For Immediate Release March 9, 2005

For More Information Contact: Jack McKivigan, 317-274-5860 jmckivig@iupui.edu Diane Brown, 317-274-7711 habrown@iupui.edu

IUPUI Student Organization to Co-host Midwest Peace Summit

INDIANAPOLIS - In collaboration with Plowshares, a peace studies collaborative of Earlham, Goshen and Manchester colleges, and the Indiana Peace and Justice Network, Students for Peace in Iraq (SPII) will host a Midwest Peace Summit, March 18-20, 2005.

More than two dozen free workshops, panels and lectures are scheduled March 18 and 19 at the Informatics and Communications Technology Complex, located on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus at Michigan and West streets.

The Midwest Peace Summit will culminate with a rally to protest the Iraq War on the second anniversary of its start. The rally will take place from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, March 20 on Indianapolis' Monument Circle .

Michael Parenti, award-winning author and one of the nation's leading progressive political analysts will deliver Saturday's Plowshares' Lecture, "Democracy vs. Empire."

Bob Bringle, director of the Center for Service and Learning at IUPUI, said hosting the summit is aligned with the university's goal of community service. "One role of the University is to encourage dialogue about important issues and to create a space for open debate and discussion."

IUPUI history Professor Jack McKivigan, who serves as the SPII faculty advisor, said, "We're thrilled to have faculty from 11 Indiana colleges and universities participating in the summit. We want Indiana to take a lead in organizing the Midwest and the nation for peace." McKivigan added that seminar topics range from the illegality of preemptive war to interpersonal conflict transformation to the philosophy of nonviolence.

The free summit workshops will be augmented by a varied program of music, art, theater, poetry, films and multimedia presentations throughout the weekend. A complete list of programs is available at the Web site: http://spii.usg.iupui.edu/.

Students for Peace in Iraq is a student organization with faculty and staff support at IUPUI and friends across the state committed to a rapid end of the U.S. occupation of Iraq as the first step toward fostering a culture of peaceful resolution of all conflicts stemming from economic, political and social injustice worldwide. ###