"If you want peace, work for justice" (Pope Paul VI, 1972)

Iona College's Peace and Justice Studies Program is grounded in the social justice tradition of the Roman Catholic Church and in the legacy of Blessed Edmund Rice's commitment to justice and service for those on the margins of society. The program is centered on the belief that humanity and the earth can only flourish when our energies are directed intentionally and consistently toward establishing social structures of justice and peace that allow for such flourishing.

As an interdisciplinary minor concentration in the School of Arts and Science, the Peace and Justice Studies Program provides students with the opportunity to:

1. Explore the various disciplines (religious studies, economics, political science, sociology and philosophy) which offer insight toward advancing peace and justice in the world;
2. Interrogate the factors which have limited the pursuit of peace and justice from multi-disciplinary perspectives;
3. Make connections among the various disciplines in an effort to lend creative problem solving capacity toward the advancement of peace and justice;
4. Apply the learning in the classroom toward ethical decision-making that continues the work of peacemaking and justice in the world.

The minor program allows students to engage in the systematic study of the contemporary global issues which have challenged the full flourishing of world peace and social justice in our time. Such relevant and timely issues explored in this program include:

• the proliferation of weapons: nuclear, chemical and conventional
• the rise of terrorism
• the deterioration of the environment
• the growing disparity between the rich and poor
• the emergence of the global South
• the trafficking of human persons
• global poverty
• discrimination based on race, class, sexuality/gender, and religion.

In the spirit of a Christian Brothers, the Peace and Justice Studies Program affirms the necessity for exploring the ways peace and justice can be advanced in our time so that those on the underside of our societies - the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized - can envision a life with full opportunity, justice and the liberating power of education as did Blessed Edmund Rice in his time.

(Revised, January 2013)