Tutu Brings New Prestige to Gandhi Center
By Kirsten Robinson
HARRISONBURG, Va. —Filing into the Convocation Center at James Madison University (JMU) to hear Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu speak, the audience left not a seat empty. When Tutu entered to a standing ovation, the room thundered with applause for a man of small stature but enormous presence. Like many of the JMU students and faculty, and Harrisonburg residents in attendance, Joanna D’Ercole, a junior at JMU, found Tutu’s speech to be among the most inspiring she had heard.
“Hearing him speak was empowering in a way because it made me feel like I actually had the ability to help the world,” she said.
The September speech by the Nobel Prize winner was also a pivotal moment for the Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence. Established in 2005, the Gandhi Center is now starting to get national recognition. It began as the brainchild of Dr. Sushil Mittal, an associate professor of religion at JMU, and its mission to promote nonviolence and peace is based on “distinctively Gandhian insights, methods and strategies,” according to a 2005-2006 annual report.
The idea for the Gandhi Center was founded on Mittal’s belief that longterm peace must begin with young people.
“My commitment to finding a path to lasting peace for my own children led directly to the establishing of the Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence," Mittal said. "It is my sincere hope that, working together, we will help create a more peaceful, just world and a healthy environment for all children.”
Within its first year, the Gandhi Center formed an advisory board, a board of trustees, and a network of JMU Faculty Fellows known as “peace scholars.”
It held numerous conferences and lecture series, among them the 2007 Global Nonviolence International Conference on Religion and Political Violence and the Global Nonviolence Student Conference, which was organized by students. And it awarded its first Mahatma Gandhi Global Nonviolence Award to Tutu.
During the ceremony, Tutu spoke from a prepared lecture entitled “Goodness is Powerful.”
“When you stand in a crowd and stand out, it is only because you are being carried on the shoulders of others,” said Tutu.
According to Tutu, it “was young people…who actually brought about a change in the moral climate of this country (India).”
Afterward, D’Ercole, said, “The story that Tutu ended his speech with was inspiring to hear because it basically gave the message that we as people really can help and make change. You could definitely feel that he was so comfortable talking to such a large group—and it was a group of such different people, but he spoke to us as if we were one.”
JMU President Dr. Linwood Rose, President of James Madison University described the ceremony as particularly appropriate for JMU “because our motto is ‘be the change,’ which comes from Gandhi’s admonition to ‘be the change you wish to see in the world.’”
Other speakers included Ronen Sen, Ambassador of India to the U.S.; Katherine Hanley, Secretary of the Commonwealth; Meredith Gunter, Vice Rector, JMU Board of Visitors; Sunny Mehta, Chair, Gandhi Center Board of Trustees; and Sushil Mittal, Director, Gandhi Center.
The Gandhi Center also sponsors 12-week internships for JMU juniors and seniors.