The Student Peace Initiative will host the Peace Fest, which will feature live music, food, and tie dye, among others.
On Wednesday, Oct. 22 the event will take place at the Peace Quad from 5 to 7 p.m. Every year the Student Peace Initiative picks a theme for the festival, this year’s theme being “survival in peace and conflict.” Last year, the theme was “memory in peace and conflict.”
Isabella McCoy, the president of the Student Peace Initiative, explained why she believes this theme is important.
“Every theme ends with ‘in peace and conflict,’ because survival, memory, etc. doesn’t just occur in conflict,” McCoy said. “It’s important to understand different perspectives and that requires us to open the discussion up to more than just conflict. Survival can be interpreted however people see fit, whether it’s fighting to stay alive, survival in difficult conditions (lack of access to food, water, medicine), survival as a minority group/person, survival to maintain or create peace in typical/non-typical settings, etc.”
The Peace Fest is one of two events that the Student Peace Initiative holds each year.
“Each year we typically hold two events, one being the Peace Festival in the fall, and the other being the Peace Conference in the spring,” McCoy said. “During our peace conference we have a guest speaker related to the theme, panels, debates, discussions, and a student-led panel which is where students are able to present their findings about anything relating to the theme or anything they have been researching or are passionate about.”
The best paper or presentation from last year’s Peace Conference will be announced and the student will be awarded money and recognition.
McCoy also invited students to submit their work for the 2026 Peace Conference.
“We are opening up our submissions for this year for our peace conference and we encourage students of all different majors, disciplines, and backgrounds to apply for a chance to present their work and win an award,” said McCoy. “We put abstracts because we don’t just want papers. It can be a paper, art, music, a dance, a presentation, etc.”
