UMass Amherst and Ellsberg Initiative Host Memorial Bench Dedication to Honor Late Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg
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The University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy recently hosted an on-campus dedication of the Daniel Ellsberg memorial bench. The bench—located next to the Campus Pond with the W.E.B. Du Bois Library nearby to the west and the Student Union to the north—honors the late Daniel Ellsberg, one of the nation’s foremost political activists and whistleblowers. View photos from the event.
In his final years, Ellsberg became a treasured part of the UMass Amherst community, passionately sharing his wisdom and commitment to truth-telling. In 2023, Ellsberg was awarded an honorary degree by UMass Amherst in a special ceremony held in the Bay Area, where Ellsberg resided.
Many in the campus community came to know Dan and his wife, Patricia Marx Ellsberg, admiring their commitment to social justice and their genuine interest and care for everyone they encountered. That was especially true of students who had the extraordinary opportunity of studying in a seminar with the man who distributed the top-secret Pentagon Papers in 1971, exposing decades of deceit by American policymakers during the Vietnam War.