Gustavus Adolphus College’s 36th annual MAYDAY! Peace Conference will be held on Wednesday, April 27 in Christ Chapel. Titled “Divestment & Reinvestment: Making Money Count,” the event will examine past divestment initiatives and current strategies, investigate the impact of power structures, and explore the complexity and commitments surrounding the ongoing debates.
Speakers with a wide range of perspectives will deliberate on whether or not divestment is an effective tool for building peace in the morning session from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. A panel discussion with Q&A will follow the morning sessions from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in Alumni Hall.
The first speaker, Dr. Kathleen Dean Moore, will deliver the keynote address titled “Moral Courage: The Ethical Foundations of Divestment.” Moore is a philosopher, environmental advocate, and award-winning writer with a doctorate in the philosophy of law from the University of Colorado. She lectured on philosophy of law and environmental ethics as a distinguished professor at Oregon State University, and is co-founder and senior fellow of the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word.
Dr. Ove Jakobsen will give the second keynote address, titled “Ecological Economics: Ideology or Utopia?” Jakobsen is a professor at the Centre for Ecological Economics and Ethics, Bodø Graduate School of Business at Nord University in Norway. His research studies the mechanics and history of divestment and the effectiveness of divestment as a tool for change. Jakobsen holds a doctorate in economics from the Norwegian School of Economics. He is also the director and co-founder of the Centre of Ecological Economics and Ethics, and board member of Bodø Graduate School of Business.
Conference Schedule:
10 a.m. Welcoming Ceremony & Keynote Addresses; Dr. Kathleen Moore and Dr. Ove Jakobsen (Christ Chapel)
11:30 a.m. Lunch Break
1:30 p.m. Afternoon Panel Discussion with Q&A (Alumni Hall — Johnson Student Union)
3 p.m. Closing (Alumni Hall)
All sessions are open to the public and free to attend. They will also be streamed live and archived online.
The annual MAYDAY! Peace Conference was founded at Gustavus 1981 by the late Florence and Raymond Sponberg of North Mankato, Minn., and is designed to educate the campus community about issues related to peace, human rights, and social justice. The conference occurs every year on the last Wednesday in April or the first Wednesday in May. Previous conference themes have focused on land rights, violence in community, hunger, the banning of landmines, food security, global water issues, and political policies relating to peace issues.
For questions or more information about this year’s conference, contact the Gustavus Office of Marketing and Communication at 507-933-7520 or marketing@gustavus.edu.
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