October 08, 2009

The Peace Garden – a tree-filled, grassy oasis of calm on the bustling California State University, Fresno campus – is closed until January for improvements to make it more accessible and enhance its beauty and serenity.

The transformed Peace Garden will be completed to correspond with the re-opening of the Henry Madden Library, which is being expanded to serve the needs of Fresno State students, faculty and the community. The library is just south of the Peace Garden, which will be viewed from within the library through a wall of glass.

Work began June 20 on Peace Garden improvements intended to encourage more people to spend more time in the “company” of Mahatma Gandhi, César Chávez, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Jane Addams.

The concept of the Peace Garden at Fresno State was born with the dedication in 1990 of a memorial for Gandhi, a nonviolent leader in India’s independence movement. The memorial – a 4-foot, 1,500-pound bronze bust – resulted from combined efforts of students, faculty, staff and administration at Fresno State.

In the years since, statuary depicting the other peace advocates was added and the Peace Garden became a gathering place for community and campus events celebrating the lives of the peace advocates memorialized there.

However, plans waited until now to improve pathways and access for people with limited mobility; add benches; rework flat terrain into a more textured appearance; and re-landscape to visually tie the Peace Garden to the library.

All entrances into and through the garden are fenced off during the renovation. Access to the adjacent Food and Family Sciences and Psychology and Human Services buildings is through east, west and north entrances.

“We appreciate the community’s support while we undergo renovation,” said Lori Pardi, assistant planner for the university’s Office of Facilities Planning. “Visitors may experience some inconvenience during the construction phase, but we hope to keep it to a minimum. The end result will enhance the community’s experience in this open space area.”