As many of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day activities took place indoors away from the cold, around 25 people braved the weather to gather around EMU’s Peace Pole next to Thomas Plaza. The ceremony was one of rededication led by Brian Martin Burkholder, University Chaplain and Director for Faith and Spiritual Life here at EMU.
“EMU has a strong tradition of building relationships with people from all over the earth… The language panels represent the rich cultural diversity of our campus community and broader learning partnerships,” remarked Burkholder, referring to the 18 panels that covered the pole. The words “may peace prevail on earth” are inscribed on each panel in 18 different languages. Burkholder went on to acknowledge many groups at EMU that helped fund the pole, including Y-Serve, Peace Fellowship, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, Center for Interfaith Engagement, the Office of Faith and Spiritual Life, and many others. Burkholder recalls originally “championing” the idea in 2009 with support from these organizations.
Burkholder was not the first to propose the idea of a Peace Pole at EMU, however. According to a document from 2010 by Pat Hostetter Martin, Sushil Koirala, a young man from Nepal, came to Martin with the idea during the 2006 Summer Peacebuilding Institute. At that time, only a temporary pole was allowed to be erected for the final ceremony of the SPI. Instead of plaques, colored paper to write “may peace prevail on earth” in “the many languages represented at SPI that year.”
Eventually in 2010, a permanent pole would be erected with plaques written in languages from almost every continent representing the many different languages spoken by EMU students. 15 years later, Burkholder would start another long process of refurbishing the pole. According to Mirandia Beidler, a student chaplain who works with the Center for Interfaith Engagement, “it took about 18 months for [the Peace Pole] to be completed from the initial ordering of the new plaques to the final refurbishment.” Beidler remarked in an email that she is “grateful” for the pole. “I think it is also important for people coming onto campus for the first time to see. It is an explicit representation of our value of peacebuilding.” Beidler was also a part of the rededication ceremony, reading one of the newly installed plaques along with other representatives from the EMU groups involved in its installation.
Burkholder also acknowledged Aramark and the staff members “Jorge Estrada and Erik Tejeda” who did the actual work of restoring the pole “with support from Aramark Facilities Services General Manager David Robey.” New panels were installed and the pole was painted and sealed to protect it from the elements.
Burkholder commented that “there appears to be no time better than now to rededicate the EMU Peace Pole as a bold and striking call to work for peace, justice and peacebuilding on our campus, in the local community, at the national level, and internationally.” He invited those gathered to name places in the world in need of peace. Sudan, Gaza, Minnesota, and Venezuela were just a few mentioned. Everyone then joined in a litany of rededication, repeating the words “may peace prevail on earth” to close the ceremony and remind those present of the message of peace that EMU is committed to.
