By Lilly Wilhelmi, Shree Dubey and Maria van Wijnen
At the start of the 2024/25 academic year, students in the international relations (IR) track were surprised to hear that the beloved ‘Peace Lab’ will be drastically altered and possibly canceled by the end of this year.
Peace Lab is a Social Sciences methods class where students gain first-hand insight into post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation efforts through visits and meetings with the UN, NGOs, youth peacebuilders, and local residents. Students who take the class travel to Rwanda in January and Kosovo in June.
As third-year Social Sciences student Leonor Koppitz says, Peace Lab is “the singular most…important academic experience [students] have had” in the IR track. Third-year Social Sciences student, Sharwari Khare, who went to Rwanda in January 2024, adds that the course is “invaluable,” saying that if she no longer had the opportunity to take the course, she would have felt “robbed.”
For students in the IR track who haven’t attended Peace Lab the changes to the class are devastating. According to Dr. Anne de Graaf, who created and leads the programme, students are “gutted,” many of them telling her “I came [to AUC] just for Peace Lab.” Second-year Social Sciences student Jikke Deppenbroek says that “one of the reasons I decided to go to AUC was Peace Lab” since it was advertised heavily during AUC open days for prospective students. Similarly, third-year Social Sciences student Yara Schmidt describes the practical learning from Peace Lab as “one of the things that drew me to AUC.”
Peace Lab provides students with hands-on experience in global peacebuilding, shaping many of their academic and career goals. Koppitz, who went to Kosovo in June 2024, stated that experiencing first-hand what activists are achieving in a post-conflict setting was a “transformative experience.” She intends on writing her capstone on Kosovo and plans on going back to meet with NGOs like the Kosovo Women’s Network.
Similarly, Alumni Uma Claessens went to Kosovo in June 2023 and she is currently pursuing a Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies at Uppsala University. In her experience, Peace Lab gives students a comparative advantage when applying for internships and post-bachelor’s studies.
For alumni Julia Celma, who applied to Peace Lab four times before she was finally accepted, the experience changed her life. Also traveling to Kosovo in June of 2024 gave her hands-on experience in peacebuilding that no traditional classroom setting could ever provide; particularly, she learned that there is no “one size fits all” in peacebuilding. Moreover, having the privilege to interact with people on-site has helped her become more open to talking to people regarding conflict resolution.
After hearing about Peace Lab’s cancellation, Celma says she is “very disappointed” as students will lose a unique opportunity for experiential learning as part of the very value of global citizenship that AUC strives to represent. Students share her disappointment, with Dr. de Graaf explaining that around 50 students have sent similar testimonials to the Student Council to highlight the course’s significant impact on the AUC community.
Dr. de Graaf cited budgeting issues as the main factor for changes to the course. However, AUC Student Council member Thomas Jürgens, a second-year Social Sciences major, stated that the Student Council is in discussion with AUC’s administration. Jürgens hopes that they will address the imbalance between AUC’s “foundational principles” and the college’s current economic situation.
As students and faculty continue discussions about Peace Lab’s future, many cannot help but feel that Humanities and Social Science courses are disproportionately being canceled. Expressing her concerns, Khare explains that “the entire point and charm of AUC is that it is Liberal Arts and Sciences,” but the school is “on track to be more of a Sciences Department.”
Dr. de Graaf announced that Peace Lab will travel to Rwanda for the last time in January 2025. Alumni and students told Dr. de Graaf that online meetings are “better than nothing” and this proposal was approved for June 2025. Subsequent Peace Labs may also adapt this structure.
Another option, as suggested by Schmidt, would be to focus the class on “people doing peace-building work close to home” and making the class “smaller-scale.” As Dr. de Graaf explains, “[it] has to be students” who advocate for the future of Peace Lab.
The Herring 