Shimon Peres, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former Prime Minister of Israel, visited the university on Wednesday afternoon, receiving an honorary degree from the Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations and giving a speech to students gathered in the Walsh Gymnasium.
Peres was introduced by Msgr. Robert Sheeran, university president, who called him “an illustrious voice of peace in our troubled world,” and Clay Constantinou, dean of the school of diplomacy, who continued the praise calling him “one of the greatest statesman of our times.”
Peres began his speech explaining what he thinks a good example of a statesman in today’s world is, telling the students to “never give up” and explaining that “the most important thing in life is peace.”
He then spoke about diplomacy.
“The art of diplomacy is people able to live together in spite of their differences,” Peres said.
He also commented on the global economy and how it is presently going through a transformation from an economy of land to an economy of the mind.
Peres continued by talking about war.
He explained how while the United States has been in many global conflicts, they were all wars fought for freedom, and the United States has never used its might and victories for selfish gains, giving back territories they have won.
He went on to talk about more modern issues facing the world, like the struggle between religion and science and the wars in the Middle East.
“We don’t have to choose between being religious and being scientific,” Peres said.
Sophomore Karen Kelleher said she was inspired by Peres’ speech.
“I think he is saying that we can separate the ideas of religion and science but allow them to still be seen as intertwined,” Kelleher said.
She said she appreciated Peres explaining the reason why there is violence in the Middle East.
“It is not a war against Muslims. It is a war for everybody, including the Muslims,” Peres said of the war on terrorism during his speech.
Finally he finished his speech talking about the struggle going on in Israel, saying that the conflict cannot be resolved without the creation of two states, one Palestinian and one Israeli.
Peres’ speech was followed by a short question and answer period.
He fielded questions from diplomacy students about health care, economics and other key issues in Israel.
Students at the event were inspired and very excited to have a speaker like Peres at the university.
“The fact that this man has devoted his life to peace should act as an inspiration to people,” sophomore Rory Murphy said.
Another sophomore agreed.
“Mr. Peres’ persistence and passion for peace is an inspiration,” Terry Golden said.
“All of us can learn from the values, ideals and ideas encouraged by him. It is a credit to the Whitehead School of Diplomacy for attracting such a notable figure to the University,” Golden said.
The event, a part of the World Leaders Forum put on by the school of diplomacy, was held in the Walsh Gymnasium instead of Kozlowski Auditorium where most of the ceremonies in the series have been held.
“We wanted all of our students to attend, but we also thought this was a historic opportunity and the whole university should have the opportunity to witness this event, and the largest place was Walsh Gymnasium,” Constantinou said.
The ceremony was hosted by Provost Thomas Lindsay, who said that this was “a truly historic event for the university.”
Peres has been politically active since he was 16. He recently found the Peres Center for Peace in 1996 and has authored numerous books about peace in the Middle East.
Andrew Medeiros can be reached at medeiran@shu.edu.
|