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President Bob Kerrey of The New School Today we also pay tribute to an alumnus of the university, Dr. Berhanu Nega, whose work and achievements are the very model of the social values and public mission with which this university has always identified. We should never forget nor change the purpose for which this institution was originally founded in 1919 - to provide an alternative to conservative, higher education orthodoxy. The New School was founded on strong convictions – unbending intellectual rigor, free and articulate expression and a basic training in the skills that make democracy work. The New School prides itself on being a place where individuals can learn and develop without rigid rules or superfluous conventions that limit human potential. We were and remain a place where critical thinking and interdisciplinary study are a way of life. We were and will remain a place where liberal democracy is enriched with controversial public programming and non-degree education. We were and will remain a refuge for those whose very existence is put at risk by authoritarian rule, religious and ethnic hatred, or physical threats that aim to silence their voices. It is in this spirit that we are honored today to present the Distinguished Alumnus Award to Berhanu Nega, who has suffered terrible consequences and put his life at risk for peacefully and civilly asking his government for freedoms you and I consider as important as the air we breathe: to speak and publish freely opinions and views without threat of punishment, and the right to demonstrate peacefully and associate voluntarily in organizations of one’s own choosing without threat of punishment. Let me tell you just a bit about Berhanu’s life. At the age of 17, shortly after his enrollment at Addis Ababa University, he was forced to flee Ethiopia to avoid prosecution by the military authorities because of his participation in a student movement openly advocating for democracy and human rights issues. He lived as a refugee in the Sudan for two years until he was granted political asylum by the United States. While here, he earned a B.A. degree and then completed a Ph.D. in economics from The New School for Social Research. In 1994 he and his family returned to Ethiopia with the hope of contributing to the economic and social developments in the country. During these years, he served as the president of the Ethiopian Economic Association, among other organizations committed to economic development and helped to found the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) party, an opposition party focused on the promotion of democratic values. His work for democracy and human rights landed him in jail more than once, most recently in November 2005 when he and his colleagues in the CUD and its supporters - from students to taxi drivers to shop owners - peacefully protested against Ethiopia’s first multi-party ballot, which was characterized by widespread fraud, intimidation, violence, and murder. Charged with treason, the punishment for which is the death penalty, Berhanu served nearly two years in Ethiopia’s prisons before being released earlier this summer, partly as a result of the work of various organizations and groups, including students and faculty at The New School, to draw attention to his case and condemn the government. As we honor Berhanu Nega, I would also ask that we remember Kian Tajbakhsh, a former New School professor of urban planning, a scholar whose writings focus on local democratic reform in Iran, and current consultant to the Open Society Institute. Kian has been detained in Evan Prison in Tehran since May of this year on entirely baseless charges of endangering Iranian national security. We at The New School have joined many organizations around the world in calling for his immediate release. Berhanu Nega and Kian Tajbakhsh demonstrate the kind of commitment that does not yield to dictatorial oppression and have accepted the call to go where safety can no longer be guaranteed. They teach all of us humility, imagination, and the courage to act when we discover something wrong. They remind us of the values at the core of this institution’s founding. And it is as true today as it was a century ago, that we must still begin each day of our work embracing these traditions of our past: critical thinking that expands the boundaries of the disciplines we choose to study; determination to protect open debate and conversation uninhibited by fear of where our studies might take us; commitment to meet the unmet educational needs of our community; and a willingness to engage in the great, contentious social and political issues of our day. Knitted tightly to critical thinking is another strand: the belief that each of our students – through their art, their music, their design, and their ideas – will follow Berhanu’s example and become agents of constructive change in their communities. Nor can we let down our larger community. There is no shortage of issues and this university must go where others fear to venture. for the full text, please see http://www.newschool.edu/admin/convocation/2007/bob_kerrey_welcome.html |
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