SEE FULL SCHEDULE, REGISTRATION INFORMATION AT https://cglink.me/236/r377798
The 36th annual Westheimer Peace Symposium centers on “peace and social justice,” with a focus on mass incarceration. A Wilmington College signature event, the Oct. 6 and 7 symposium is titled “Peace Through Human Dignity: Justice, Mass Incarceration and Immigration Detention in the United States.” The multi-program event is free and open to the public.
The two-day symposium will bring together educators, legal experts, scholars, activists and artists to examine these systems through a multi-disciplinary lens of the College’s core Quaker values of peace and social justice, as well as democratic and human rights.
The keynote program, “Voice of the Voiceless: Immigration Detention in Ohio,” will feature Ayman Soliman sharing his experiences with United States Customs Enforcement that resulted in his illegal detention at the Butler County (OH) Jail for more than 70 days in 2025 — while serving as chaplain at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. The program is Oct. 6, at 7 p.m., in the McCoy Room of Kelly Center. His educational pursuits have been centered on Islamic studies and Muslim chaplaincy. He served as an imam in Egypt for 14 years before moving to the United States a dozen years ago. In the U.S., he has been a Muslim chaplain at Northwestern University, at a correctional institution and, currently, at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
Registration, which is required for all symposium programs, can be secured at: https://cglink.me/236/r377798, where a full schedule and description of programs, presenters and activities are available.
The symposium’s Tuesday (Oct. 6) schedule opens with a workshop, “Nutrition in Ohio Prisons, from 9:40 to 11:10 a.m., followed by a lunch-and-learn session, from 11:20 a.m. to 12:50 p.m., titled “Immigration and the Justice System: Common Misconceptions about Immigration in the Media and Public Opinion.” Facilitated by Joseph Spring, an immigration lawyer in Columbus, he will speak on the popular misconception that immigrants are dangerous and commit more crime than the general public.
Three concurrent programs will be held on Tuesday from 1 to 2:30 p.m., including “Botanical Art and Ritual Creation,” “Immigration 101: Foundational Immigration Policy” and “Wilmington College Students Inside: The WC Prison Education Program.” Another trio of concurrent programs will be held from 2:40 p.m. to 4:10 p.m., including “Composing a Conceptual Plate (a conceptual art exercise inspired by Casa de Cambios), “Improv, Social Justice and Collective Poetry” and “Differing Perspectives on Immigration,” facilitated by Braver Angels. Finally, a pair of concurrent sessions will be held from 4 to 5:30 p.m. They include “Singing as Resistance with Laura Clapp and Bob Lucas,” and “The Japanese American Detention and Incarceration Experience, 1942-1944: Connections, Past and Present.”
Wednesday’s (Oct. 7) schedule opens with a pair of programs from 9:10 to 10:40 a.m., including a reprise of “Nutrition in Ohio Prisons” and “A Failure of Justice: Wrongful Convictions in Ohio and the U.S. Prison System.” From 10:20 to 11:50 a.m., a lunch-and-learn program will feature “The Impact of Mass Incarceration on Young Populations,” followed by a reprise of a trio of concurrent sessions, from 12:40 to 2:10 p.m., including “Differing Perspectives on Immigration,” facilitated by Braver Angels, “Composing a Conceptual Plate (a conceptual art exercise inspired by Casa de Cambios) and “Improv, Social Justice and Collective Poetry.”
Rounding out Wednesday’s programming will be, from 1:50 to 3:20 p.m., a reprise of “Immigration 101: Foundational U.S. Immigration Policy,” “Botanical Art & Ritual Creation” and “Practicing Peace in Prison.” Finally, from 3:30 to 5 p.m., the session, “Singing as Resistance: Laura Clapp and Catherine Roma,” will conclude this year’s peace symposium.
A bonus presentation will be held on the eve of the symposium. “Midwestern Mrs.: Americana and Indie Folk” will feature music by Midwestern Mrs., a songwriter from Dayton, on Oct. 5 (Monday) from 8 to 9:15 p.m., on Collett Mall near Marble Hall. Registration for this event is not required.
Also, the complementary Meriam R. Hare Quaker Heritage Center Gallery exhibit, “Am I an American, or Am I Not?,” highlighting Japanese American internment during World War II, is open weekdays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.