies Association

The post Happy New Year from PJSA! first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

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In the wake of the events of January 6, which saw an angry mob’s shocking attempt to seize the Capitol Building, and ostensibly, harm members of Congress who were debating the question of certifying the election of Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris, we, the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA), have concluded we must speak out. We are the US-Canadian affiliate of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) and the primary academic society for peace and conflict studies scholars and activist in the US and Canada. 

While the insurrectionary action catalyzed by Donald Trump was shocking, it was not surprising. Most citizens willing to listen, observe, and think critically and morally, knew from the beginning of Mr. Trump’s campaign for the presidency that his attempt at leadership would go from bad to worse, and end up in some form of authoritarianism. In our classrooms and peacebuilding contexts, our members have issued this warning from the start. But we do not wish to simply lament the regressive path that led to this mob action, let alone the storming of our nation’s Capitol itself. We want to speak from our unique professional perspective.

The Capitol attacks on January 6 were a loud cymbal crash that followed a long-building crescendo. We do not merely reference the past four years. The fact is, white supremacy and its concomitant white fear, resentment, and anger, have been with us since the founding of the nation and became amplified when Reconstruction failed. The United States has always been a place of gross inequality and grave injustice, and yet ironically, part of the brew of victimology rehearsed in white souls is the fear that this country will be fully shared, rather than controlled by white power. Those persons screaming at cameras, telling the world that their “freedoms” have been lost, or that they are losing “their” country, are not a small minority. One need only visit, for example, the presidential campaigns of Barry Goldwater or Ronald Reagan to see that the narrative fires of victimhood and resentment have been stoked for decades, precisely in corresponding relationship to the growth of rightwing dominance exhibited in news media, the judiciary, and political culture. Centuries of pain and injustice, and decades of rising white supremacist ideology, have brought us to this moment. Donald J. Trump is as much a consequence, an epiphenomenon, and a symptom of this narrative as he is a catalyst for its inevitable eruption.

As we increasingly try to understand how we came to this terrifying moment, we will need to bring greater acuity and courage to our analyses than we have heard in mainstream venues so far. We must turn to collective self-evaluation that is relentless and vigilant. We must note how the US has a long-held propensity to run from hard conversations and painful truths. One of these, surely, is America’s history of both covertly and overtly installing, shaping, undermining and overthrowing regimes in other countries when they do not serve U.S. interests – not only dictatorial and hostile regimes, but also fairly elected democratic governments (see Chile, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti, to name but a few). Was it not conceivable that this interventionist tradition might eventually come to include and divide America itself? 

We cannot repair and rebuild unless we recognize the truth of our failings and our tendencies to gloss over destructive conflict, rather than transform it into constructive change. We must put our hands to the plow and do the hard work necessary to build peace in this time of tension. As John Paul Lederach puts it, “between the fierce now and the long arc” of the justice that Martin Luther King proclaimed, difficult questions must be confronted. Perhaps our social contract is not merely torn. Perhaps we have never really had such a contract at all. Perhaps there have existed two contracts, one for the rich and powerful, and another for those who have been disenfranchised, distraught, disempowered, and exploited. And perhaps our pathology will grow until a shared contract that guarantees equality and freedom, access to opportunity, dignity and respect, and human security for all is finally written and put into force.

How might we respond to the cacophony, catastrophe, and crisis? How might we respond to ever-louder crescendos and clashing cymbals of violence that will almost certainly come? What might our hard work entail? Let us, at the least, consider these observations. 

We must wrestle with the fear and anger of whiteness as well as the privilege. People of color suffer gross disparities in the United States. The inequality is stunning. If you read the Tricontinental Institute (Vijay Prasad) 2nd Newsletter of 2021 there they say: “Between 1990 and 2020, US billionaires saw their wealth increase by 1,130%, while median wealth in the US increased by only 5.37% (this increase was even more marked during the pandemic).” Yet white folks, and white men specifically, overwhelmingly comprise those ready to use violence in the service of their sense of loss. White folks constitute these aggrieved numbers who believe the government has turned against them. This irony points to what Eddie Glaude, Jr. calls “the value gap”—the fact that in the US, white lives are valued more than other lives. Addressing this moral affront is long overdue. This systemic problem is visible everywhere. As many have already noted, if the persons who made their way to the Capitol Building had been mostly black, brown, and native, they would have been stopped with deadly force. The militarized and brutal response of police to black and brown bodies this past summer is evidence of this. The very week that white fearmongers, operating on a motivational tableau of lies, stormed the seat of national government, a police officer was acquitted from facing charges for shooting a black man in the back seven times in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Others have also noted that in the wake of the carnage, it is mostly brown and black persons we see working to clean up and clear up the detritus, beginning the work to repair the physical space. 

We must hold space for legitimate protest. Democracy demands we do so. But dignified nonviolent protest is something much different than the vandalizing and violent riot of January 6th. Peacebuilding includes a long and powerful history of protest that brings social and political change for justice and freedom. But it is important to distinguish between the elements of such constructive protest against injustice and violence, and riotous violence on behalf of fabricated grievances that are not substantiated.

We must not be afraid of conflict, but rather embrace it with care and courage. Conflict can be honorable and healthy. Conflict is essential to learning. Peace and conflict scholars observe that conflict can be managed and transformed peacefully. Conflict can be turned from destructive modes of expression into constructive modes of operation. Our discipline and profession teach the means to engage in such transformation.

We must take the skills of conflict transformation, peacebuilding, mediation, and reconciliation that are used in “conflict” and “post-conflict” zones outside of the US and apply them here. Many of us, for example, have paid close attention to, and, have had experience with the Northern Ireland conflict and peacebuilding process. We have seen how neighbors, those who share social and political institutions, a religion, a language, and other features of shared social life, turned on one another and conducted a brutal 30-year war rather softly called “The Troubles” (1968-1998). We know how possible it is for conflict in the US to be stoked rather than transformed, built up rather than broken down. The nonviolent skills that have been put into great effect across the globe, in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, must urgently be put to use in the US.

We must immerse ourselves in the methodologies of understanding, a critical part of out work that too often is subverted by disingenuous debate. Those who feel alienated and angry, left out and losing, must be listened to and understood. Some work has begun toward this objective, but we are far from having the sufficient knowledge and the necessary concomitant empathy. Of course, the responsibility of understanding falls on all of us. Those who call for violence against Democrats and Republicans who are seen as traitors to Donald Trump, call for a removal of “the deep state” and for “revolution.” But they have been far from clear as to what they actually want. Perhaps they want good paying jobs, lower taxes, affordable health care, and so-called “conservative” judges. But a revolution is not needed to accomplish these objectives. What do they mean by “the deep state”? What freedoms have they lost? Perhaps these lost “freedoms” could be named more accurately as lost “privileges” formerly linked to specific racialized and gendered identities. We must work much harder to understand one another, but part of this task requires that a concrete set of desires and objectives be presented. 

We must engage not only in a robust program of epistemology—learning to understand one another (and ourselves), but also, we must engage in the peacebuilding, conflict transformation, mediation, and reconciliation methodologies that are successful elsewhere. We need a program that engages in moral courage with all seriousness. This is one area where many religious institutions have failed. Do the churches that support Donald Trump no longer teach the “Golden Rule”? What became of the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, the moral teaching of Jesus and the New Testament?

We must discover, demand, and build democracy. Democracy is built on the foundations of equality. Equality makes justice, freedom, opportunity, and human security possible. Democracy is a moral theory and a moral practice. It is far more than a set of legal and governmental edifices. It is common for US citizens to speak of their country as a democracy, or to lament the democracy that has now been put on life support. One view is that we did not have democracy in the US until black citizens were included in it in the 1960s. The more truthful view is, there has been precious little democracy in the US from the founding to the present. There are a number of staple features of democracy that are still not practiced in the US. Gerrymandering, the Electoral College, and the billions poured into political campaigning and legislating, for example, undercut the possibility that each citizen’s vote counts equally. There are many valuable texts that explicate democracy, but we suggest the reader consult, for starters, the brief essay, Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century produced by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The truth is everything written above is about democracy. The United States has little chance of being a decent society without democracy. Many on the right have feared democracy all along, which is part of the project of white supremacy, and keeping power where power already lies. But the time has come: we call for a democratic future and getting on with the work of bringing it into existence.

This work cannot be entered into without hope. We must hope. Hope is the engine of change. Hope should never be fear-based. Real hope is always an expression of courage. We are living through an all-hands-on-deck moment in history. Clarity of purpose, vision, and resolve are necessary. We must do the work to build an inclusive democracy; a future of justice and freedom shared equally by all. 

Members of the Peace and Justice Studies Association prepare students to carry out this work around the world and we engage in it ourselves. It is time to bring these efforts to the United States of America. Each January we set a day aside to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who taught us these profound truths. Let us honor him and the work of the movement to which he belonged, by also committing ourselves to the democratic and nonviolent work of breaking down barriers, building up communities, equalizing the structures of opportunity, and moving the US toward greater justice. We must embrace the hope and courage needed for this dangerous, yet possibility-packed, moment. 

 – The Peace and Justice Studies Association

January 15, 2021

The post Statement of the Peace and Justice Studies Association Regarding the January 6, 2021 Attack on the US Capitol first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

Response to Epidemic Racist Violence and Police Brutality

By PJSA Board Members: Wim Laven, Pushpa Iyer, and Ellen Lindeen

We write on behalf of the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA), a bi-national North American peace and justice association of both scholars and activists, to call for action on the dual epidemic of police violence and racism as highlighted in the death and response to George Floyd’s murder by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota and other officer-related deaths across the country. This paper presents a historical and critical analysis of the disproportionate violence by law enforcement against the black community, followed by some recommendations. There are many additional moral concerns which we see as antagonistic to our vision of peace and justice in the world, which is based on democratic and faith-based principles. PJSA wishes to advance our vision for cultural, ethnic, geographic, and socio-economic equality under the law and the fundamental dignity and worth of all humans. This paper details our call to action to end institutional, structural, and systematic racism, as highlighted in police brutality.

History of the Problem: There has never been Equality

Race-based violence in North America predates the establishment of the modern Canadian, Mexican, and United States governments. Colonial powers and then subsequently the states, in varying degrees, used genocide and genocidal practices in their establishment. The transatlantic slave trade, combined with colonial practices of displacement and violence, have established significant wealth and durable economic inequalities with dramatic modern presentations. The average white family holds ten times as much wealth as the average black family. The average white person has more education, more income, more opportunities to invest and grow their wealth, than the average black person. As a result, this economic gap continues to grow.

For the Black community, the establishment of “freedom” and “equality” has been slow in their formation. Both the codification and protection of the slave trade and the three-fifths compromise represent examples of the explicit dehumanization of African personhood in the US Constitution. The Emancipation Proclamation did not establish freedom or put an end to the prejudicial policy. Decades of Jim Crow included thousands of extra-judicial lynchings, and terror groups like the Ku Klux Klan, the oldest in the US, have mobilized to prevent minority groups from enjoying basic civil rights and liberties.

Policing in the US has roots in slave patrols and night watchers; they would become police departments later. Slave patrols were constructed to manage race-based conflict, most specifically the control over slave populations. They were ruthlessly brutal in their use of power. Where connections between the KKK and law enforcement during Jim Crow were a matter of fact, racial profiling has openly been presented as a tool for law and order in recent decades. Over the years, the FBI has warned of the increasing threat of white nationalist and supremacist groups infiltrating law enforcement. Further, during the Bush-era War on Terror, and the Pentagon’s 1033 program, law enforcement began to get hold of the technology and equipment of war from the Department of Defense. The renewed militarization of the police during this period lead to further violence against blacks and other minoritized populations (more on the history of militarization of law enforcement in the section below). There is, therefore, historical and statistical evidence of US police departments practicing discriminatory and prejudicial operations.

The militarization of Law Enforcement

Historically, the federal government has mobilized the military and national guard to expand civil rights and freedom. After the Civil War, federal troops were used to guard reconstruction in the South and to protect civil rights. In 1957 President Eisenhower famously used the national guard to enforce integration in Little Rock, Arkansas. Federal Marshalls guarded Ruby Bridges during her integration, in 1960, to a white elementary school in New Orleans, Louisiana. Before the Civil War, few cities had police departments in the South. Police departments were established to control freed slaves. In the North, they were built to monitor immigrants and place checks on unions.

This trend shifted in the 1960s, in response to the rebellions and riots occurring across the US grants and crime legislation that established the purchase and use of military resources and weapons. Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams were also established during this period. These heavily militarized forces were primarily directed to respond to black-insurgency. During the War on Drugs which took place over various presidencies, the militarization continued by Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan (in particular). It was more than a metaphor, the war included increasingly violent and dramatic responses, but it was also racialized. Pejorative biases and stereotyping of drug use were frequently directed at communities of color. Discrepancies in punishment present harsher sentencing for minorities than whites.

Civil forfeiture, the confiscation of property from convicted and sometimes suspected drug dealers, has also been used to finance the purchase of more munitions and weapons from the Pentagon. The relationships and connections between community law enforcement and the federal armed forces were fully cemented through the Patriot Act and other responses to the acts of terrorism on September 11, 2001. This redoubled the role of the police in the activities of war by putting law enforcement on the front line of a War on Terror. Police budgets have continued to expand with increasingly lethal arsenals; meanwhile, so many other budgets have experienced decades of cuts.

SWAT teams have expanded roles; they are no longer limited to emergencies. They are now called in response to non-violent warrants. There has been an astronomical increase in drug raids, and the SWAT team is now the first step in many jurisdictions. Cops today are told they are fighting wars, and they believe it. The proliferation of militarized responses has ensured increases in cultural, structural, and systemic violence and disproportionate impacts on minority communities. “Protect and Serve” is not the motto of the warrior cop; policies have created us and them physical and psychological distancing. The isolation from communities is experienced on both sides, the public increasingly sees law enforcement as a threat to public safety, and law enforcement increasingly sees combatants instead of citizens.

The manifestation of the problem

Black and other minoritized communities all across the country have generations of grievances of police brutality. The cases and examples are too numerous to list. The March 3, 1991 beating of Rodney King was captured by a citizen journalist and provided evidence of the long-known truth about the brutal use of violence against minoritized populations. The April 1992 acquittal of officers charged with crimes in that beating set off protests and riots in Los Angeles and across the country. As technology has increased, documentation of episodes of violent events has increased. Evidence of the brutal use of force is made available by body cameras, dashboard cameras, and the ubiquitous use of mobile phones as cameras; however, the problem persists, the effectiveness of the cameras, in terms of deterring or reducing police violence, has not been demonstrated.

Two distinct threads of explaining police violence have emerged. In one thread, the acts of violence are blamed on single individuals—bad apples spoiling the bunch. The other thread identifies the structural and systematic conditions which have caused, created, and permitted the violence to occur. In the first case, it is clear that there are implicit and tacit biases held by individuals and that these prejudices have and continue to impact citizens’ treatment in prejudicial ways. Individuals have, in public, found ways to weaponize biases to assault innocent persons of color (sometimes with fatal consequences). In this second thread, we see discriminatory policies like racial profiling and broken windows policing, which are always antagonistic in their execution.

Decades of policies and policing have criminalized melanin and poverty. Drug laws and the War on Drugs are examples of the primary pipelines to prison showcasing disproportionate incarceration rates and vastly different sentences for similar crimes across different racial demographics.

George Floyd was accused of buying cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. He was arrested, restrained, and held in a lethal hold. He complained he could not breathe and called out for his mother. Onlookers pleaded for his life but to no avail. Tony McDade, a transgender man, was shot down without any warning or identification from law enforcement; Ahmaud Arbery was jogging when killed by two white men; Breonna Taylor was shot by cops when sleeping in her bed; Sandra Bland and Philando Castille were killed after they were stopped for minor traffic violations; Eric Garner lost his life when he was held in a chokehold by the police when selling single cigarettes; Michael Brown was unarmed and described by witnesses to have his hands up when shot; Tamir Rice was only 12 years old and playing with a replica toy Airsoft gun when he was killed; Trayvon Martin was killed when walking back home from buying Skittles. The list goes on as evidence grows. Thanks to quick cell phone videos which document how white individuals threaten blacks and other persons of color with police violence for no reason other than the color of their skin, we know that we are dealing with systemic and institutional racism. PJSA joins the chorus of voices calling for justice and condemnation of the use of force and violence terrorizing communities and causing unnecessary death.

When the world witnessed the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer, it literally became the last straw on the (black) camel’s back. Protestors took to the streets all over the country. In some places, the peaceful protestors were joined by those who wanted to use violence and loot. Militarized police departments and the National Guard have been utilized in response, and the President has suggested deploying US Armed Forces through the Insurrection Act.

PJSA condemns the undemocratic attempts to stymie the protected right of protest. We also condemn the use of excessive force against protesters in acts of suppression. We see an illegitimate and authoritarian privileging of law and order that undermines basic freedoms in civil rights and liberties.

Recommendations for the problem

We understand that the events in Minnesota are not an isolated example. We share in the desire to address the manifestations of violence at every level. We offer the following evidence-based options for improving policy and procedure and for rectifying historical and contemporary grievances. PJSA offers strategies for equity, just enforcement of the law, superior physical and mental health and safety for both the officers and the public, and more durable peace and security. We also make ourselves available to offer assistance beyond the following recommendations.

Reforms of Policing and the Policies for Law Enforcement

1. Ban the use of choke and strangleholds, especially in cases where individuals are restrained.
2. Require the use of and training in conflict de-escalation.
3. Develop and require continuous anti-bias training (while being fully aware of all the ways these trainings can quickly turn counter-productive), coach officers in understanding their biases, and limit the harmful impacts of these biases.
4. Require warnings to be made prior to shooting.
5. Exhaust all other means before escalating to shooting or the use of lethal force.
6. Create a “duty to intervene,” which would require officers to intervene when they witness excessive use of force and require that use of force be immediately reported to a supervisor.
7. Require all policies to adhere to the Department of Justice guidelines and recommendations for Constitutional practices, like banning shooting at moving vehicles.
8. Create mandatory time off policies, consistent with psychological recommendations, for officers involved in both uses of force and shooting events.
9. End and permanently ban all iterations of racial profiling and “stop and frisk” policies.
10. Create a use-of-force continuum to regulate further and restrict escalations of force for certain offenses or methods of resistance.
11. Require comprehensive reporting of all events where force is used.
12. Review hiring policies to bring more diversity into the force to be more inclusive so the local police force can mirror community demographics
13. Curb “use of force” practices against journalists.
14. Stop militarization. Return military equipment and weapons to the military.
15. Identify and remove members from known hate groups, white nationalists, and white supremacists from all capacities within law enforcement.
16. Modify laws making police first responders in cases outside of their expertise and training.
17. Introduce workshops for bringing cultural change in these institutions.

General Recommendations and Reforms At-Large

1. Increase funding, availability, and access to educational opportunities to minoritized communities.
2. Increase the capacity for educational programs for incarcerated individuals.
3. Bring Peace Education to schools to discuss the history of slavery and black marginalization
4. Engage in an ongoing systematic analysis of the judicial apparatus to identify the presence of “conviction machines” and respond with measures to ensure “equal protection under the law.”
5. Remove and replace antiquated vestiges of racial oppression and hatred with those promoting equality; one example is replacing the former slave owner Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with abolitionist, activist, and former slave Harriet Tubman.
6. Increase funding and accessibility to Public Defender and other legal aid programs.
7. Begin investigations to use Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (like South Africa and Rwanda) and study Reparations (like Germany) for centuries of racial injustice.
8. Establish a Department of Peace and a Secretary of Peace within the US government.
9. End qualified immunity for certain bias crimes and discrimination.
10. DefundPolice Departments and invest those savings in other areas, like mental health, mediation, and social services, which are better equipped for addressing issues within communities.
11. Evaluate and identify locations where corrupt and/or frivolous agents and departments of law enforcement need reforming, dissolution, or abolition and replace them with or add community policing and restorative justice. (Note: more police does not equal less crime, and police reform can reduce crime.)

The post Response to Epidemic Racist Violence and Police Brutality first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

In times like these, it is with great pleasure that I send this note—offering some good news about new benefits, services, and opportunities. There can be little question that these are historic times: of rising rebellion against economic collapse as well as the double pandemic of police violence and militarized, privatized responses to the global health crisis. As co-Secretary General of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA), I see every day how our affiliates in every corner of the planet engage in work to better the lives of all people. Since this email blast will go to many who are not yet IPRA members, it is worth noting that—since 1964—we and our five affiliated regional associations have brought together scholars and grassroots practitioners to explore scientific and sustainable solutions to the world’s most intractable problems. We hope the THREE new resources offered here will empower everyone reading this with greater ways to get more involved.

First, with caution and careful review, we are moving forward with plans for our major biennial conference, to take place in Nairobi, Kenya from 11-15 January 2021 at the Multimedia University of Kenya. It is exciting to announce that the Call to Papers has just been released, along with a specialized website focusing on conference planning. Please review the materials, help spread the word, and make plans to join us in 2021.

Second, it is nothing short of a thrill to announce that we have just launched IPRA’s Peace Search, a new web-based collaboration with the award-winning peace journalists at Waging Nonviolence (WNV). Their community of international members already includes close colleagues, and we plan to utilize this space so that an ever-widening group of readers can join us. Featured articles in this new launch include a spotlight on the campaign initiated by our Latin American colleagues on the need to build a more and just and peaceful “new normal;” an analysis of COVD-19 and the climate crisis by former SG Ursula Oswald-Spring; an impassioned message from middle-schooler Sarah Fontaine-Sinclair (Cree/Ojibwe); and much more. As my co-SG Christine Atieno and I note in our welcoming message, “we look forward to hearing from you with your comments, critiques, ideas and writings.”

Finally, we are very pleased to announce our new partnership with the professional, peer-reviewed Journal of Resistance Studies (JRS). An inter-disciplinary resource focusing on the study of unarmed strategies, discourses, tactics, effects, causes, contexts and experiences, JRS is now available FOR FREE to all IPRA members. Please contact IPRA if you would like to become a member and receive this cutting-edge academic (yet organizer-friendly) magazine.

Now is the time to intensify our efforts for peace with justice and come together to build effective solutions to the crisis we currently face. IPRA hopes that these new benefits help with this constructive process. Through these resources and others, we will bring you more news in the coming months and years! Together we can change the world!

Stay safe, healthy and strong,

Matt Meyer

Secretary-General, International Peace Research Association

New York, New York

The post new resources from IPRA first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

It is with heavy hearts, but confidence it is the right thing to do, that we must announce that the PJSA-ACR conference scheduled for fall 2020 has been cancelled. We did not make this decision easily. The Board considered that we do not yet know when the coronavirus will be contained nor when travel and gathering size restrictions will be lifted. We are aware that many institutions have already made cuts to faculty and staff and to travel funds for next year as well. These and many other factors left us with no choice but to cancel.

We are, however, using this opportunity to re-envision and hopefully expand what PJSA has to offer its members. To that end, we invite ideas from everyone! We have formed a committee examining/exploring what alternative(s) to the fall conference we can present, so please reach out if you would like to be involved by emailing info@peacejusticestudies.org.

We are also interested in suggestions of speakers, especially those from the global south that we are typically unable to bring to North America, who can help address the current through a peace and justice studies approach, and how can can sustain the movements for justice that are facing unprecedented challenges. We will be in touch in the coming weeks about our fall plans so get us your ideas!

At this challenging time, if you would like to show your support for PJSA, this is a great opportunity to renew your membership! You can check your membership here, and become a new member here. For assistance with membership renewal/lapses, visit here, or email info@peacejusticestudies.org

Most importantly, we wish that all our members and your loved ones remain safe and well during this difficult time.

Sincerely;

PJSA Executive Director and Board of Directors

The post the 2020 PJSA-ACR conference has been canceled first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

The need for strong university leadership and proactive thinking in response to the Covid-19 pandemic 

By: Jeremy Rinker (PJSA Board Institutional Liasion), and Wim Laven (PJSA Board Treasurer)

We write on behalf of the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA), a bi-national North American peace and justice association of both scholars and activists, on the need for strong university leadership and proactive thinking in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper lays out both principled and pragmatic advocacy for a robust bailout and stimulus for higher education. Our reasoning extends and promotes the message and vision of PJSA by ensuring equitable distribution of resources and by safeguarding opportunity for current and future generations of students across all variety of cultural, ethnic, geographic, and socio-economic categories.

Averting the Enrollment cum Expenditure “Crisis” Mentality in Higher Education

In crisis situations the hardwired human reaction is rapid response – this is mammalian – fight or flight. The Covid-19 pandemic is no exception. College and university campuses are an important site of the many metaphorical battlefields. On most campuses, students have been sent home to physically distance, and administrations on many campuses have invoked faculty, students, and staff to keep teaching, learning, and researching. This strategic approach is inconsistent with research on best practices for handling trauma in the workplace or classroom.[1] Most university responses have, thus far, been like a collective immune system; they have tried to produce the tried and true Protestant American antibody of work as the sole arbiter of normalcy. While some are experiencing pandemic productivity many are, unfortunately, struggling to get by. Institutional survival should not be based on achievement during adversity, but thoughtful strategic planning and forward-thinking reflexive leadership.

The Covid-19 fight on college campuses must be one for shared resources and the protection of the values of equity and inclusion. Higher education is responsible for the promotion of a civilization’s mental health and university spaces hold the brain trust of our civilization and democracy. Austerity will not develop antibodies, vaccines, or the minds and technologies of the future. Today’s pandemic showcases decades of budget cuts that do not reflect prioritizing the role of higher education in public health and, indeed, undercut the university role in the production of critical and life-sustaining public goods. Rather than once again averting our eyes, we need to look this crisis in the face and see it as an opportunity to address the unequal structures of the past and re-center the production of knowledge as a pro-social and affirmative good in society. Covid-19 did not create injustice, but it can be a “portal”[2] to sustainable change. Universities are the lever which can open this portal.

As the class of 2020 graduates face an expected job market with 20-30% unemployment we see further evidence that those who’ve contributed the least to the problem will suffer the most. Campuses need to expand student educational and training opportunities and counter this trend. The minds of the future are the most deserving of bailouts and deserving of the hard-won opportunities that a quality education should provide.

The importance of strategic and reflexive evidence-based leadership in times of crisis.

Academics are not accustomed to flight, but neither should academics accept the metaphor of fight. While we have tried to produce antibodies through ingenuity and focus on works, the need for art and play is rarely considered. Play is rarely the first American response to crisis and, of course, this is no vacation. Still, a month into this pandemic, calls are increasing to “get the economy working again” and “end the stay at home orders.” This is a problem of the commons, and we believe that only critical thinking, proper management, strong science, and the flexibility grasped through art and play will mitigate the risks of returning to our past sense of “normal.”

This is a time to rethink much of what was considered normal in the past. University policy decisions have manifold ramifications requiring creative and strategic leadership. College and university administrators were facing severe demographic shifts long before the Covid-19 coronavirus hit the United States.[3] Forecasts of shrinking enrollment were a pre-Covid-19 foregone conclusion and many colleges and universities were already preparing for spending cuts as a result of shrinking college-age demographics and enrollments. In the changed world of Covid-19, we know the economic futures of many industries have rapidly been put in limbo. Some industries will not survive. Higher education will survive, but at what costs to students and knowledge seekers across the country?

Dire prognosis of the death of higher education is a continuation of the ugly trend to devalue education.[4] We highlight the need for lovers of knowledge production to stay vigilant and at the same time implore college administrators and state legislators to keep a cool head about the worth and place of higher education[5] in our democratic society. Universities have long been the engine of economic development in our country. We at PJSA are concerned that the true value that colleges and universities bring to so many communities will continue to be overlooked or denied by legislators and campus leaders driven by the economic bottom line. We fear that neoliberal management models and growth projections will guide university leaders to make unfounded decisions about both the purpose and direction of higher education. Administrative decisions are often not made with full consideration of the public and societal value contained within our institutions, but rather with the same past assumptions and injustices. We urge leaders not to miss important opportunities for both change and expansion.

In a recent letter to the U.S. House of Representatives, the American Council on Education argues that: “The pandemic is striking during the height of the admissions process, and the requirement to close physical campuses for extended periods, along with justifiable concerns among current and prospective students about when and if to return to campus, are problems higher education did not have in the Great Recession.”[6] University administrators only concerned about revenue can get caught up in the dropping enrollment trap and constrict university spending at a time when the need to spend creatively and adapt may be the greatest. To get out from under the Covid-19 rock we must be creative, innovative, and not afraid to take risks – all attributes that have put U.S. colleges and universities in the driver’s seat of economic development and technological innovation for generations.

University administrators must resist the urge to cut further the humanities or fields that seem less popular to current students because they appear too expensive due to limited enrollments. These lesser enrolled fields hold the brain trust of our democratic civilization; they are the greatest value to the future of creative thinking and democratic citizenship. Already, on our campuses we are hearing talk of academic review of programs and hiring freezes. These are worrying harbingers of economic corrections that may be more based in fear than on evidence or the creativity of playful transformation work. We urge leaders in higher education to resist the crisis mentality. With support from the federal government we urge university administrators to use this crisis as a pivotal moment to creatively plan ways that the national trust in higher education can be restored and strengthened.

Notes

[1] For more on trauma sensitive schools: “in which all students feel safe, welcomed, and supported and where addressing trauma’s impact on learning on school wide basis is at the center of its educational mission. … [it] allows for the necessary teamwork, coordination, creativity, and sharing of responsibility for all students.” See: Cole, S. F., O’Brien, J. G., Gadd, M. G., Ristuccia, J., Wallace, D. L., & Gregory, M. (2005). Helping traumatized children learn: Supportive school environments for children traumatized by family violence. Boston, MA: Massachusetts Advocates for Children, Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative. See also: Cole, S. F., Eisner, A., Gregory, M., & Ristuccia, J. (2013). Helping traumatized children learn II: Creating and advocating for trauma-sensitive schools. Boston, MA: Massachusetts Advocates for Children, Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative.

[2] See Roy, Arundhati (2020). https://www.ft.com/content/10d8f5e8-74eb-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca

[3] In North Carolina, for example, the 18-24 years old population is projected to be the slowest growing age group over the next 20 years, growing by just 8% or 83,000 between 2016 and 2036. Source: Carolina Demography. 2018. Past, Present, and Future: Demographic Change and North Carolina’s Community College System. Chapel Hill, NC: Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina. Found at: https://www.ncdemography.org/

[4] Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, in 2017, at the Innovation + Disruption Symposium in Higher Education predicted that “50 percent of the 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. will be bankrupt in 10 to 15 years.”

[5] One recent 2014 report from John Hopkins University showed that the University was the state of Maryland’s largest Employer with over 48,000 employees (see: http://web.jhu.edu/administration/gca/projects/publications-and-reports/economic-impact-report/EIR%20Documents/EIR%202014/Maryland%20One%20Page%20Summary%20EIR%202014.pdf Yet another report from 2018 shows that the University of Georgia’s teaching, research and service generated $5.7 billion in economic activity across the state. (See:https://news.uga.edu/5-7-billion-ugas-economic-impact-grows/).

[6] See: https://texascivilrightsreview.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/highered_fourth_covid_request.pdf – accessed April 19, 2020.

The post The need for strong university leadership and proactive thinking in response to the Covid-19 pandemic first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

The Journal of Transdisciplinary Peace Praxis (JTPP), a peer-reviewed, biannual, scholarly journal of contemplative cutting edge research and practice which brings together peace practitioners with academics to explore radical responses to social conflict, war and injustice, is published by Frontpage Publications Limited, UK both in print and online versions.

In this partnership endeavour, JTPP’s  e-versions are made available to the PJSA members free of cost; by now, you must have enjoyed reading the 3^rd issue (Vol. 2, No. 1), released on 30 January 2020, focusing on exploring the limits of our current neoliberal capitalist ethos and cultural mindset.

In its 4^th issue (Vol. 2, No 2, scheduled to be released on 15 August 2020), JTPP will deal with the transdisciplinary assessments of the complicated religious dynamics in social, cultural, and political life with regard to peace and conflict.

JTPP brings an exclusive subscription plan for the home institutions of the PJSA members.

For an exclusive time, JTPP will offer 15% discount for any JTPP subscription for 2020 routed through PJSA members. In case, the subscription/order is further routed through a subscription agent, the discount will, however, stand reduced to 10%. Please ask your libraries to subscribe by going here.

In addition, the subscribers, recommended by the PJSA members, will receive free of cost the e-versions of the past (archival) JTPP issues of 2019 (Vol. 1, No. 1 & Vol. 1, No. 2) published in January and July 2019 respectively.

JTPP will send you the Proforma Invoice, and instead of using your debit/credit card, the payment could be made by cheque payable in the US.

So, what are you waiting for? Just write either to PJSA at our membership email or to JTPP at connect@jtpp.uk  or simply fill out a subscription!

Hurry, this Special Subscription Offer closes on 30 April 2020.

The post PJSA’s Collaboration with the Journal of Transdisciplinary Peace Praxis (JTPP) first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

The post Updates on the 2020 conference from the Directors of PJSA & ACR first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

I wanted to alert everyone: issue two of Peace Chronicle is now available online.

https://www.peacejusticestudies.org/peace-chronicle/

This issue’s theme is “dignity” and we’ve covered the subject from a number of angles that I think you’ll enjoy. Please let it be a source of hope and renewal going forward into 2020.

Please also let me plant seeds for our next issue (on decolonization), we’re always interested in adding voices and if you have something to say, let me know (wimlaven@gmail.com).

In peace,

Wim Laven, Ph.D

The post New issue of the Peace Chronicle on “Dignity” just released! first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

It is with great pleasure that we officially announce that you will soon be receiving in your inboxes a digital version of the 3rd Issue of The Journal of Transdisciplinary Peace Praxis(JTPP).

Please be on the lookout for this link in the days ahead. If you do not receive the link, this means your membership has lapsed. Please take the time to renew and support PJSA and JTPP. PJSA members will have full access to our 3rd issue and can request hard copies be sent for a nominal fee. Through partnership with the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) your 2020 membership includes this relatively new cutting edge journal of peace research and practice. The third issue of the journal is focused on exploring the limits of our current neoliberal capitalist ethos and cultural mindset.

At JTPP we do not shy away from taking on complex and wicked problems with an eye toward developing transdisciplinary peace praxis. We believe that you will enjoy this third issue that aims to make the hegemonic influences of neoliberal ideology and norms more clear and pliable in our own peace practices. In the third issue you will find examples of peace researchers and activists challenging the realities of neoliberalism in the institutions of the media, on university campuses, and after natural disasters. We are eager to grow our readership and are excited about the PJSA-JTPP partnership. We promise that upon reading the forthcoming third issue of the JTPP you will not be disappointed and we hope that you will be inspired and re-energized.

Should you have questions do not hesitate to reach out to either PJSA  at our membership email or to JTPP at: am@jtpp.uk and/or at: connect@jtpp.uk.

Sincerely,

Jeremy A. Rinker

Editor: The Journal of Transdisciplinary Peace Praxis (JTPP)

&

Michael Loadenthal

Executive Director, Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA)

The post PJSA partners with The Journal of Transdisciplinary Peace Praxis(JTPP) first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

We hope this find you well. We are writing to ask for a few moments of your time to express your opinion about your Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) membership. We are beginning to strategize how to make our organization more diverse and increase our institutional memberships. We would like your input about how your PJSA membership benefits your work and how we might do better. Please take a few moments to take the following survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/236JJ65.

To help give you some incentive we will randomly pick four respondents to receive a free membership for a year or $100 gift certificate to PM Press. Please note, you may also receive a copy of this email addressed to you personally.

Thank you in advance for your time. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at membership@peacejusticestudies.org.

For more information about membership see: https://www.peacejusticestudies.org/membership

The post A membership survey and a prize! first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

The PJSA Peace Chronicle editorial team is excited to release the Fall 2018 – Winter 2019 issue!  You can view it here.

Remember, you must be logged in to view the current issue. If you need help logging in, please send an email to info@peacejusticestudies.com and we can get you access. You can also view past issues (without logging in) here: https://www.peacejusticestudies.org/peace-chronicle

The editorial team at PJSA worked hard to ensure that the Chronicle is the best reflection of our members and we would like to thank all of the members who contributed content to this issue.

If you would like to have your work in future editions please submit it to: https://goo.gl/BxVW58. Submissions for the Spring – Summer edition must be received by 5/03/19.

Questions can be directed to: thepeacechronicle@gmail.com

The post PJSA Peace Chronicle (Fall 2018 – Winter 2019) issue released first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

By: J. Rinker, S. Jafari, and T. Seidel

[TO VIEW THE DOCUMENT AS A PDF]

As a binational organization committed to peacebuilding and social justice, the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) stands with the many Americans and our colleagues who are deeply concerned about the Trump administration’s actions that are threatening civil rights, human rights and political freedoms.  Representing a diverse constituency of peace and justice scholars and activists in the United States and Canada, we are also disheartened by the administration’s use of structurally and culturally violent language. More than divisive, such language threatens the core values enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. We strongly support the nonviolent forms of resistance being waged across the continent, including by many PJSA members and colleagues.  At a time of increased authoritarianism[1] as well as uncertainty and fear, our field of peace and justice scholars and activists has a vital role to play in providing strategies, insights and tools for effective nonviolent action and in support of vulnerable communities.  This is not a time for the faint of heart—we cannot remain silent in the face of the disruptive political tactics of the new presidential administration.

Federal court rulings against the executive order that sought to ban entry into the United States of refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries is an important victory for the checks and balances within our political system, for human rights, and for political activism.  Yet the administration’s strong anti-immigrant and Islamophobic rhetoric and actions continue, from a new version of the ban, to aggressive plans to limit immigration, abolish sanctuary cities, initiate a US-Mexico border wall, and expand the net for immigration deportation.  Additional executive orders have sought to cut funding for family planning programs and approve the Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines—not to mention what is happening at the state level around the country to curtail LGBTQ rights.

As an anti-racist and anti-sexist organization committed to critical analysis of our political and social institutions and structures, however, it is imperative we stress that what we’re seeing today is a continuation of the systemic racism and sexism of our country and our history of colonialism—albeit now in a more extreme and explicit form of white supremacy and neoliberal capitalism. For many in the United States, the current sense of unease and fear is nothing new, although there is greater awareness among more people, even as recent political discourse sews the seeds of distrust between Americans.  We stand with the many Muslim American and other civil and human rights activists who remind us that, long before the Trump administration’s Muslim Ban, “War on Terror” policies institutionalized Islamophobia by increasing the suspicion, targeting, and withholding of rights of people based solely on their religion or nationality.  We stand strongly with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and the Water Protector movement at Standing Rock, who have called out the forms of structural, cultural and direct violence that have long faced certain marginalized American communities.[2]  The continued attempts to repress and chill dissent in these movements remain an important area of concern.[3] We stand with the domestic and international organizations that have long advocated for and provided support to the victims of what has become the largest refugee crisis our world has seen since World War II. In large part this crisis is a result of the neo-liberal economic policies and United States sponsored wars and yet, even before Trump, the United States had only accepted a token number of refugees.[4]

The election itself revealed a country deeply divided and distrustful of both major political parties, including among working class and poor communities left behind by neoliberal agendas.  Like many, however, we are alarmed by how the current administration is exploiting these fears and frustrations to further strengthen authoritarianism, including through its lies or “alternative facts,” lack of transparency on its Russian connections, attacks on the media, fear mongering, and aggressive attempts to consolidate power.  As an organization committed to nonviolent action as an effective strategy toward social change, we are also particularly troubled by recent attempts to target and punish protesters.  Dissent is the bedrock of the U.S. democracy.  On inauguration day in Washington, DC, no less than 230 people—including journalists, medical personnel and legal observers—were arrested, most of whom face felony rioting charges that carry the potential of up to 10 years in prison.  Further, the executive order on policing threatens to target in particular protesters whose actions can bring them in conflict with law enforcement, including giving the attorney general the right to implement, “if warranted, legislation defining new crimes of violence and establishing new mandatory minimum sentences for existing crimes of violence against Federal, State, tribal, and local law enforcement officers, as well as for related crimes.”[5] Such policy and discourse takes the United States in a regressive direction on issues of racial, economic, and gender justice—it does not “make America great again.”

We are aware that many PJSA members and our colleagues are directly impacted by the encroachment of civil liberties and increased instability.  As our public spaces are increasingly under attack, we keep in our minds and hearts:

•  the many students and scholars who are made particularly vulnerable by anti-immigration or anti-Muslim policies, as well as, a corporatist neo-liberal agenda in public education;
• those that face the continued, or escalating, targeting and harassment as they speak their moral conscience;
• all marginalized communities who remain silent out of a fear of retribution.

As many around the country and world struggle with how to make sense of the current political climate, our field of researchers, scholars and experts in conflict, peace, justice, reconciliation—and therefore in matters such as authoritarianism and fascism—serves as a critical resource.  Outside of systematically debunking “alternative facts” that the new administration unleashes, members of our field provide critical analysis of the strategies and tactics of those in charge, and how to effectively respond.  Research shows that nonviolent campaigns are more effective than armed ones, and the peace and justice field has identified hundreds of strategies and techniques of nonviolent civil resistance.  Peace and justice scholars provide insight on how to mobilize collective action, remain resilient, and strengthen civil society movements.  As educators, many PJSA members and colleagues train young students to use situational analysis to transform destructive social conflict into constructive social change.  Teaching about different forms of social, political and economic restructuring, they are well positioned to foster alternative social visions of what it will take to build safe, inclusive and prosperous communities for all.

In this critical moment, PJSA calls on Americans to support the work of empowerment education:  an education that critically assesses systems of privilege, whether they be based on gender, race, religion, or class. Uplifting a pedagogy of oppression, we call on our members and colleagues to resist the urge to be lulled to sleep by the disruptive political theater of the new administration and to be vigilant about our own privilege, and privileged place, in the world.  In doing this, we believe that we position activists with a clear sense of informed dissent to creatively envision what Micah White calls “a new approach to activism and a new kind of protest.”[6] This means that we must be supportive of independent journalism, skeptical of social media communication, and staunch in our insistence that all our elected officials are accountable to all Americans. Whereas we call for strong support of truly independent news media, we also call for skepticism toward dependence on social media, since research shows Americans increasingly receive only ‘news’ that confirms their views, and use social media precisely for this purpose. Sometime subtle, sometimes not, the disruptive tactics of the new Trump administration are calculated to enrage progressives and push the boundary of acceptable policy change further towards the right.

Be clear, the pace and disruptive deployment of change by the new administration is far from haphazard. We believe that it is calculated to lay the groundwork to institute neoliberal ideological changes that continue to increase the power of the executive branch at the expense of our historic system of checks and balances, as well as silence marginal voices.  We call on PJSA members and colleagues to use the skills and expertise of our field to nonviolently resist the disruptive theater in our current political landscape. Our field’s passion and creativity towards peace must remain an unlimited resource for positive change in the face of on-going calculated political disruptions.

NOTE:  The PJSA publications committee welcomes members to propose specific position papers that challenge recent executive actions only touched upon in the above statement. While we encourage all types of nonviolent resistance and know that each of our members brings their own unique skills to this important work, if you have an idea for a position paper please reach out to publications committee chair Michael Minch (MMinch@uvu.edu).

[1] For an excellent analysis of the autocratic turn of the American electorate see Frum, David. “How to Build an Autocracy.” Atlantic Magazine, March 2017. Accessed February 7, 2017 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/03/how-to-build-an-aut…

[2] PJSA issued a statement following the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, condemning police brutality and in support of structural social justice approaches.  See PJSA Statement on Ending Police Brutality and Promoting Justice.  Peace and Justice Studies Association, August 2014.  https://www.peacejusticestudies.org/pjsa-statement-ending-police-brutality-and-promoting-justice

[3] For example see recent news about FBI/DHS surveillance of the BLM movement and of Standing Rock water protectors:  http://www.salon.com/2016/10/20/fbi-homeland-security-sued-for-records-o… and https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/10/standing-rock-fbi-investigation-dakota-access.

[4] To learn more about the immigration and refugee crisis, see PJSA’s position paper on the topic:  Rinker, Jeremy and Laura Finley, International Migration and Refugee Crisis Intervention.  Peace and Justice Studies Association, March 2016.  https://www.peacejusticestudies.org/position-paper-international-migration-and-refugee-crisis-intervention

[5]  Presidential Executive Order on Preventing Violence against Federal, State, Tribal, and Local Law Enforcement Officers, February 9, 2017.  https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/02/09/presidential-executive-order-preventing-violence-against-federal-state

[6] White, Micah. The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution (Canada: Alfred Knopf, 2016), 39.

The post Peace and Justice Activism in an Era of Disruptive Political Theater first appeared on Peace and Justice Studies Association.

Dr. John Ettling
President,
State University of New York, Plattsburgh
president_office@plattsburgh.edu

Dr. Jake Liszka
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs,
State University of New York, Plattsburgh
provost-office@plattsburgh.edu

Dr. Andrew Buckser
Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences
State University of New York, Plattsburgh
abuck005@plattsburgh.edu

Dear President Ettling, Provost Liszka, and Dean Buckser:

We write on behalf of the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA, www.peacejusticestudies.org) to express our grave concern about the campaign of harassment being waged against Simona Sharoni, professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at SUNY Plattsburgh and a member of PJSA, which threatens her safety and well-being as well as her free speech and academic freedom rights. This campaign, which now includes a request under New York State’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) that SUNY Plattsburgh make available records relating to Professor Sharoni’s hiring, employment and academic activities, appears intended to intimidate and ultimately silence her because of her public support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. We call upon the university to exercise its responsibility to protect Professor Sharoni’s right of free speech and to defend her academic freedom.

Following an interview conducted on March 5, 2016, in which Professor Sharoni expressed her support of the BDS movement, an inflammatory campaign of tweets and email messages was launched against her, including threats to her physical safety. On April 28, 2016, Professor Sharoni contacted a number of university leaders, including SUNY Plattsburgh’s president and provost, the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the chair of the Faculty Senate and officers of the faculty union to inform them about these threats and to ask that the university publicly affirm its commitment to academic freedom and to the protection of the safety and well-being of all its students and employees. Dr. Sharoni has indicated to PJSA that these threats, and the university’s failure to issue a statement in support of her academic freedom, have rendered it difficult for her to pursue scholarship on these contentious issues.

PJSA is dedicated to bringing together academics, K-12 teachers, and grassroots activists to explore alternatives to violence and share visions and strategies for peacebuilding, social justice, and social change. Like a growing number of academic associations, PJSA has officially endorsed the BDS movement. We wholeheartedly support Professor Sharoni in her work and scholarship. Unfortunately Professor Sharoni is not the only member of our association or other academic association who has been targeted for their work for Palestinian human rights. There is a climate of hostility in the U.S. academy today that threatens many scholars working on Israel-Palestine. This only makes our commitments to academic freedom all the more critical.

It appears to us that these FOIL requests are part of the continuing campaign to harass and intimidate Dr. Sharoni because she has expressed certain political views. We believe that everyone should be free to express their views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as on any other issue of public concern without fear of harassment, intimidation or sanction. We also believe that SUNY Plattsburgh has a clear responsibility to defend Professor Sharoni and all of its other employees from threat and intimidation, in keeping with the constitutionally protected right of free speech and with the principles of academic freedom.

We believe strongly that attacks on academic freedom in any country, including the United States, must not be allowed to stand. Dr. Sharoni’s academic freedom has been compromised in this instance. We therefore urge you to support her by issuing a public statement condemning threats against her and stating her right to conduct research and public engagement on these issues in an environment free from fear. We also urge you to consider carefully which documents are exempt from FOIL requests and to weigh seriously the interests of academic freedom against the interests of the requesters, in particular in cases such as this, when the goal seems to be only intimidation. We call on SUNY Plattsburgh’s leadership to publicly and vigorously affirm its commitment to the principles of free speech and academic freedom as well as its intention to defend Professor Sharoni and other faculty members against harassment and threats by politically motivated individuals and groups based outside the university community.

If you have any questions about this statement or PJSA’s support of academic freedom, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

Dr. Laura Finley
Co-Chair, Peace and Justice Studies Association Board
Associate Professor, Barry University

Dr. Edmund Pries
Co-Chair, Peace and Justice Studies Association Board
Assistant Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University

Dr. Michael Loadenthal
Executive Director, Peace and Justice Studies Association
Visiting Professor, Miami University

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Threats to Academic Freedom and Higher Education in Turkey (Middle East Studies Association)

July 21, 2016

Academic Engagement Network
African Studies Association
American Academy of Religion
American Anthropological Association
American Association of Geographers
Executive Committee of the American Comparative Literature Association
American Council of Learned Societies
American Folklore Society
American Historical Association
American Library Association
American Philosophical Association
American Musicological Society
American Society for Environmental History
American Sociological Association
American Studies Association
Association for Middle East Women’s Studies
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Association for the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities
Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present
Association of College & Research Libraries
British International Studies Association
British Society for Middle Eastern Studies
Executive Committee of the California Scholars for Academic Freedom
College Art Association
Economic History Association
European Association for Middle Eastern Studies
European Association of Social Anthropologists
European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (NECS)
Executive Board of the European Society for Translation Studies
German Middle East Studies Association (DAVO)
German Studies Association
Gingko Library
International Center for Medieval Art
International Courtly Literature Society
International Society for Third-Sector Research
Italian American Studies Association
Italian Society for Middle Eastern Studies (SeSaMo)
Latin American Studies Association
Law and Society Association
Linguistic Society of America
The Medieval Academy of America
Middle East Studies Association
Modern Language Association
National Communication Association
Organization of American Historians
Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association
Peace and Justice Studies Association
Political Studies Association
Société Française de Littérature Générale et Comparée
Society for Cinema and Media Studies
Society for Classical Studies
Society for Ethnomusicology
Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts
Society of Architectural Historians
Society of Biblical Literature
Southeastern Medieval Association
TESOL International Association
West African Research Association
Western Society of Criminology
World History Association

The above listed organizations collectively note with profound concern the apparent moves to dismantle much of the structure of Turkish higher education through purges, restrictions, and assertions of central control, a process begun earlier this year and accelerating now with alarming speed.

As scholarly associations, we are committed to the principles of academic freedom and freedom of expression. The recent moves in Turkey herald a massive and virtually unprecedented assault on those principles. One of the Middle East region’s leading systems of higher education is under severe threat as a result, as are the careers and livelihoods of many of its faculty members and academic administrators.

Our concern about the situation in Turkish universities has been mounting over the past year, as Turkish authorities have moved to retaliate against academics for expressing their political views—some merely signing an “Academics for Peace” petition criticizing human rights violations.

Yet the threat to academic freedom and higher education has recently worsened in a dramatic fashion. In the aftermath of the failed coup attempt of July 15-16, 2016, the Turkish government has moved to purge government officials in the Ministry of Education and has called for the resignation of all university deans across the country’s public and private universities. As of this writing, it appears that more than 15,000 employees at the education ministry have been fired and nearly 1600 deans—1176 from public universities and 401 from private universities—have been asked to resign. In addition, 21,000 private school teachers have had their teaching licenses cancelled. Further, reports suggest that travel restrictions have been imposed on academics at public universities and that Turkish academics abroad were required to return to Turkey. The scale of the travel restrictions, suspensions and imposed resignations in the education sector seemingly go much farther than the targeting of individuals who might have had any connection to the attempted coup.

The crackdown on the education sector creates the appearance of a purge of those deemed inadequately loyal to the current government. Moreover, the removal of all of the deans across the country represents a direct assault on the institutional autonomy of Turkey’s universities. The replacement of every university’s administration simultaneously by the executive-controlled Higher Education Council would give the government direct administrative control of all Turkish universities. Such concentration and centralization of power over all universities is clearly inimical to academic freedom. Moreover, the government’s existing record of requiring university administrators’ to undertake sweeping disciplinary actions against perceived opponents—as was the case against the Academics for Peace petition signatories—lends credence to fears that the change in university administrations will be the first step in an even broader purge against academics in Turkey.

Earlier this year, it was already clear that the Turkish government, in a matter of months, had amassed a staggering record of violations of academic freedom and freedom of expression. The aftermath of the attempted coup may have accelerated those attacks on academic freedom in even more alarming ways.

As scholarly organizations, we collectively call for respect for academic freedom—including freedom of expression, opinion, association and travel—and the autonomy of universities in Turkey, offer our support to our Turkish colleagues, second the Middle East Studies Association’s “call for action” of January 15, request that Turkey’s diplomatic interlocutors (both states and international organizations) advocate vigorously for the rights of Turkish scholars and the autonomy of Turkish universities, suggest other scholarly organizations speak forcefully about the threat to the Turkish academy, and alert academic institutions throughout the world that Turkish colleagues are likely to need moral and substantive support in the days ahead.

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Position Paper: Gender-Based and Sexual Violence on College Campuses

As an organization devoted to the creation of a more peaceful world, the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) views Gender-based and Sexual Violence (GBSV) as a key social justice issue. We therefore implore academic and activist communities to take the issue seriously and to enact policies and procedures designed to support survivors and to hold perpetrators accountable. A new wave of survivor-led organizing across campuses in the United States has heightened awareness to this problems and the urgency to address its root causes. This position is designed to provide campus officials and faculty members with basic information and recommended guidelines to respond to GBSV by implementing effective prevention and intervention policies and programs.

Scope of the Problem

GBSV on college campuses is not a new phenomenon. Research on the problem reveals that rates of sexual harassment, rape, and sexual assault in higher education have not changed over the past three decades. Research suggests that 30% of graduate students surveyed stated that they experienced some form of sexual harassment in the course of their study.[1] This problem is especially acute for graduate students and junior faculty across the academy. Studies suggest that approximately one in five women and one in 16 college men are targets of attempted or completed sexual assault while they are college students.[2] Other sources indicate that college-aged women are four times more likely than any other age group to face sexual assault.[3] Additional research suggests that freshman and sophomores were at greater risk than juniors and seniors.[4] Mohler-Kuo et al. (2004) found that women in sororities were three times as likely to be raped as were non-sorority members[5].Research also indicates that women living in dormitories or residence halls were 1.4 times likely to be raped than women living off campus. Studies have shown that four percent of men perpetrate 90 percent of campus rapes.[6] Athletes and fraternity members are overrepresented in campus accusations of rape, and many have asserted that this is because these organizations often denigrate women and bond around sexually misogynistic and hypermasculine ideologies.[7]

It is possible that the statistics are higher than studies suggest because incidents of GBSV rape and sexual assault on college campuses are under-reported with less than 10 percent of the students choosing to report the crime to campus authorities or law enforcement (Koss et. al 2014).

Victims have identified many barriers to reporting, including fear, stigma, lack of trust that anything will happen, and inadequate university policies.[8] Two-thirds of victims do tell someone about the assault, typically a friend.[9] Following friends, the next most frequent group to which victims confide is faculty. Systematic implementation of campus climate surveys, now federally required of universities and colleges, will yield even more comprehensive and up-to-date data.

Federal Requirements for Campuses

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 requires campuses to take action to respond to sexual assault and to implement prevention programs. The Clery Act is federal statute that requires all colleges and universities who receive federal funding to share information about crime on campus and their efforts to improve campus safety.

In April 2013, the Department of Education issued guidelines for campuses regarding adherence to the Title IX requirements. This directive reiterated that campuses must:

• Define sexual discrimination, including sexual violence, and publish a policy stating that the college or university does not discriminate on the basis of sex;
• Create and distribute procedures for students to file complaints about sexual harassment, discrimination, or violence;
• Appoint a Title IX Coordinator to oversee these activities and review complaints.[10]
• In 2013, Department of Education issued guidance to campuses on retaliation, noting that federal civil rights laws, including Title IX, prohibit colleges and universities from retaliating against students who file complaints about possible civil rights problems on campus, including sexual assault.

Guidelines issued by the White House in 2014 in its “Not Alone” report elaborated on the legal requirements for handling sexual assault cases as well as best practices for initiating or expanding prevention programs. The report noted that Title IX Coordinator must initiate the investigation of sexual assault complaints and develop comprehensive policies that both hold perpetrators accountable and protect victim’s rights. Campuses must also provide interim resources to victims while investigations are under way. These can be on campus or at local rape service centers. Further, the report called on campuses to provide trauma-informed training for school officials and to conduct a campus climate survey by 2016. The White House Task Force provided a sample survey for campuses to use or adapt.  Finally, the White House directed all campuses to engage in prevention programs that raise awareness, engage men as allies, and promote positive bystander intervention.

In the past three years, students have filed formal com­plaints against their universities and colleges, accusing them of violating one or both requirements. Student protest and subsequent investigations by the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education have exposed the failure of college administrators to offer services to survivors and an even greater failure to hold perpetrators accountable. The Office of Civil Rights is now investigating 200 violations of Title IX and the Cleary Act at 161 institutions colleges.[11]

Additionally, lawmakers, both at the national and state level, have introduced new legislation on affirmative consent, support for survivors, and the establishment of clear guidelines for reporting, investigating, and adjudicating GBSV on college campuses.

Concerns About Campus Responses

Student activism heightened public awareness to GBSV on college campuses and along with legal action and federal investigations have forced college administrators to revisit their policies and programs. Still, many campuses continue to use the guidelines superficially to demonstrate compliance, without addressing the root-causes of the problem..[12] Research has shown that campuses often lack clear policies, fail to create appropriate services for survivors, and provide scanty, if any, specific curricula or programming related to understanding, responding to, healing from, or preventing abuse.[13] While the topic may come up in some coursework (for instance, social work, criminology, or psychology courses), many students do not take these courses and are thus not typically exposed to the information. Ironically, faculty with scholarly expertise on GBSV have been excluded from campus efforts to address the problem. This is especially true for faculty who expressed support for student activism on the issue.

Many survivors of GBSV have reported that they felt unsupported. This is especially true for survivors who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender (LGBT) as well as a range of gender non-conforming students. Sis-gender men and survivors from under-represented racial and ethnic minorities have also indicated that they don’t find existing resources helpful. Many have also suffered retaliation from students and administrators when they have reported sexual assault.  Survivors report being asked questions that blame them for the incidents, being forced to remain in classes with assailants, being discouraged from pursuing campus actions or police investigations, and more. Faculty who have supported survivors have sometimes faced retaliation, including changes in job assignment, denial of tenure, and even termination.

Too often, campuses, like the U.S. in a broader sense, do not challenge rape culture. According to Faculty Against Rape (FAR), in a rape culture, GBSV is “common and normalized by societal attitudes and practices.” [14] GBSV is tacitly condoned when societies or institutions deny the frequency with which it occurs, deny the harm it creates, and blame victims. Rape culture reflects systemic inequalities and differences in power and privilege, including male and heteronormative privilege and white and class privilege.  [15]

Best Practices for Campus Response and Prevention

Faculty members have an important role to play in transforming their college’s response to GBSV. They can offer scholarly expertise in conducting research on relevant topic as well as exploring creative ways to integrate it into the curriculum. Faculty can also get involved in policy reform and support student activism on the issue.

FAR has compiled a detailed description of best practices in terms of supporting survivors for faculty and for campus officials. Most important for faculty is to listen and not judge survivors when they disclose a sexual assault and to express empathy, as many survivors feel scared and alone. Faculty should begin from a place of believing the survivor and avoid asking probing questions that may appear as though they do not accept the story as truthful. Faculty on all campuses should be knowledgeable about campus resources so that appropriate referrals can be made, and should follow up with the survivor to see how they were treated and if they have other unmet needs. FAR also recommends a disclosure statement on sexual assault be included in all syllabi. Such a statement tells students where to report sexual assault and where they can receive services. FAR provides a sample on their website. Faculty are encouraged to host events, invite guest speakers, get involved in campus task forces, and to publish articles or op-eds in student newspapers or other relevant sources.

Campuses must establish and enforce clear definitions of consent. California provides a model of “affirmative consent,” or “yes means yes” consent. This legislation establishes that consent must be ongoing and that lack of protest or resistance do not entail consent. Students must also be educated regarding what is considered to be sexual violence by state and federal law. FAR recommends that this occur through mandatory orientations and ongoing trainings. Further, campus officials must send a clear message that sexual violence of any kind will not be tolerated, and must enact strong sanctions when someone is found, through an appropriate judicial process, to have perpetrated it. Currently, only one-third of students found to be responsible for sexual assault are expelled, a rate lower than that of expulsions for cheating.[16]

Numerous studies have confirmed that the most effective prevention programs are ongoing and that they inform bystanders how they can intervene positively to prevent sexual assault.[17] The White House has provided recommendations for campus prevention programs, which are available at https://www.notalone.gov/assets/evidence-based-strategies-for-the-prevention-of-sv-perpetration.pdf

Broad alliances between student activists, faculty, parents, alumni and legislative bodies are needed in order to keep GBSV on the public agenda and to ensure a comprehensive solution to this deep-rooted problem. PJSA and FAR call on our peacemakers, peacebuilders, and peace educators to make this issue a priority. By working to address GBSV on our college campuses we contribute to making the world a better, more just place.

Notes:

[1] Rosenthal, M., Smidt, E., & Freyd, J. (2016). Still second class: Sexual harassment of graduate students. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 1-14.

[2] Fisher, B., Cullen, F., & Turner, M. (2000). The sexual victimization of college women. National Institute of Justice. Retrieved July 21, 2016 from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/182369.pdf

[3] Krebs, C., Lindquist, C., Warner, T., Fisher, B., & Martin, S. (2007). The Campus Sexual Assault Study (CSA). Washington, D.C: National Institute of Justice. Available at https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/221153.pdf

[4] Ibid.

[5] Mohler-Kuo, M., Dowdall, G., Koss, M., & Weschler, H. (2004). Correlates of rape while intoxicated in a national sample of college women. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 65, 37-45.

[6] Lisak, D., &Miller, P. (2002). Repeat rape and multiple offending among undetected rapists. Violence and Victims, 17(1), 73-84.

[7] See for instance Hayes, R., Abbott, R., & Cook, S. (2016). It’s her fault: Student acceptance of rape myths on two college campuses. Violence Against Women, 1-16.

[8] Lombardi, K. (2010, February 24). A lack of consequences for sexual assault. Center for Public Integrity. Retrieved April 20, 2015 from http://www.publicintegrity.org/2010/02/24/4360/lack-consequences-sexual-…

[9] Fisher, Cullen & Turner, Op cit.

[10] AAUW Issues: Title IX. (n.d.).  Retrieved April 20, 2015from http://www.aauw.org/what-we-do/public-policy/aauw-issues/title-ix/

[11] McGrady, M. (2016, January 25). Under Obama, federal investigations of campus sexual assault cases skyrocket. The College Fix. Retrieved July 12, 2016 from http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/25985/

[12] Daigle, L., Fisher, B., & Cullen, F. (2008). The violent and sexual victimization of vollege women: Is repeat violence a problem? Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23, 1296-1313.

[13] Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, Op. cit.

[14] See http://www.facultyagainstrape.net/

[15] See http://www.facultyagainstrape.net/

[16] Kingkade, T. (2014, September 29). Fewer than one-third of campus sexual assault cases result in expulsion. Huffington Post. Retrieved July 12, 2016 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/29/campus-sexual-assault_n_5888742…

[17] See for example Smith, P., & Welchans, S. (2000). Peer education: Does focusing on male responsibility change sexual assault attitudes? Violence Against Women, 6(11), 1255-1268.

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