Copyright Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Two new symbols of peace now stand at the heart of Sonoma State University, permanent reminders of the human cost of war and the university’s commitment to a more peaceful world. During the campus’s first-ever Peace Ceremony on Tuesday, more than 100 students, faculty and community members gathered to unveil a Rotary Peace Pole and two Hiroshima Peace Trees, grown from seeds of trees that survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The pole bears the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in eight languages: English, Pomo, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Japanese, Vietnamese and Russian. “These peace memorials reflect the Sonoma State community’s commitment to building a better world through education,” university spokesperson Jeff Keating said. “We hope they will inspire and sustain interest in the cause of peace, and will serve as calls to action and celebrations of hope for generations to come.” The ceremony was led by Rohnert Park Mayor Gerard Guidice and featured remarks from several speakers, including Dr. Troi Carleton, dean of the College of Humanities, Social Sciences and the Arts; SSU Interim President Emily Cutrer; and Dulce Maria Leon, student leader of the Rotaract Club, who helped bring the project to life. “Peace isn’t one size fits all,” Leon said. “It looks different to each person and every community, but the wish is always the same: a world where people feel safe, respected and valued.” The Rotary Club funded most of the project, with additional support from the Sonoma County chapter of Veterans for Peace, which covered about a third of the cost and has helped erect more than 80 peace poles at schools across the county. Veterans for Peace President Fred Ptucha, who served four tours as a naval officer in Vietnam, was a founding member of the organization in the 1980s and brought it to Sonoma County in 1991. The peace poles have been a passion project for him and other members of the organization, Ptucha said. “A key summation of what Veterans for Peace believes is, ‘Honor the dead, heal the wounded and stop the wars,” Ptucha said. Veterans for Peace President Fred Ptucha — a former naval officer who served four tours in Vietnam — co-founded the organization in the 1980s and brought it to Sonoma County in 1991. The peace poles have since become a signature project for the group. Dominick Favuzzi, the group’s vice president and a U.S. Air Force veteran who served from 1975 to 1980, said the goal is to remind communities of the heavy toll of conflict. “Our purpose here today is to indicate the true costs of war,” Favuzzi said. With the newly planted trees and a set of golden shovels as a backdrop, SSU study abroad student Nayeli Nuno-Ledezma shared a story from her time in Japan. She recalled meeting a 92-year-old woman who survived the bombing of Hiroshima at age 12 but lost her father soon after to severe burns and injuries. The woman still lives with the lingering health effects of radiation exposure. Nuno-Ledezma urged the audience to remember those survivors and to carry their stories forward. She called on attendees to see the peace pole and trees not just as symbols but as a charge to stay committed to peace in “how we speak to one another, which policies we support, who we protect and how we respond when harm is done.” “Let us be the generation that remembers and then acts,” Nuno-Ledezma said. “Let peace prevail on earth and let it begin with us.”
