The JustPeace club strives to be a source of hope for students at MU.
@JUSTPEACEMU / INSTAGRAM
Flynn Myers, Staff Writer
The Manhattan University JustPeace club has revived itself to help the campus community. The club prides itself on having resources to help provide answers and solutions for the hard questions people may have about topics within the current political, economic and social realm that pose the question, “What should we do?”
The president of JustPeace, Elle Feneide, is a junior who is double majoring in political science and English. Feneide has paved the way toward the rebirth of the club.
After the club’s March 11 meeting that approached a variety of topics, including the arrest of Mahmoud Kahlil, a former Columbia University student, Feneide told The Quadrangle how within the current political climate of the United States, she thinks that many people may feel helpless or even overwhelmed. She emphasized how sources are flooding individual’s feeds with headline after headline, which can be an ineffective tactic in keeping people truly knowledgeable on events occurring in the world. Feneide hopes that JustPeace will serve as an informative space where people have access to the resources and support they may need to tackle any overwhelming feelings toward the current state of the U.S.
“There’s this political tactic called ‘flooding the zone’, where they have a ton of headlines going through, so no one can keep up with what’s truly going on,” Feneide said. “When you’re constantly being faced with this reaction to news article after news article, you stop having the capacity to respond.”
Feneide went on to discuss the idea of picking specific issues of concern to focus on, rather than trying to focus on them all at once, because it may cause one to freeze and feel more helpless.
“One of my biggest recommendations is limiting the amount of news you’re reading, which is hard, because most of the time you hear political activists saying to stay informed, but it’s not possible to keep up,” Feneide said. “One of the things that I strongly recommend is choosing one of two topics that matter to you.”
The secretary of JustPeace, Elliot Babilonia, shared his thoughts on people absorbing an abundance of news articles in a day, and what he thinks is the best way to stay grounded day-to-day.
“Consuming not only bad news, but also consuming good news is important,” Babilonia said. “Because, it gives you another reason to actually look forward to being aware about what’s going on in the world and in this country, and it’s important to be aware of what’s going on, but it’s okay if you don’t know everything.”
The rebirth of JustPeace came about this semester after a wish from students to have a place where they can inform themselves on world news, while also learning how to become socially active in topics that are important to them. The advisor of JustPeace, Kevin Ahern, Ph.D., shared his hopes for the club and its future.
“For over a century, students at Manhattan University have put social justice values into action with student clubs,” Ahern said. “I hope that a renewed club will give students a sense of community and help them see ways that they can actually make changes on campus and in the world. In other words, hope.”
JustPeace meets every Tuesday at 5 p.m., and is going to be hosting an op-ed writing workshop on the evening of April 8, open to anyone who wishes to join.