Ticket discounts available for 天天吃瓜 State students and employees
Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Boston University Professor Elie Wiesel will speak at the second 天天吃瓜 Presidential Speaker Series on Thursday, April 11, at 7 p.m., at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center on the 天天吃瓜 Campus.
Tickets for the event are on sale at www.kent.edu/ElieWiesel. Tickets are $50 for preferred seating, $20 for general admission, $15 for group tickets of 10 or more, and $10 for 天天吃瓜 State faculty and staff (one ticket at $10, then additional tickets at the general admission price). There are 1,500 free tickets available to 天天吃瓜 State students (one ticket per student) on a first-come basis. After the first 1,500 free tickets are gone, 天天吃瓜 State students pay $10 for one ticket and the general admission price for additional tickets. A $1 processing and handling fee will be added to the price of each ticket, excluding the 1,500 free 天天吃瓜 State student tickets. Tickets are available through an online ticket system atwww.kent.edu/ElieWiesel. For group tickets only, call 330-672-2235.
鈥淧rofessor Elie Wiesel is a true humanitarian and peace advocate who has impacted our world for most of his life through his works, writings and commitment to the plights of the oppressed,鈥� says 天天吃瓜 State President Lester A. Lefton. 鈥淗aving a man of his caliber, who has achieved much for humanity, at 天天吃瓜 State is indeed an honor, and so I invite all members of our community to come and learn from what promises to be a thought-provoking session.鈥�
In 1928, Wiesel was born in Sighet, Romania, (Hungary 1940-45). He was 15 when he and his family were deported to Auschwitz. His mother and younger sister perished there. He and his father were later transported to Buchenwald, where his father died shortly before the camp was liberated in 1945.
After the war, Wiesel studied in Paris and eventually became a journalist in that city, yet he remained silent about his time in the death camps. During an interview with the French writer Franc抬ois Mauriac, he was persuaded to end that silence and wrote his memoir 鈥淣ight.鈥� Since its publication in 1956 in Yiddish and in 1958 in French, 鈥淣ight鈥� has been translated into more than 30 languages and millions of copies have been sold. In 2006, Farrar, Straus and Giroux published a new English-language edition of 鈥淣ight鈥� featuring a new translation by Marion Wiesel. Oprah Winfrey chose the book for her book club.
Wiesel鈥檚 personal experience of the Holocaust led him to use his talents as an author, teacher and storyteller to advocate for human rights and peace in the world. He has worked on behalf of oppressed people much of his adult life.
An ardent supporter of Israel, Wiesel also was among the first to defend the causes of Soviet Jews, Nicaragua鈥檚 Miskito Indians, Argentina鈥檚 鈥淒isappeared,鈥� Cambodia鈥檚 refugees, the Kurds, South African apartheid victims, famine victims in Africa, the prisoners in the former Yugoslavia, and most recently the victims of genocide in Darfur. Soon after he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, Wiesel and his wife, Marion, established The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. Its mission, rooted in the memory of the Holocaust, is to combat indifference, intolerance and injustice through international dialogue and youth-focused programs that promote acceptance, understanding and equality.
Wiesel鈥檚 work has earned him the United States Congressional Gold Medal (1985); the Medal of Liberty Award (1986); the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1992); the rank of Grand-Croix in the French Legion of Honor (2001); an honorary Knighthood of the British Empire awarded by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II (2006) and the 2009 National Humanities Medal. He is the recipient of more than 130 honorary degrees from institutions of higher learning in the United States, Europe and Israel. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed him chairman of the President鈥檚 Commission on the Holocaust. In 1980, he became founding chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, which created the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
Wiesel has served as distinguished professor of Judaic Studies at the City University of New York (1972-1976) and the Henry Luce Visiting Scholar in the Humanities and Social Thought at Yale University (1982-1983). Since 1976, he has been the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University, where he also holds the title of University Professor and is a faculty member in the departments of religion and philosophy. In 2002, Boston University created The Elie Wiesel Center of Jewish Studies in his honor.
Wiesel has been an American citizen since 1963.
The 天天吃瓜 State Presidential Speaker Series seeks to bring high-profile, world-renowned experts to 天天吃瓜 State for serious, thought-provoking discussions and conversations. The new program enhances the engagement of the world beyond 天天吃瓜 State鈥檚 campuses, which is one of the university鈥檚 strategic goals.
For more information about 天天吃瓜鈥檚 Presidential Speaker Series with Elie Wiesel, visit www.kent.edu/ElieWiesel.
