Gandhi Institute in the Democrat and Chronicle

The M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence was mentioned in the Business section of today’s Democrat and Chronicle. Below is an exerpt of the article. For the full article, please go to:
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011101310316

University of Rochester students Joseph Gardella and Lorenzo Mendez recently gave a classroom of Rochester middle school students a lesson in nonviolence.

Mohandas Gandhi, more commonly known as Mahatma which means “great soul”, organized nonviolent protests that eventually freed India from British rule in 1947, Gardella explained.

The Wilson Foundation Academy students, who were being counseled on conflict resolution, were then played a CD with the message, “Be the change that you want to see — just like Gandhi.”

As volunteers with M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence at UR, Gardella and Mendez make weekly visits to the Wilson academy — trying to make Gandhi’s message relevant.

Gardella, 21, is a UR senior from San Diego and Mendez, 20, is a junior from Brooklyn.

The importance of their mission became all the more apparent because on the same morning of their visit, funeral services were being held across the street for UR student Jeffrey Bordeaux Jr. He had been stabbed to death during a dispute with another UR student, Daren Venable, who has since been indicted on one count of second-degree murder.

Located on the UR campus for most of the past four years, the institute is one of more than 300 such peace and justice programs at colleges that in large or small ways promote nonviolent solutions to disputes.

1 Comment

• 
  David R. Bassett, M.D. October 3, 2011 at 6:11 am

  It was impressive to be at the openhouse yesterday, with several images from Gandhi’s life present– the building of a new home for your outreach ( reminiscent of the building of an ashram), the music, the dancing, the span of ages and backgrounds represented, the weather (more characteristic of the Himalayan foothills than of central or southern India), the hopes and plans for continuation of Gandhi’s message of nonviolence, and building communities.
  David Bassett (member of Rochester Friends Meeting, and its Peace & Social Action Committee); Board member, National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund

  Reply