The Dalai Lama's visit to UB will be 'historic'
by JILL SCHMELZER Reporter

The 14th DALAI LAMA at the University at Buffalo Promoting PEACE ACROSS BORDERS through education Sept. 18-20, 2006

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, will inaugurate the University at Buffalo Distinguished Speaker Series at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19.

The Buddhist spiritual leader will "Promote Peace Across the Borders through Education." He chooses two universities in the United States to visit each year.

University at Buffalo officials lobbied for the visit five years ago, and he chose UB because nearly 70 percent of its international students are from Asia.

Also, there is a small percentage of Tibetan students who are studying at the university on scholarship through the Fulbright Program. The university offered scholarships to Tibetan students because they have been refugees in India for nearly 50 years, according to the UB Web site.

The Dalai Lama will arrive in Buffalo Monday, Sept. 18 and remain until Wednesday, Sept. 20. Tibetan students will greet him as he steps off the airplane Monday, said Kunchok Youdon, a Tibetan who is in a master's program at UB.

The Chinese exiled the Dalai Lama and his people from Tibet in 1959. The Buddhist spiritual leader was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Tibetan people to preserve peace between the two cultures.

The Dalai Lama has set up a time to meet with select students from China, according to Youdon.

Before his lecture, which will be in front of 30,000 people, the Dalai Lama will also receive an honorary doctorate in humane letters from the university in recognition of his leadership and teachings. He is one of the most vocal advocates for world peace, religious tolerance and cultural understanding, according to the UB Web site.

"It is really fortunate he is coming to UB," said Youdon. "I think it is going to be historic."

The Dalai Lama has traveled to many countries promoting his message of peace, but this will be his first time in New York, said Kunchok, who previously worked at the Central Tibetan Administration, also known as the Government of Tibet in Exile.

The Dalai Lama visited The University of Texas in 2005. Robert Meckel, who works in that university's Office of Public Affairs, said he was warmly received, and there was a large audience that attended the lecture.

The students were happy to see him and receptive to his message, Meckel said.

The main event at UB is sold out, but classes have been suspended and it will be a day of observation.

Lacey Jamison, a senior, said she is disappointed that she cannot attend the event. She would liked to have had the chance to learn about the Dalai Lama and experience his culture.

Jamison added that she didn't know much about him and in talking with other students she didn't think many people were educated on the subject.

"Some like him, and some strongly disagree with his beliefs," Jamison said, noting that she did not have enough information to form an opinion about him.

"It's an American thing," she said. "We get wrapped up in our own issues and politics (so) that we don't look at what's happening around the world."