In anticipation of the International Day of Peace on Sept. 21, as well as the Dalai Lama’s visit to campus on Oct. 8-9, The Syracuse University Humanities Center is presenting Eat Together for Peace (ET4Peace), a weeklong program of food, arts, and culture that is an invitation to take peacemaking personally. All events are free and open to the public, and are an extension of the Perpetual Peace Project (PPP), organized and presented by The SU Humanities Center in The College of Arts and Sciences. 

For more information about ET4Peace, call 315-443-5708, or visit syracusehumanities.org. For Twitter and Facebook coverage, visit@ET4Peace and facebook.com/ET4Peace, respectively.

ET4Peace grew out of conversations between SU Humanities Center Director Gregg Lambert and community organizer Marnie Blount-Gowan, the latter of whom was inspired by PPP and proposed launching an initiative to benefit the campus community. ET4Peace, she says, encourages students, faculty, and staff to eat with people who are different from themselves in some way.

“ET4Peace is designed to foster peace and understanding. It speaks to the commonality of our human existence,” says Blount-Gowan, adding that the “menu” of events culminates with the International Day of Peace on the Shaw Quad, where people are invited to form a “living” peace sign and then observe a minute of silence.

Organizers say ET4Peace was also created in response to the changing notion of hospitality. “Like charity, hospitality is an act that has been reduced to its most bare and naked sense, deprived of warmth and love,” says Lambert, who is also involved with the planning of the Dalai Lama’s visit. “Marnie and I want people to enjoy the act of coming together. It is the most fundamental and basic ingredient of a civil society, and is the first course in the meal of perpetual peace.”

The ET4Peace schedule is as follows:

FRIDAY, SEPT. 14
Mix It Up: Sharing Food and Stories of Peace and War
The Division of Student Affairs and the Slutzker Center for International Services present an inclusive circle discussion about the challenges of creating world peace.
5 p.m., Schine Student Center (304 ABC)

Spiritual Conversations: Faith and Peacemaking
6 p.m.: Discussion led by Hillel at SU and the Muslim Student Association
7 p.m.: Shabbat dinner (free with meal plan, $10 for others)
RSVP at suhillel.org
Winnick Hillel Center for Jewish Life (102 Walnut Place)

Feeling on the Outside
Lead-off event for the Ray Smith symposia “Moving Borders” and “Positions of Dissent,” featuring community panel discussion, music, art, and food.
7 p.m., Hendricks Chapel

World Premiere: “Cry for Peace: Voices From the Congo”
Members of the local Congolese community convey their experiences through words, music, and images. Includes a Q&A, reception, and an ET4Peace exhibition by illustration majors in the College of Visual and Performing Arts.
8 p.m., Archbold Theatre, Syracuse Stage (820 East Genesee St.)

MONDAY-THURSDAY, SEPT. 17-20
International Peace Brown Bag Lunch Discussions
Drinks and desserts provided daily by SU Abroad and the Slutzker Center.
12-2 p.m., Slutkzer Center (310 Walnut Place)

TUESDAY, SEPT. 18
Breaking Bread With the Secular Student Alliance: A Dinner Dialogue
Students of faith and non-faith traditions are welcomed.
5 p.m., Noble Room, Hendricks Chapel
RSVP at chapel@syr.edu

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 19
LLL World Cultures on the Shaw Quad
The Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics (LLL) serves up international food, arts, and culture.
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Huntington Beard Crouse Hall breezeway

Hospitality, Food, and the Arts as Pathways to Peace
Lambert moderates a panel discussion featuring Catherine Bertini, professor of practice in public administration and international affairs and former executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, and Tula Goenka, associate professor of television-radio-film and co-director of the South Asia Center.
7 p.m., Watson Hall, Menschel Media Center (316 Waverly Ave.)

THURSDAY, SEPT. 20
International Peace Dinner
4-8 p.m., all SU dining centers

FRIDAY, SEPT. 21
International Day of Peace
11:30 a.m.: Formation of a living peace symbol
Noon: Chimes, one minute of silence, and music
Shaw Quad

ET4Peace is co-sponsored by The College of Arts and Sciences; the African American studies, international relations, and LLL departments; The Renee Crown University Honors Program; the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs; the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration; the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications; VPA; the illustration program in the Department of Art; the Division of Student Affairs; Hendricks Chapel; SU Abroad; Muslim Student Association; the Winnick Hillel Center for Jewish Life; Secular Student Alliance; the Lillian and Emanuel Slutzker Center for International Services; SU Food Services; and Syracuse Stage.

The SU Humanities Center, founded in 2008, fosters public engagement in the humanities, and is home to the Central New York Humanities Corridor; the Watson Visiting Collaborator and Jeanette K. Watson Distinguished Visiting Professorship programs; the HC Mini-Seminar and Syracuse Symposium Seminar series; and other research initiatives, annual fellowships and public programming.