The Many Voices of Peace Studies: Celebrating 50 Years

Robbie Lieberman

Robbie Lieberman, current Peace Studies program coordinator of Kennesaw State University in Georgia, was one of the early program directors of Peace Studies at Mizzou in the mid-1980s.

Friends of Peace Studies, and particularly the late Charlie Atkins, provided the initial funding for the program. Atkins was a co-founder and large financial supporter of the MU Peace Studies program, which came into being as an introductory class in 1971, achieving program status in 1979, with faculty from different departments contributing to Peace Studies.

Atkins, a local businessman who fought in the Korean War, was horrified by what he saw and experienced, Lieberman says.

“He came back a committed proponent of peace.”

Another big contributor during Lieberman’s time was Gertrude Marshall, a Friend of Peace Studies member who gave Peace Studies a huge endowment for their lecture series.

Bringing in Big Names

“We were able to bring in very big-name people, which I know the program still continues to do. But we brought in one of the founders of the Green party in Germany – Petra Kelly. And Ted Turner came on his private jet. He talked about the importance of peace and climate and just kind of spun stories for people.”

Noam Chomsky was another important figure who visited campus, as was Linus Pauling.

“Some of the biggest names in peacemaking,” Lieberman adds.

At that time, the focus of the program was to teach about war and injustice, to help students think about such things – and help them realize they weren’t “natural.”

“We wanted students to resist thinking about war and injustice as ‘normal,’” Lieberman says.

At the time, the U.S. was in the midst of the largest peacetime military buildup in its history as part of a renewed Cold War.

“A lot of the focus when I was there was on the causes of violent conflict. And then the alternatives people had thought about or were thinking about. We also hoped to educate students to be engaged citizens. This was during the 1980s when there was a huge nuclear buildup and people were terrified.”

Student Interest High

As a result, many students chose the Peace Studies path. “They wanted to learn more about the world around them, also how they could participate,” Lieberman says.

“We touched on the arts and humanities,” she adds. “But we also were involved with the social sciences and even the sciences. It was a very interdisciplinary program, and ahead of its time in that sense.”

She says the focus wasn’t just on workforce training, although several students did go on to work in Peace Studies-related fields. The purpose was also to educate the community.

“So, the program had a lot of goals and objectives,” Lieberman adds. “It was very ambitious.”

During the years she was there, the program also started to get more acknowledgement and funding from the university administration.

“Which was great,” she says. “When I started, I had to raise half my own salary.”

At the time, she was also an adjunct assistant professor in the history department, and published her first of many books, the award-winning “My Song is My Weapon,” in 1989, followed by a paperback version in 1995. (Click to view Lieberman's works inspired by Peace Studies.)

“So, I was an academic, a teacher, and scholar.  I was publishing my research, and raising half my salary myself,” she recalls. “That changed over time, which was important. The lecture series brought a lot of attention to the program.”

A Growing Program

As a result of the lecture series, the drama of the times, and increased awareness of Peace Studies, the program grew. When Lieberman started as director, she had 10 students in her introductory class. When she left seven years later, that course was attracting about 125 students, and she was provided a teaching assistant.

“It grew so dramatically,” Lieberman recalls. “It was very exciting.”

She says they had a dedicated faculty, who contributed because it was important to them.

One of her greatest memories of being a part of Peace Studies was being a part of something that mattered.

“I was teaching a class when I was pregnant with my first child and one of my students said to me, ‘that’s such an optimistic thing to do, getting pregnant in this context.’ I’ve never forgotten that because I think of young people today who are really wrestling with whether they should have kids when the world as we know it right now might not exist in a few decades.”

War Less Visible Today

Peace Studies today is developing and changing in a different context. For example, war today isn’t as visible as it was during the early 1960s and 1970s – not so much news coverage. She says some students today didn’t even realize America had been in Afghanistan for 20 years until the troops were withdrawn. “War is kind of in the background,” she says. “Whereas during Vietnam, it was the center of a lot of people’s existence.”

She also says the ways wars are fought are different, more with technology and less ground combat.

“Although we still have lots of people coming back with PTSD, brain injuries, and nightmares …. So, in that sense, the effect on the people who fight is not that different.”

Today, she says, war is connected to all kinds of issues, be it climate change, racial injustice, social injustice, etc. This brings on a different, more expansive fight for peace.

“I’d really like to see Peace Studies more at the center of what universities do, more highly valued and respected,” Lieberman says. “I hope the program finds a way to continue doing the great work it has been doing for so many years. Fifty years is quite an accomplishment.”