Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas K. Gandhi, will be the keynote speaker for an upcoming conference exploring different ways, from spiritual means to conflict resolution, of working toward peace. The two-day event will be held at the University of Rochester Friday, Sept. 15, and Saturday, Sept. 16.
Arun Gandhi, who travels across the United States and abroad teaching the theory and practice of nonviolence, will discuss "Everything I Need to Know I Learned From Grandfather" at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15, in Strong Auditorium on the River Campus. Mohandas K. Gandhi practiced passive resistance and promoted non-violent measures to secure Indian independence from Great Britain and to improve conditions for Indians living in South Africa. Arun Gandhi is the founder of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, headquartered at Christian Brothers University in Memphis.
Saturday conference sessions will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Community Learning Center, located at the end of the Fraternity Quadrangle on River Campus. Speakers will include Robert Holmes, professor of philosophy at the University. A world-renowned expert on issues of peace and non-violence, Holmes was the first appointee to the Rajiv Gandhi Chair in Peace and Disarmament at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India, in 1998. He has been invited to speak at numerous conferences in Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Canada, and participated in the first conference on nonviolence ever held in the former Soviet Union in November 1989. A member of the University faculty since 1962, he has written numerous articles on ethics and peace and authored several books, including On War and Morality.
Also presenting will be Barry Gan, associate professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Nonviolence at St. Bonaventure University. He is editor of The Acorn: Journal of the Gandhi-King Society, and program committee chair of the oldest and largest interfaith peace group in the United States, the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He received his master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Rochester.
Conference participants will also hear from Sheila Hand, a local teacher of metaphysics and peace. The event is sponsored by the University of Rochester Peace Group, the Association for the Development of Interest of the Indian Subcontinent, and the Outside Speakers Committee.
Admission to the conference is $5 for the general public and free for University of Rochester undergraduate students with a student ID. Tickets will be available at the door. For more information, call the University of Rochester Peace Group, (585) 274-2893.