History

The annual MAYDAY! Peace Conference was established at Gustavus in 1981. It was founded and is sustained by the generosity of Florence and the late Raymond Sponberg of North Mankato, MN.

The Conference occurs on the last Wednesday in April or the first Wednesday in May each year. Classes are suspended or shortened so that students and faculty may attend the 10 a.m. opening convocation and keynote in the Chapel, the afternoon keynote and workshops, and the closing reception. The MAYDAY! Peace Conference is open to the public, and no fees or reservations are required to attend.

Past conference themes include:

• War on the Press: At Home and Abroad (2019)
• Mighty Be Our Powers: Gender, Justice, and Peacebuilding (2018)
• What Would You Do? Mass Surveillance and the Citizen (2017)
• Divestment and Reinvestment: Making Money Count (2016)
• The War Within: Can the Soldier Be at Peace? (2015)
• Tibet: Finding Hope in Exile (2014)
• Decision: Roe v Wade (2013)
• Multi Cultural Sweden (2012)
• Executing Justice—Debating Capital Punishment (2011)
• Imagining Peace (2010)
• Tiananmen +20 Years (2009)
• Troubled Water (2008)
• Community Food Security (2007)
• AIDS + AFRICA: The Unfolding Crisis (2006)
• Energy for Peace (2005)
• The United Nations at the Crossroads (2004)
• World Religions: Waging War or Promoting Peace (2003)
• Sanctions and Beyond: What is the Human Price? (2002)
• Revisiting the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux after 150 Years (2001)
• Vietnam: 25 Years On (2000)
• Toward a World Ban on Landmines (1999)
• Immigration and Social Justice (1998)
• The Family and Public Policy (1997)
• Land Rights, Land Use, and Social Justice (1996)
• The Challenge of Building a Non-Violent Global Community (1995)
• Building Community from the Inside Out (1994)
• Overcoming Violence in Our Lives (1993)
• Food for a Peaceable World (1992)
• U.S. Policy in the Middle East: What Roads to Peace? (1991)
• Making Peace with the Earth (1990)
• Other Voices„Global Perspectives on the Arms Race (1989)
• Building on Hope: Working for Peace (1988)
• Wages of War, Profits of Peace (1987)
• Schooling for Peace (1986)
• To Negotiate a Peace (1985)
• Making Peace in a War-Keeping World (1984)
• Seeing through and beyond the Mushroom Cloud (1983)
• The Response of Faith to the Nuclear Dilemma (1982)
• Arms Control-MAYDAY! MAYDAY! (1981)