Nobel Peace Laureate Rigoberta Menchú Tum to host FSU's second annual PeaceJam conference

Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú Tum will visit The Florida State University for three days this weekend to deliver a free, public lecture and host 400 middle and high school students from Florida, Georgia and North Carolina who will gather for the university’s second PeaceJam Southeast conference.

The 1992 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Menchú is an indigenous Guatemalan of the Quiche-Maya ethnic group. She has dedicated her life to working for the rights of Guatemala’s indigenous people during and after the bloody Guatemalan Civil War, which stretched from 1960 to 1996.

Menchú’s public lecture will take place:

FRIDAY, MARCH 19

6 P.M.

AUDITORIUM, FSU COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

1115 W. CALL ST.

TALLAHASSEE

A reception will be held immediately following her talk.

On Saturday, March 20, Menchú will be available to meet with the news media at 12:30 p.m. in the Micco Room of Florida State’s Oglesby Union. To arrange an interview, call Rody Thompson, the director of PeaceJam Southeast, at (850) 645-8782 or (850) 766-0045.

On Saturday and Sunday, Menchú will meet with the high school students participating in the PeaceJam Southeast conference at Oglesby Union. PeaceJam is an international education program built around Nobel Peace Laureates, including the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who work personally with young people to pass on the spirit, skills and wisdom they embody. Florida State is the headquarters for PeaceJam’s Southeast region.

“The goal of PeaceJam is to create a new generation of leaders who will transform themselves, their communities and the world,” Thompson said. “We’re excited to bring young people together at Florida State University for this annual event.”

About 60 Florida State students will serve as conference mentors, facilitating small group discussions and leading the high school students in service and workshop activities. The participants have spent the school year preparing for this conference by studying Menchú’s life and the PeaceJam curriculum, and by engaging in service related to the 10 core issues of injustice and suffering outlined in PeaceJam’s Global Call to Action.

Among the issues identified by PeaceJam founders and participating Nobel Peace Laureates are eliminating extreme poverty, ending racism and hate, restoring the environment, halting the spread of global disease, and promoting social justice and human rights for all. Through Global Call to Action projects, PeaceJam is striving toward 1 billion acts of peace over the next 10 years, Thompson said.

Honoring the memory of Menchú’s parents and other family members who were killed by security forces during the Guatemalan Civil War, Saturday’s activities include an afternoon devoted to studying global genocides, culminating in a march around campus beginning on the Union Green at 3:45 p.m. The students will present their projects to Menchú at 10:50 a.m. on Sunday, March 21.

“Spending an entire weekend with Rigoberta Menchú Tum, an extraordinary role model and voice for the rights of the oppressed worldwide, will inspire the students to continue their efforts with renewed vigor,” Thompson said. “I feel certain they will never forget the wisdom they receive from this powerful, caring and compassionate Nobel Laureate.”

PeaceJam Southeast is a program of Florida State’s Center for Leadership and Civic Education.