'Living Values' focus of visit by activists

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

ore than 120 members of the greater campus community gathered Oct. 18 to share ideas over breakfast with interim Chancellor Marcellette G. Williams and hear about the upcoming visit to the University by social justice activists and foundation leaders Peter and Linda Biehl.

     The Biehls will be on campus for a "community-wide conversation" entitled "Living Values: the Life, Death and Legacy of Amy Biehl" Nov. 7 and 8.

    Amy Biehl was a U.S. Fulbright scholar working on voter education in South Africa in 1993 when she was killed by a small mob. Her parents, Linda and Peter, took up her work of empowering disadvantaged communities, and, during the hearings of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, they supported amnesty for the four young men who killed her.

     When Williams met the Biehls in South Africa last April, she invited them to bring their "living values" to the University.

     "I said, 'I want you to come to UMass because it is our responsibility to provide students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members with an opportunity to come into contact with people who live values.'

     "We continue to commit and recommit to graduating students not only with an excellent education, but also with a strong ethical base and an understanding of difference as an essential element to any definition of excellence."

     Williams referred the crowd to a documentary about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, entitled "A Long Night's Journey into Day," that tells the story of Amy Biehl.
The breakfast, designed in part after community breakfasts held at Arizona State University by its president as a forum for people to share ideas with the campus leader, was scheduled before Sept. 11, Williams said, but it became all the more relevant given the campus response to the events of that day.

     "Since Sept. 11, we have had a glimpse of more spiritual values," Williams said. "When all else seems in motion around you, what we have are each other."

     Williams invited guests, who were chosen from all areas of what she called "the UMass family" - students, faculty, staff, administration, and the local community - to ask questions, voice concerns or make comments.

     "It's very important for me to have you hear directly from me that your voice is important," she said.

     Special assistant to the graduate dean Nigar Khan thanked the community, especially the students and Williams for the campus response to Sept. 11.

     Several students and staff rose to thank Williams for convening the breakfast. One asked what values the campus was hoping to learn from the Biehls' visit.

     Williams talked about the importance of enablement, empowering people to the point that one is no longer needed, then turned the question to the rest of the group.

     Commonwealth College interim dean Linda Slakey offered, "The thing that I find fascinating about the Biehls and the Truth and Reconciliation movement in general is the capacity to leave truly dreadful suffering behind."

     Linda Marchesani, manager of Training and Development, mentioned the Biehls' work for enablement in the context of social justice.

     "The value of trying to create a community, but also a socially just community, is something we can work toward, as well," she said.

     Associate provost for International Programs Barbara Burn brought up intercultural understanding as an important value the Biehls embody.

     Others mentioned the movement from selfishness to selflessness and reinvestment in the common good.

     "The values that we try to live are not just confined to the campus," Williams noted and reiterated her interest in receiving advice, support, information, expertise and opinions from the campus community.