After 25 years of teaching justice and peace studies at St. Thomas, professor Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer will retire at the end of the school year.

As a political activist and academic writer, Nelson-Pallmeyer has focused his work on issues like hunger, poverty and faith. At St. Thomas, he teaches classes on active nonviolence, public policy analysis and theologies of justice and peace.

“I love that he will have time to think of new ways to engage his many skills and engage many of the social problems of the world,” justice and peace studies professor Mike Klein said. “It will be a tremendous loss for our program, for our students, for our university.”

Sophomore Jackie Resh took his active nonviolence class last spring and is currently in his introduction to justice and peace studies class.

“Jack is probably my favorite professor I’ve had, and since I knew he was retiring this year, I really wanted to take this other class while I still could,” Resh said. “I’ve enjoyed it a lot so far, and now I probably want to at least minor in justice and peace (studies) because of it.”

The class recently read “Harvest of Cain,” a historical fiction novel written by Nelson-Pallmeyer about the injustices happening in Latin America regarding liberation theology and U.S. involvement within the Schools of the Americas, Resh said.

“We’re learning a lot of valuable information and real history but we get to learn it from somebody who has a lot of first-hand knowledge,” Resh said.

In the 1980s, Nelson-Pallmeyer lived and worked in Central America during the many U.S. sponsored wars in that region, and became active in the movement against SOA, a U.S. military training school for Latin American soldiers linked to human rights issues.

He was encouraged to continue his activism by running in the primary for  the 2006 Minnesota Congressional District Five during the “ongoing and escalating” war in Iraq.

“I will only do it if I feel that there is a community of people who I am partnering with. I have no interest in Jack running on his own for political office,” Nelson-Pallmeyer said. “I am open to running in the context of a community of people that is committed and wants to see many of these changes related to climate, related to the war making, related to greater economic justice. And in that context, I chose to run.”

His campaign focused on the permanent war status of the U.S. and climate change. However, he lost to current representative Keith Ellison.

“Out of that campaign, there were a lot of people who were really excited about my campaign … because I was speaking really honestly about the need to transform politics,” Nelson-Pallmeyer said. “We have become kind of a permanent warfare state and that needed to be challenged. Like Martin Luther King said, as long as we’re spending so many resources on war, we will never really address the pressing needs of people.”

Nelson-Pallmeyer ran for Congress again in the 2008 U.S. Senate primary election against Al Franken for the DFL Party nomination.

Although he lost, Nelson-Pallmeyer said it was exciting to meet so many Minnesotans during the campaign who really cared about the country.

“I really think it did show and does show how many people out there really want to see some changes that would lead, in my view, to a more just nation and a more peaceful world,” he said.

Mike Klein, an assistant professor for justice and peace studies, said that Nelson-Pallmeyer brings his real-world experience into the classroom.

“He is a listening ear, a mentor, someone students can sit down with to review personal struggles or pressing social issues,” Klein said.  

Students are able to talk about life with Nelson-Pallmeyer, Klein said.

“The most wonderful part of the experience is the rich relationships I have with students,” Nelson-Pallmeyer said.

Nelson-Pallmeyer hopes that his retirement will create space for new faculty to come into the program.

“Our program is wonderful, but how great would it be if we brought some new people in or a new person with different ideas and a different direction,” Nelson-Pallmeyer said.

After leaving St. Thomas, Nelson-Pallmeyer wants to work on issues of health care reform and climate change. He will also continue his focus on political issues through writing a murder-mystery novel series.

“I want to stay engaged in issues that matter,” he said. “I want to do it with a joyful spirit.”

Rachel Torralba can be reached at torr3544@stthomas.edu.