Legacies highlighted at UNLV

February 5, 2009 by Jorge Labrador 

Tam Alumni Center to host internationally acclaimed exhibit

 

The UNLV Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion and Morehouse College are hosting an exhibition that celebrates peace, nonviolence and human rights this month in the Tam Alumni Center’s.   

The exhibit comes to UNLV on Feb. 6 and will be on display until Feb. 21, when a smaller version premiers at the Cheyenne Campus of the College of Southern Nevada.

The Gandhi-King-Ikeda: A Legacy of Building Peace exhibit, created by Lawrence E. Carter, Dean of Morehouse College, highlights the contributions of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Daisaku Ikeda, three men that are closely linked.

“The connection between Thoreau and Gandhi, connection between Gandhi and King his beliefs all three of these men’s ideals are embodied in [Daisaku Ikeda],” Carter said. 

Carter, who is a professor of religion at Morehouse College, will launch the exhibit by speaking at the Feb. 6 “One-to-One Dialogue” premier event which runs from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

A statement released by the GKI Organizing Committee states that the “three leaders from different cultures and continents whose lives follow a common path of profound dedication and achievement in improving the lives of all people.”

The exhibit itself is divided into three sections, presenting the lives of the three men as they relate to key themes and moments of their own lives and examples of their “common belief in the innate dignity of humanity” and “using nonviolence as a way of life to bring about positive societal change and the importance of each man’s ability to triumph over adversity—and to utilize adversity to further their own growth.” 

“It is our duty to pass on the spiritual awakening of Gandhi and King,” Ikeda said. 

Ikeda is a Buddhist philosopher, educator and author who has led an international initiative for intercultural and interfaith dialogue for more than 45 years and the president of Sokka Gakkai International, an organization dedicated to “worldwide, culturally diverse association for peace, culture and education,” according to the GKI Organizing Committee. 

The organization’s mission plays a large part in the Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion hosting this event at UNLV.

“The importance of building cross-cultural excellence and diversity go hand in hand,” said Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Christine Clark.

“We cannot move forward as institutions, as a society and as a civilization if our students are not taught to think for themselves and encouraged to do so.”

Clark explained that this exhibit was of particular importance because the three individuals that are highlighted are from wholly different backgrounds– Gandhi came from a Hindu background in India, King was a black Christian in the U.S. and Ikeda was a Buddhist from Japan, but that their contributions were felt worldwide.

The exhibit itself has an international track record, as it has toured Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas.

Admission to the 2,500-square foot exhibit is free and open to the public.