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Smith College to Join in ‘Ring Your Bell for Peace’
 NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – Listen for the college bells ringing at noon on Sunday, Dec. 21, as Smith College joins other colleges and universities around the world in sounding bells for peace and change.
The “Ring Your Bell For Peace” campaign, initiated by musicians Melissa Etheridge and Salman Ahmad, references a song they recorded together this year. The pair met a year ago at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in honor of former American vice president Al Gore and United Nations Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Other promoters of the campaign include Indian doctor, author and leader in the mind-body medical movement Deepak Chopra, along with the Alliance for a New Humanity (ANA).
“The intention is to energize young people and channel their energy into all kinds of grassroots activist groups,” said Ahmad, who performed at Smith on Nov. 16, and pursued the idea with Margaret Sarkissian, professor of music at Smith.
On her Web site, Etheridge encourages people to start with themselves.
“Now, is there anyone else in your house? Maybe they’ll join you. Do it together, a family affair. How about your neighbors? Mention it to them. Arrange a street ringing. Maybe the whole town wants to get involved. Churches, schools, where you work, it’s all up to you,” Etheridge writes, adding, “There’s no expectation, just an invitation.”
The bells at Smith are located in College Hall and the Helen Hills Hills Chapel.
Smith College educates women of promise for lives of distinction. One of the largest women’s colleges in the United States, Smith enrolls 2,800 students from nearly every state and 62 other countries.
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