'Hotel Rwanda' hero to launch convocation

Author: Lisie Mehlman

Rwandan Hutu Paul Rusesabagina, whose heroism during the genocide that killed 800,000 Tutsis and their sympathizers was captured in the 2004 film "Hotel Rwanda," will address Middlebury students, faculty and staff in Mead Chapel on Saturday, March 3 at 7 p.m. Rusesabagina's speech will mark the inaugural event of the campus-wide convocation series proposed in the College's Strategic Plan to unite the community through intellectual discourse.

The series will "introduce a broad theme, to which conversation will return in different formats." In an interview on Wednesday, January 31, Dean of the College Tim Spears indicated that this first series, revolving around Rusesabagina's presentation, will center on the theme of "genocide, diaspora and resettlement" and will include several weeks of follow-up, "ancillary events, ones that connect thematically to the primary event, such as panels and small group discussions."

Rusesabagina famously saved more than a thousand lives and risked his own during the 100 days of genocide in Rwanda by hiding endangered individuals in the city of Kigali's Mille Collines Hotel, which he had previously managed. He has since founded the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation (HRRF) in 2005 to support and care for children orphaned by, and women abused during the genocide.

"Mr. Rusesabagina, a great human being and humble individual, is a living testimony of human goodness in a situation of human-induced horror," wrote Assistant Professor of Political Science Nadia Horning in an e-mail. "As a privileged member of mid-1990s Rwandan society, he used the means he had at his disposal, i.e., a hotel property, connections with a Western clientele - including UN commanders and access to the outside business world in order to bring the world's attention to the genocide that was taking place in front of his eyes."

"His and others' cries for help fell onto deaf ears," wrote Horning, "in the end, he was made to realize that Rwanda was of no strategic interest to the West."

Despite the fact that "ample reporting on this crime against humanity was present, the world and its leaders condemned the horrors while sitting on their hands," the HRRF website explains.

In the years following the genocide, the international community has demonstrated immense remorse for its inaction.

"Looking back now, we see the signs which then were not recognized," said Former United Nations Secretary Kofi Annan in a1998 issued apology. "Now we know that what we did was not nearly enough--not enough to save Rwanda from itself, not enough to honor the ideals for which the United Nations exists. We will not deny that, in their greatest hour of need, the world failed the people of Rwanda."

Rusesabagina was born to farmer parents on June 5, 1954 in the Central-South of Rwanda and received his education in hotel management at universities in both Nairobi and Switzerland. After the massacre ceased, Rusesabagina remained in Rwanda working at the Diplomate Hotel until 1996, when he relocated to Belgium as a refugee. In Europe, Rusesabagina owns a transport company and continues to affect change in his homeland.

It is in an effort to raise awareness about the Rwandan tragedy and other like it today, that Rusesabagina will join the College community in March.

Spears said there was not yet a title for the speech, but that Rusesabagina would likely "talk about his experiences in Rwanda and reflect on them, sort of bring his past experiences to bear on the current situation in Africa." Spears was instrumental in organizing the upcoming convocation series.

"As a member of the President's staff, my job is to follow up on this recommendation that the College create a convocation series that would serve as an opportunity for the entire campus to come together," Spears said, "around performances, presentations, town meetings, speakers - the door is really wide open. This fall I started to meet with a representative group of students, faculty and staff to determine how to create a structure for such a series."

The Committee includes Assistant Professor of Anthropology Michael Sheridan, Lacrosse Coach Missy Foote, Assistant Banquet Chef Patty McCaffrey, Associate Director of Annual Giving Lynn Dunton, Dean of Curriculum Bob Cluss, Director of Human Resources Drew Macan and students Seth Miran '07 and Antoinette Rangel '09.

"The goals that we as a committee have been striving to achieve are twofold," Miran said, "to generate our own creative ideas for what would make for interesting convocation series as well as attempting to integrate previously-planned events into a convocation series when possible, as was the case with the Rusesabagina lecture."

Spears said that it was "a student [who] came forward with the proposal, with this opportunity to bring this notable speaker to campus," after which the Committee began planning the series.

The Committee faced the difficult task of adapting the Strategic Plan Recommendation, which outlined the basic theme and concept of such a series, for implementation.

"The practicality and nuts and bolts of an event of this scale - boy is it a difficult thing," said Spears. "Even just dealing with the calendar was quite a challenge as we struggled to select a time and date that would work for holding the main event. Currently, noon on Thursdays is the only time that no classes are scheduled. These are the types of things we had to consider and work around."

The Committee has created a general framework for this series, one that will hopefully serve as a model for all the series to follow.

"We think of the convocation as a series," said Spears. "As several discreet packages of events, each lasting for a month," Spears said. The kickoff, headlining presentation will comprise the comprise the first week, and the second week will feature additional, similarly themed lectures and panels. A week or two of small group discussions will follow.

"The goal," Spears said, "is to bring in figures, performers, artists that have a kind of relevance and presence beyond simply the academic world. We probably wouldn't go with a straight academic. Our first impulse wouldn't be to invite a renowned professor. Presenters should speak to larger issues, should include but go beyond issues found in the classroom, should have an attraction to students, faculty and staff. Topics should be of broad interest, and there is already a lot on this campus pertaining to specific academic topics."

Spears admitted that "managing expectations" is a serious concern. With both Chief Justice Roberts and former President Bill Clinton addressing the community in the same academic year, "what's it going to take to get people excited about a speaker is certainly something that's on our minds."

Still, he remained hopeful that the convocation event will be successful, explaining that the speech will bring bring a larger topic home to our community. There exists no shortage of folks on campus that would find this interesting. Miran echoed these sentiments, and alluded to many on-campus groups dedicated to raising awareness about African affairs. The New Sudan Education Initiative, in particular, "seeks to help the victims of genocide rebuild their lives," according to Miran.