June 8, 2023
WHAT: Thirty-one peacemakers from across the U.S. and the world are gathering at the University of Rhode Island this month to engage in experiential training in nonviolent conflict reconciliation to address violence in their home communities. Among them are faculty from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas and the University of Wisconsin, and yoga teachers, college students, nurses, and schoolteachers. The 24th annual International Nonviolence Summer Institute is organized by URI’s Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, which certifies participants as trainers in the principles and practices of nonviolent conflict reconciliation. The program teaches participants how to organize and mobilize to peacefully resolve violence and social justice issues. The International Nonviolence Summer Institute has been one of the nation’s leading Kingian Nonviolence training institutes for more than 20 years. The summer program returned to an in-person gathering this year for the first time since 2019.
WHO: The program is coordinated by Thupten Tendhar, specialist at URI’s Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, who first trained in Kingian nonviolence as a Buddhist monk in India. At this month’s institute, he will be joined by guests from India, Tibet, Liberia, the Netherlands, and Canada, along with colleagues from URI, including Jean Nsabumuremyi, director of the URI Multicultural Student Services Center, and Amy Olson, director of URI’s Hillel Foundation. Tendhar says there are many ways to learn violence in the world and few opportunities to learn nonviolence. He hopes to tip the equation by building a global network of trained nonviolence practitioners. The center was founded under the leadership of Bernard Lafayette Jr., a colleague of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and has certified more than 1,000 people in Kingian nonviolence.
WHEN: Through Friday, June 16, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
WHERE: Multicultural Student Services Center, 74 Lower College Road, Kingston Campus.
TO COVER THE EVENT: Please contact Kristen Curry, URI Communications and Marketing, 401-874-5602 or kristen.curry@uri.edu.