The Ball State University Vietnam Moratorium Committee
50th Anniversary Reunion and Commemorative Conference
“Reunite, Remember, Rekindle”
Thursday, 10 October 2019, 6:00-9:00 P.M.
Friday, 11 October 2019, 9:00 A.M.-5:30 P.M.
Draft Schedule (updated 12 September 2019)
< www.sites.bsu.edu/VMC50 > < BSU Vietnam Moratorium Committee 50th Anniversary Commemorative Event Draft Schedule_09-12-19.docx >
Co-sponsored by BSU’s Center for Peace and Conflict Studies; Center for Middletown Studies;
College of Sciences and Humanities; Honors College; and the Departments of Communications Studies,
English, History, Psychological Science, Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Sociology;
and the University Libraries Archives and Special Collections.
Thursday, 10 October 2019, 6:00-9:00 P.M.
BSU Vietnam Moratorium Committee Reunion Mixer and Dinner to be held at the BSU Alumni Center Assembly Hall; $40 includes choice of entrée and a commemorative tee shirt; reservations due by Oct. 1st < https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vietnam-moratorium-committee-reunion-and-commemorative-conference-tickets-71358440015 >
6:00-9:00 P.M.: Cash bar and appetizers
6:30-7:15 P.M.: Dinner prepared and served in Assembly Hall by BSU Catering
7:15 P.M.: Remarks by Event Co-Chairs and BSU VMC alumni Dr. Mary (Munchel) Posner, Mary (Timm) Gomes, and Charlie Heitkamp
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7:30-9:00 P.M.: Socializing to classic rock soundtrack
Friday, 11 October 2019, 9:00 A.M.-5:30 P.M.
All events on Friday take place in the Pittenger Student Center’s Cardinal Hall A except for the banquet luncheon, which will be held in the neighboring Music Lounge.
9:00-9:20 A.M.: Welcome and introduction by Dr. Abel Alves, Professor and Chair of the Department of History; Dr. Maureen McCarthy, Dean of the College of Science and Humanities; and Dr. Michael Wm. Doyle, Assoc. Professor Emeritus and Director Emeritus of the Public History Program and the Oral History Workshop, who will introduce the first speaker.
9:20-10:00 A.M.: Dr. Mary (Munchel) Posner, Clinical Psychologist, and lead organizer of the BSU Vietnam Moratorium Committee in 1969-70, on “We Gave Peace A Chance—So Can You: The Vietnam Moratorium Committee at Ball State University, 1969-1971.”
10:10-11:20 A.M.: First Panel Session: “Picking up the Pieces: What Antiwar Activists Did Right and What Went Wrong—Lessons for Leaders of Today’s Social Movements.” Dr. Elizabeth Agnew, Associate Professor, BSU Philosophy and Religious Studies, and scholar of social and peace activism, Chair/Moderator. Panelists include: Dr. George Wolfe, Professor Emeritus and past Director of the BSU Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, author of three books and over 50 articles on activism, nonviolence, religion and science; Dr. Sarah Vitale, Associate Professor, BSU Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Chair, Muncie Resists; Christine Satory, M.F.A., Assoc. Prof., BSU School of Art, and lifelong art educator and artist-activist; and Markie Oliver, a Muncie-based social activist affiliated with The Order of Ecumenical Franciscans, a lay religious order.
11:30 A.M.-12:30 P.M.: Keynote Address by David Harris. A veteran antiwar activist, now journalist and author Harris has published eleven books including Dreams Die Hard: Three Men’s Journey through the Sixties, and Our War: What We Did in Vietnam and What It Did to Us. He began his career as a civil rights activist helping the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee organize black voters in Mississippi during Freedom Summer in 1964. Soon after he marched against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, was elected president of the Stanford University student body, and founded the antidraft organization The Resistance. Refusing induction, Harris was sentenced and served nearly two years in prison, during which time his son Gabriel (with spouse and folksinger Joan Baez) was born. A former contributing editor at the New York Times Magazine and Rolling Stone, Harris continues to advocate for peace and social justice causes.
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[12:30-1:30 P.M.: Luncheon Banquet (by invitation only) in the nearby Music Lounge in honor of the Keynote speaker; event organizers; panel session presenters and chair/moderators; and selected faculty and administrators representing our co-sponsors: the Honors College, the College of Science and Humanities, and the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies; the Departments of Communication Studies, English, History, Psychological Sciences, and Philosophy and Religious Studies; and Sociology; and the University Libraries Archives and Special Collections.
[Luncheon Banquet Speaker: Dr. John Emert, Dean of the Honors College, and Professor of Mathematical Sciences]
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12:30-1:30 P.M.: Activist Fair and Poster Session in the Browsing Lounge (between Cardinal Hall and the Ballroom): student activist and community-based organizations will staff informational tables and members of BSU immersive-learning courses related to social and environmental justice and peacemaking will discuss their projects. Coordinated by Angela Jackson-Brown, Assistant Teaching Professor of English < jacksonbrown@bsu.edu > and her students.
1:30-2:45 P.M.: Second Panel Session: “From “War No More” to “The Forever War”: Activism for Peace and Social Justice after Vietnam.” Gerry Waite, M.A., a Vietnam veteran, BSU Lecturer Emeritus in Anthropology and Research Fellow in the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS), Chair/moderator. Panelists include: David Harris (see above: Conference keynoter); Lawrence H. Gerstein, BSU George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Psychology-Counseling, Director of the CPCS, and Co-editor, Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology; Mark H. Massé, BSU Professor of Journalism Emeritus, narrative nonfiction author of three books, including Inspired to Serve: Today’s Faith Activists (2004), and novelist; and Eliza Roark, BSU Graphic Design major, co-chair of the Progressive Student Alliance, and president of the Green Action Team.
3:00-4:45 P.M.: Third Panel Session: “Coming Home: Student Military Veterans from Vietnam to the War on Terror,” Chair/moderator Dr. Michael Wm. Doyle (see above: Conference convener). Panelists include: John Mann, a Vietnam combat veteran of the U.S. Army and BSU alumnus. Benner Davenport, a Vietnam veteran of the U.S. Army and BSU/VMC alumnus. Greg Lane, Marine Corps veteran (GWOT) and president of BSU’s Student Veterans Organization. Laura Andrews, an Army veteran of an Iraq deployment and soon-to-be BSU alumna. Michelle LaVoie, a Navy veteran who deployed in Desert Storm, then completed a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at Indiana Wesleyan University, and today operates her own local business.
5:00-5:30 P.M.: Memorial and Closing Ceremony on the Ball State Arts Quad in front of the David Owsley Museum of Art: Remarks by event co-organizers Gerry Waite, Veterans for Peace, in honor of all whose lives were sacrificed in battle and its aftermath from the Vietnam War to the present; BSU/VMC alumni Charlie Heitkamp and Dr. Mary Posner, the latter on the significance of the thousand-plus origami cranes that she and other volunteers folded and which will be displayed on the Arts Terrace. Phil Orth, BSU/VMC alumnus, who performed at every local VMC protest demonstration 50 years ago, will lead the gathering in song.
