PWAD News

Statement from the Chair on Anti-Asian Violence

The Chair of the Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense condemns the attacks on Asian Americans on March 16, as well as the numerous other attacks against Asian Americans over the past year. These events are tragic, terrifying, painful, and unfortunately, part of a larger history of white supremacy in the U.S. The Curriculum reaffirms its condemnation of racism in all of its forms, and reaffirms its support for all that have been targeted by racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and all forms of discrimination and prejudice.

Pauli Murray Hall: UNC’s Departments of History, Political Science, and Sociology and the Curriculum on Peace, War, and Defense begin the renaming of Hamilton Hall

The Curriculum of Peace, War, and Defense, alongside the departments of History, Political Science, and Sociology have started the process of renaming Hamilton Hall. Our motivation for renaming the building is rooted in the history of our University and Professor Hamilton’s role in shaping it for the benefit of white supremacy. Ample evidence of this is available in the historical materials available below. Our motivation for selecting Pauli Murray is powerful and clear. As the faculty and student committee that developed our proposal wrote:

“Born in 1910 and raised in Durham, NC, Murray was a black descendant of one of the university’s original trustees, James Strudwick Smith. In 1938, Murray applied to the Ph.D. program in sociology but was denied admission because, as university officials wrote at the time, ‘members of your race are not admitted to the university.’

Undeterred, Murray would go on to achieve prominence as an outspoken scholar whose academic scholarship continues to make major contributions to numerous disciplines. Murray was a gifted orator, author, attorney, historian, priest, and activist who advocated for the rights of all members of society. Murray’s legacy more fully encapsulates the values we cherish in a modern society and the University of North Carolina claims to uphold. ”

Pauli Murray represents the immutable spirit of scholarship and public service, as she made major contributions to our society in the face of nearly insurmountable resistance. She also represents a path not taken for UNC at an important point in the history of our disciplines and departments. Naming our building after Pauli Murray will serve as a reminder of what is lost, what could have been, and what can be as we move forward.

Writings by and about Pauli Murray

Murray, Pauli. *Song in a weary throat: Memoir of an American pilgrimage*. Liveright Publishing, 2018.

Gilmore, Glenda. “Before Brown: Pauli Murray and the Desegregation of Higher Education.” *Rutgers Race & L. Rev.* 6 (2004): 247.

Gilmore, Glenda Elizabeth. “Admitting Pauli Murray.” *Journal of Women’s History* 14, no. 2 (2002): 62-67.

Rosalind Rosenberg, *Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray* (Oxford University Press, 2017)

https://paulimurrayproject.org/

Writings about Joseph Gregoire de Roulhac Hamilton and the naming of Hamilton Hall

http://unchistory.web.unc.edu/building-narratives/hamilton-hall/

https://activisthistory.com/2019/12/06/white-supremacy-in-the-academy-the-1913-meeting-of-the-american-historical-association/

John Herbert Roper Sr., “Ransack Roulhac and Racism: Joseph Gregoire de Roulhac Hamilton and Dunning’s Questions of Institution Building and Jim Crow,” in *The Dunning School: Historians, Race and the Meaning of Reconstruction*, ed. John David Smith and J. Vincent Lowery (Lexington : University Press of Kentucky 2013

1. Carlyle Sitterson, “Joseph Gregoire de Roulhac Hamilton, 1878-1961,” Documenting the American South, http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/hamilton/bio.html.

Matisha H. Wiggs, “*Ransacking the South: J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton and the Founding of the Southern Historical Collection,*” (master’s thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2012)

Statement by the Chair on Anti-Black Violence

The Chair of the Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense condemns the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and too many other Black Americans. These events by themselves are reprehensible, but are sadly not isolated, and are part of a long and despicable history of white supremacy, systemic racism, and targeting of Blacks in the United States. The Curriculum unequivocally condemns racism in all of its forms, as well as white supremacy. The Curriculum further affirms its support for all that have been targeted by racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and all forms of discrimination and prejudice.

These are difficult times for all students, particularly when combined with the effects of COVID-19 and social distancing. All of us are under considerable stress, concern, and anxiety about the future. I would ask all of you, however, to recognize the additional burdens faced by students of color. They have always been present, but for many of these students, recent events have likely exacerbated them, worsened them, and increased the strain of coping with them. I ask our entire community to recognize these extra challenges of being a student of color at the university, and a person of color in the U.S., and to try to help to the best of your ability. It is likely that you cannot completely understand what this community is going through, but you can listen. Please do so. Please extend empathy. Please give understanding. If you are not in the shoes of a person of color, and do not know their experience, please try to listen without judgment.

To this end, I am forwarding a statement by the Office for Diversity and Inclusion. They will be creating a space on their website where you may share your thoughts anonymously. Please see the following link: https://diversity.unc.edu/yourvoicematters/

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Additionally, if I can be of any assistance to you in processing, coping with, or discussing this tragic event and/or the larger societal issue of racism, please feel free to reach out. While I am a person of color, and am unfortunately personally familiar with some of the issues you may be going through, I do not have the experience of facing the long history of systematic discrimination that many of you do. I would, however, like to listen, try to understand, and empathize.

Navin Bapat

Curriculum Chair

Statement by the Chair on Silent Sam

The Chair of the Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense condemns the decision by the Board of Governors to transfer $2.5 million to the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) to preserve the monument known as Silent Sam. The decision to compensate this group, with its false and demeaning interpretation of history, betrays the trust placed in the University and contradicts its very mission to pursue truth and knowledge. The Chair affirms support for all of Carolina’s diverse faculty, staff, and students, for the statement issued by the UNC Faculty Council, and for the call to the leadership of the University of North Carolina to take appropriate action to rescind this settlement and to endeavor to repair the harm the above settlement has caused to our community.

Navin Bapat

Curriculum Chair

New at UNC: Minor in Conflict Management

The study of Conflict Management is the study of human behavior during disputes, including the causes of conflict, techniques for dealing with disputes, and strategies for achieving a resolution that satisfy one’s interests and preserve relationships. People often assume that these skills are acquired during a lifetime by simply experiencing conflict, but that is not necessarily the case. We can spend our entire lives moving from one conflict to another – at home, at school, or at work – simply repeating the same ineffective responses without realizing opportunities for, and methods to achieve, successful outcomes. The Minor in Conflict Management aspires to provide students with a theoretical framework, habits of mind and tangible skills, in areas such as negotiation, mediation, voice training, language, ethics, psychology, and neuroscience, among other fields. In addition, the minor aims to provide a better understanding of the world we live in and the conflicts that surround us by studying domestic and international conflicts, both past and current. The minor’s goal is to allow students to become better conflict managers and thus better citizens of the world. The minor is open to all undergraduate students.

For Minor requirements, see here.

For information on the Conflict Management Initiative at UNC (CMI@UNC), see here.

National Security Analysis and Intelligence Summer Seminar and Simulation July 31 – August 11, 2017

NSAISS AUG 2017

On January 30, 2018, hosted by PWAD, General Martin E. Dempsey participated  in a discussion on “U.S. National Security in Uncertain Times” with nearly 300 attendees after an introduction from Chancellor Carol L. Folt.

“I attended the program with General Dempsey. It was outstanding. Informative, thought- provoking and challenging. The background description of how things work (or don’t) at the White House, NSC, and JCS allowed me to alter my assumptions as to how things actually get done.
I am very excited about the remainder of this term’s lectures and plan to attend most if not all.” -Feedback from an General Public Attendee

For more pictures and information, click here.

PWAD major Ezra Baeli-Wang has been selected as a Phillips Ambassador for study abroad in Asia. Ezra is from Hillsborough, NJ, and will study through the CET Shanghai Summer program this summer.

On February 9, 2015, PWAD hosted a round-table discussion and address by Admiral Michael Rogers, the Director of the NSA.

Admiral Michael Rogers assumed his present duties as commander, U.S. Cyber Command and director, National Security Agency/Chief, Central Security Service in March 2014.

On February 6, 2015, PWAD hosted an address by the 18^th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey.

General Martin E. Dempsey serves as the 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In this  capacity, he serves as the principal military adviser to the President, the Secretary of Defense and the National Security Council.  By law, he is the Nation’s highest-ranking military officer.  Prior to becoming Chairman, the general served as the Army’s 37^th Chief of Staff.

PWAD Alumna Taylor Jo Isenberg featured on Forbes’ 2015 “30 Under 30 in Law & Policy”Taylor Jo Isenberg graduated from UNC in 2010, and is the Vice President of Networks at the Roosevelt Institute, the largest and oldest student policy network in the U.S. To read more, click here.

PWAD Major Lacy Jo Evans featured in Cary Magazine’s article “In the Name of Freedom” Lacy Jo Evans is a senior PWAD major and a retired Marine Corps sergeant who served as a heavy equipment operator in Afghanistan. To read the article about her impressive achievements, click here.

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Congratulations to Our Recent PWAD Graduates