Central Sustainability to host 10th annual celebration of former CMU president's legacy of peace
The Peace Flag flies over Warriner Hall in this April 22, 2021, photo. The annual flag raising -- presented this year by the Department of Philosophy, Anthropology and Religion and Central Sustainability, among others -- will take place from 1 to 2 p.m. Friday as a way to honor the university's fourth president, E.C Warriner.
Central Michigan University is set to celebrate the legacy of the 4th CMU President Eugene Clarence, or E.C. Warriner’s work on international peace with the 10th annual Raising of the Peace Flag.
Jessica Reinhart, a Central Sustainability coordinator, said the event will be held at 1 p.m. on April 18 in front of Warriner Hall. The agenda includes a choral performance of Dona Nobis Pacem, a host of speakers including CS’s own Zoey Archbold and a reception in Powers Hall Room 136.
The peace flag website reads that the event is a collaboration between Central Sustainability, several CMU academic departments and external sustainability organizations.
Reinhart said the flag represents CMU’s dedication to preserving international peace around the globe. It serves as a reminder of the importance of peace and how it applies to different aspects of life that people may overlook.
“We like to tie it into sustainability, which is more than just the environment," Reinhart said. “It’s also the people, communities and places where you live, whether they’re ‘natural’ or not, and making sure they can be sustained long term. You need to have peace and stability in order to do that. You have to be actively working toward it with events like these or else people take it for granted.”
Reinhart emphasized that the flag raising not only offers educational value but also gives students an opportunity to reflect on their own understanding of sustaining peace in modern society.
“Having actually gone to the event [in the past], it was really moving to hear from different people about all the ways that peace applies to their work, and how it’s important to them,” Reinhart said. “A lot of people only know peace as a vague concept to them because they haven’t known war, or a lack of peace. So they don’t exactly understand peace as a concept and why it’s so important.”
