This year marked the second that EMU has hosted the Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship Conference (ICPF), following a five-year hiatus due to COVID-19. In upcoming years, the conference will rotate host institutions. On March 14 through 16, the conference was held in Martin Chapel with various events, including keynote speakers, workshops, and discussions. Events were focused around the theme of “Solidarity, Community, and Resistance in this Political Moment.” Furthermore, Eli Stoll, a senior Music and Peacebuilding major, presented his capstone project, focused around protest music as an instrument for change. The conference brings together students from historic peace colleges and universities across the US, including Mennonite, Brethren, and Quaker colleges according to the 2026 ICPF packet. This year saw participants that attend Bethel College in Kansas, Bluffton University in Ohio, and Goshen College in Indiana, along with students from EMU. 

Mackenzie Miller, a Goshen College junior and member of the ICPF planning committee, said that she felt the goal of ICPF is to “build relationships across Mennonite and Anabaptist colleges, to have discussions about peacebuilding… What does that look like in our current time and context? What is our responsibility as peacemakers and students?” Miller said she hopes that the conference was “life giving in the way of being together, witnessing what is happening in the world, witnessing the current political moment, and knowing that other people are right there with you.” Miller mentioned that the planning committee has been working on the foundational aspects to hopefully make the conference more sustainable, and expressed she hoped the ICPF would continue to grow in attendance and interest in future years.

Kate Stutzman, a senior at EMU, said one thing she really appreciated about the conference was how “it’s a chance to meet other college students from other universities that are all interested in the same thing, you get to host people, talk to people, and get to learn what other campuses are doing, and how they tailor themselves to peace and justice in our world.” Stutzman mentioned how she really appreciated Eli Stoll’s capstone project, saying, “I think singing is a beautiful way to practice peace and non violence.” Stutzman also mentioned she especially enjoyed the workshop put on by Alicia Maldonado-Zahra, titled “The Neglected and Ignored, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Movement.” Stutzman said, “Alicia was phenomenal, she gave a lot of background on the movement, and boarding schools, and all the historic injustice that happened with that.”

Monica Ehrenfels, an EMU first-year, was also on the planning committee for ICPF. Ehrenfels felt that one of the most interesting parts of the conference was meeting and chatting with the keynote speakers. “Emily [Welty] was very much involved with anti nuclear movements, and she’s been doing this for 20 years, and has worked on some really large scale projects, which was really cool. Our other speaker, Nadia [Dames], has done a lot of very powerful hands-on work with immigration and local issues in Harrisonburg… It was really interesting to hear perspectives from their different kinds of work.” Ehrenfels also said, “I felt this year’s theme was very important with everything that’s going on in politics and conflict across nations or domestically. I hope that’s something we can continue to have to address current issues.”