For those camping in the tents located in Academic Quad, Peace Camp is more than a week spent sleeping out in the cold. It's a chance to engage and teach others about the social injustices they are most passionate about.
Every fall, the Russell J. Compton Center for Peace and Justice hosts Peace Camp, a weeklong series of events focused on social justice issues. The center sets up "camp" in the quad not only for visibility, but also to encourage those who are walking past to join their conversations. Over the next four days, the informal sessions will continue to cover a variety of topics, ranging from the discussing the globalization of sweatshops to reading from banned books to learning how to make Zumba dance movements more queer and transgender friendly.
This year, the theme of the five-day Peace Camp is "Creating a Better World."
Senior Taylor Crompton, one of 11 Compton Center interns, explained that Peace Camp aims to raise awareness about an array of injustices that exist both on DePauw's campus as well as in the broader world.
"We want to engage people in critical dialogue and force them to think about ways in which they either contribute to or suffer from these injustices and steps they can take to mitigate these injustices," Crompton said.
As part of his role as a Compton Center intern, Crompton is responsible for programming at least one Peace Camp event related to an area of social justice he is passionate about. In planning their events, the Compton interns also learn more about the issues that the other interns are focusing on.
Since Crompton is interested in environmental justice, he hopes his event "Nuclear Waste Sites and Environmental Health Threats in Southeastern Indiana: Ethical and Policy Perspectives" will raise awareness about toxic waste cleanup and the implications of nuclear policy.
The panel discussion, which will be in the Academic Quad on Thursday afternoon, will feature Professor Jen Everett, Professor Christopher Marcous, as well as sophomore Carlie Vaughn, whose hometown of Holton, Ind., has been affected by the 70,000 kg of depleted uranium left in southeastern Indiana in the mid 1990s.
"Peace Camp is important because we're addressing issues that exist not in the abstract, not somewhere out there in the world, but issues that exist at DePauw, in the communities in which these students live - their hometowns," Crompton said. "I think it's helpful to raise awareness for students that these issues exist and affect them directly."
Crompton hopes his discussion and the other Peace Camp events will provide students with a chance to be self-reflective and "think about their place in the world" as well as how their place compares to other people.
Junior Mami Oyamada, another Compton Center intern, is optimistic that her two events will lead others to think about how their nationalities affect their sense of "place" at DePauw.
Oyamada's first event, "Breaking Boundaries: Let's Talk 'International' at DePauw" on Wednesday afternoon, will include a faculty- and staff-based panel focused on the international presence on campus. In Oyamada's other event at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, four DePauw students will discuss how to bridge the gap between international and American students.
Oyamada, who is originally from Japan but lived in the United States until she was 14, said her personal background has influenced her interest in international issues. Since this fall marks her first year as a Compton intern, Oyamada is embracing Peace Camp as an opportunity to share her passion for world issues with others.
"As a participant, you can learn about issues that you really aren't exposed to all of the time, which is awesome," Oyamada said. "It's really about getting people together, not so much about being on one side or the other."
Oyamada and Crompton both said the emphasis of Peace Camp is creating having dialogues.
"We're not asking people to go to every event or even a lot of events," Crompton said. "We just want people to pick up the schedule and say 'Hey that interests me, maybe I should go to that.' We want people to actually engage with us and discuss with us and tell us what their views are."
Crompton also stressed that the events are informal and that attendees are able to join or leave the discussions as they please. Even though there are only several events scheduled for each day, at least one Compton intern will be stationed, and even sleep, at Peace Camp all week.
"People should know that they're always welcome to just walk up at whoever's sitting at the table and ask questions about anything that has to do with justice," Crompton said.
Oyamada, like the other Compton interns, hopes their camp out in the quad may encourage others to learn more.
"We're very passionate people and we're not randomly camping out here," Oyamada said. "We really believe that there's a lot of social injustice in our world."
Despite Peace Camp's evident location in the well-traveled quad, Oyamada acknowledges that not everyone is going to stop and talk. Junior Mike Curts, another Compton intern, said he's seen people walk around the Peace Camp to avoid talking to the students sitting under the information tent. Curts encourages others to be open to learning.
"Peace Camp is all about spreading knowledge and a lot of us are firm believers that no knowledge is bad knowledge," Curts said. "Therefore, it doesn't hurt to learn a little something new every day - even if it is just for five minutes or less than that. You can just take a flier and walk on by."