Brandeis hosted more than 300 students from nearly 80 schools for the inaugural Student Peace Alliance National Conference last weekend. The three-day event included speeches by Arun Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi's grandson, as well as Nobel Peace Laureate Betty Williams and other peace activists, various workshops, discussions and social events for the student participants. The SPA is a student branch of the national Peace Alliance, an organization that, among other activities, lobbies Congress to create a department of peace, according to the organization's national Web site. In March 2006, Brandeis SPA held its first conference for student peace activists.

The conference was held to support bill H.R. 808, which would establish a federal "Department of Peace," Aaron Voldman '09 said.

"A department of peace would work to research, facilitate and articulate nonviolent solutions, as well as looking at the causes of conflicts to have a more active strategy," Conference Coordinator Julia Simon-Mishel '09 said. The department would also advise the president and other government officials, develop field-tested educational programs and establish a "Peace Academy," she said.

The speeches were heard by students from all over the country, including a large contingency from outside the Northeast, said James Fleishman '11, a member of SPA. He said students came from approximately 35 states, including California, Colorado, Idaho, Wisconsin, Texas and Florida, where there are more than 42 Peace Alliance chapters.

"We are a generation that calls for peace," Voldman said during his speech.

Workshops throughout the weekend focused on conflict resolution, international and domestic issues and lobbying for a department of peace, and were led by various leaders of SPA, including Dot Maver, executive director of the Peace Alliance, Aaron Voldman '09 and Simon-Mishel. Outside groups, such as Barrios Unidos, an organization based in Santa Cruz that works to end gang violence, sent representatives to speak during the weekend.

Organizers of the event spent over six months working with the administration to plan it, schedule speakers, organize housing and fundraise. "It was organized for students by students," Voldman said during an interview Friday afternoon.

Outside of the conference, the Brandeis SPA engages students in peace-building activities and continually lobbies in support of a department of peace, Voldman said. "It is our responsibility to establish political legitimacy of peace to create an environment of non-violence," he said.

William Spencer, managing director of the PANGEA Group, also spoke. PANGEA works with individuals, corporations and societies on conflict resolution, according to its Web site.

"[Williams] and Arun Gandhi really made this.they really support us in this effort," Simon-Mishel said. "We wanted some true peace builders to show that it's really possible to do this work.