Edinboro University to host celebration of Nelson Mandela’s legacy

International human rights activist Nontombi Naomi Tutu will deliver the keynote address for Edinboro University’s weeklong “One Campus Experience: A Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Nelson Mandela” on March 31 at 7 p.m. in the Frank G. Pogue Student Center Multipurpose Room on the Edinboro campus. “A Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Nelson Mandela” begins March 31 and continues through April 4, and features speakers, panel discussions, film screenings and a candlelight walk honoring the late anti-apartheid leader, former South African president and Nobel Peace Prize winner. It is the inaugural event of the “One Campus Experience,” an umbrella theme adopted by the President’s University Diversity Council for programming in the areas of diversity, inclusion and multicultural education designed to reach the entire Edinboro University community. Naomi Tutu, whose keynote is titled “Social Justice, Unity and Reconciliation: Nelson Mandela the Lived Model of Ubuntu,” is the daughter of world-famous South African social rights activist and retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Raised in apartheid South Africa, Tutu was educated in Swaziland, the United States and England, and has taught at the Universities of Hartford and Connecticut as well as Brevard College. Her involvement with organizations championing human rights causes is expansive. She presently serves as a consultant to the Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence and the Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Monday evening address is co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Women’s Philanthropy Council. The weeklong Mandela celebration was coordinated through the President’s University Diversity Council. A screening of the film “Invictus” will be held on April 1 at 7 p.m. in Butterfield Hall, Room 134. The showing of the Clint Eastwood-directed film starring Morgan Freeman, about Nelson Mandela’s attempt to rally his apartheid-torn country around the South African national rugby team’s ultimately victorious mission to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup, will be prefaced by a presentation, titled “Introduction of Mandela, Sports and the Art of Reconciliation,” by Dr. Dennis Hickey of EU’s History, Anthropology and World Languages Department. On April 2 at 7 p.m., a panel discussion on the topic of “Rights and Issues Ancillary to Apartheid” will be held in Butterfield Hall, Room 134. Moderated by Dr. Tadesse Kidane-Mariam, the panel will feature EU professors Dr. Gerald Hoffman of the Chemistry Department; Dr. Kiran Misra of the Biology and Health Services Department; and Dr. Martha Donkor of the History, Anthropology and World Languages Department. A screening of the documentary “The Man Who Drove with Mandela” will follow. The panel “Mandela and South Africa as Inspiration for Social Justice and Racial Harmony” will be held on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Butterfield Hall, Room 134 with moderator Dr. Naod Kebede and panelists Dr. Baher Ghosheh of the Geosciences Department and independent scholar and two-time EU graduate Tanya Teglo. “A Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Nelson Mandela” concludes with a candlelight walk and closing reception on April 4. Hosted by the Graduate Student Council and the International Student Affiliation, “Celebration of Light: A Candlelight Walk in Honor of Nelson Mandela” will be held rain or shine from 7-8:30 p.m. with participants asked to gather at the Fighting Scot Statue between McComb Fieldhouse and the Pogue Student Center. Closing remarks and a reception will follow in the Frank G. Pogue Student Center third-floor lounge. Selected literature written by or about Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be on display in Baron-Forness Library throughout the week. All events of “One Campus Experience: A Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Nelson Mandela” are free and open to the public. Source: Education News