On Thursday, April 24, 2025, the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom, or WILPF, is hosting a peace walk on UA campus to raise awareness and set an intention of peace on campus.
The group is a non-profit, non-governmental organization focused on bringing women of all backgrounds together to work for long-lasting peace.
“We picked this particular activity to connect temporarily our past with our present and our future so that younger woman can know that they are standing on the shoulders of – whether you wanna call them giants or not – very dedicated woman who’re very strong for peace,” said Gloria McMillan, longtime member of WILPF–US and research associate at the UA’s Department of English.
The event will start at 5 p.m. in the César E. Chávez Building with Shelby Young, field organizer with WILPF–US and UA graduate, introducing the organization and answering attendees’ questions.
Then the group will start their walk, making their way to two peace memorials on the campus mall: the peace pole and the Sanderson dove.
The peace pole is a seven-foot pole on the northside of Old Main that was dedicated by the Peace Corps in 2008. It focuses on global, local and inner peace with words of wisdom or prayer in eight different languages.
The peace pole which is located near Old Main on the UA mall.
From there, the group will walk to the Sanderson dove, a relief located on the south wall of the Student Union Memorial Center depicting 10 abstracted warriors and an abstracted dove of peace. It is a memorial to those who died in World War II.
These peace memorials on campus are not commonly known, said Young. “As an alum myself, I didn’t even know they existed.”
She said they are vital to remembering and preserving history and the UA’s role in previous peace movements, such as protests supporting DEI initiatives or Palestinian protests, protests against university policies and divestment demands.
The walk will last for about 30 minutes, ending at 6:15 p.m.
Anyone interested in peace activism or who wants to get involved is invited to join the walk, Young said.
Organizers hope it will spur interest in peace activism on campus and the possibility of starting a WILPF club at the UA. The club would focus on issues involving democracy efforts, anti-nuclear efforts, food deserts and more, Young said.
“There is a lot of silencing happening for students across the nation who are trying to be a part of this work in some way,” she said. “There are a lot of things that folks can be a part of and we’d love to start that here at the UA.”
The WILPF Peace Walk will take place on Thursday, April 24 from 5 – 6:15 p.m in room 406 of the César E. Chavez Building. If you have any questions about the event, contact Young at (610) 551- 4400.
Arizona Sonoran news is a news service of the University of Arizona School of Journalism.
