March 22, 2007

Anti-war activist and 'Peace Mom' Cindy Sheehan to speak at Purdue

Cindy Sheehan
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The event is presented by Purdue Committee on Peace Studies with additional sponsorship by the Flora F. Roberts Bequest, Department of Political Science, American Studies Program, Women's Studies Program, the Lafayette Area Peace Coalition, Pax Christi and the Indiana Peace and Justice Network. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Sheehan, the mother whose vigil against the Iraq war outside President George W. Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch captured the nation's attention in the summer of 2005, will talk on "Speaking Peace to Power." A resident of Vacaville, Calif., she is the mother of Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, a soldier who was killed outside of Baghdad on April 4, 2004.

In August 2005 Sheehan announced that she would camp near Bush's ranch until he agreed to speak with her about removing U.S. troops from Iraq and holding politicians responsible for the decisions that led to the war. Her vigil drew both protestors and counter-protestors, as well as national media coverage.

Since 2005 Sheehan, who has come to be called "Peace Mom," has been leading antiwar protests around the country and internationally, and she was arrested and charged with unlawful conduct on Jan. 31, 2006, for displaying an antiwar slogan at President Bush's State of the Union address. Those charges were dropped the next day.

Sheehan is one of the nine founding members of Gold Star Families for Peace, an organization created in January 2005 that seeks to end the occupation of Iraq and provide support for families of fallen soldiers.

Harry Targ, coordinator of the Committee on Peace Studies, said that this lecture fits into the national public discussion about the war in Iraq.

"Purdue University has been an important site for presentations by former foreign policy decision makers, politicians, scholars and military personnel," he said. "We have invited Cindy Sheehan to add the voice of a peacemaker to the marketplace of ideas on our campus."

The Committee on Peace Studies at Purdue offers an undergraduate interdisciplinary minor field of study and sponsors lectures and films on issues of war and peace. It is housed in the Department of Political Science.

Writer: Christy Jones, (765) 494-1089, christyjones@purdue.edu

Source: Harry Targ, (765) 494-4169, targ@polsci.purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Note to Journalists: To request an interview with Cindy Sheehan, contact Kerry Schutt Nason, Purdue Convocations director of marketing, at (765) 494-5045, knason@purdue.edu.

PHOTO CAPTION:

Cindy Sheehan gives the peace sign in front of the White House on Nov. 7, 2006. (Photo courtesy of Ben Schumin)

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