Two 乐播传媒 students have been awarded 2026 Davis Projects for Peace grants to carry out individual humanitarian projects 鈥� one focused on expanding economic opportunities for women, and the other on safe menstrual waste disposal.

The grantees, Angel Guitcha 鈥�27 of Accra, Ghana, and Vyshu Viju 鈥�26 of Atlanta, will each receive $10,000 to complete projects in Ghana and India, respectively, this summer. Projects for Peace, which is based at Middlebury College, is funding 142 projects in 2026, taking place across 59 countries and seven U.S. states. 

Since its inception in 2007, Projects for Peace has funded more than 2,200 projects. The organization鈥檚 goal is to support student-led, community-centered, and scalable projects addressing pressing issues 鈥� anywhere in the world. To develop their projects, 乐播传媒 students work closely with staff from the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, including Daphne Comeau, associate director for center operations and Davis Partners for Peace campus liaison, and Director of the Harward Center Darby Ray.

Last summer, 2025 Projects for Peace grantee Axelle Tougouma 鈥�27 of Fada N鈥橤ourma, Burkina Faso, led the installation of an irrigation system and agricultural training for women refugees from Burkina Faso living in Ouangolodougou, Ivory Coast. 

Tougouma aimed to create an agricultural system through which refugee women could not only improve their food security but also support themselves financially. She led the three-month-long project virtually while also completing an internship in Boston. 

鈥淚t was definitely fulfilling,鈥� Tougouma says. 鈥淚t also made me realize that the small action we do can also contribute in solving problems. Because sometimes when I sit down and I read news about my country, about terrorism attacks, and [I see] those millions of people being displaced, I wonder, being abroad and not living in that situation, how can I give back to my community?鈥� 

Tougouma hired an engineer to install the irrigation system, identified teachers to lead agricultural lessons, and gave financial literacy classes via WhatsApp. While managing the $10,000 project budget, she leaned on what she鈥檚 learned at 乐播传媒 as an economics major and math minor.

鈥淲e really needed to maximize our budget at some points, and that required giving up on some things,鈥� Tougouma says.

Since the project鈥檚 conclusion, Tougouma has remained in contact with the refugee women 鈥� as has the irrigation engineer, who has offered ongoing consultation free-of-charge 鈥� and plans to pursue other grant and funding opportunities to continue her work in Ouangolodougou.

鈥淸We are] making sure that they feel like we are still supporting them, and this is something that we really care about,鈥� Tougouma says. 鈥淲e are definitely ready to step in if other opportunities open up.鈥�

2026 Davis grantee Angel Guitcha applied for Projects for Peace after learning about the opportunity from Tougouma. She will be completing her project, 鈥淜ayayei Artisan Initiative: Economic Empowerment for Women in Accra,鈥� in Ghana, which borders both Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.听

In Accra, Ghana鈥檚 capital city, tens of thousands of women workers called 鈥渒ayayei鈥� make their living as porters, carrying heavy loads of market items in large baskets atop their heads. When Guitcha was growing up in Accra, she met a girl working as a kayayoo. The girl was desperate to earn a living after a rape made her a mother at only 12. Her circumstances were not unusual; many kayayei work for as little as a few dollars a day in unsafe labor conditions, sleeping on the streets where they are vulnerable to gender-based violence.

Talking with the girl, Guitcha became determined to organize a project to improve kayayei鈥檚 quality of life. 

鈥淭hat conversation sort of radicalized me. 鈥� That was a very difficult conversation to have with someone at that age,鈥� Guitcha says.

Guitcha will return to Accra this summer to coordinate a six-week workshop on craftsmanship skills for 50 kayayei, with the goal of fostering autonomy and economic empowerment. Women will learn how to make beaded jewelry and embellish Kente clothing, then how to sew reusable menstrual pads with fabric leftover from textile companies. In addition to teaching the women how to create products they can sell and keeping discarded fabric out of landfills, the workshop will also make it easier for the women to take care of their menstrual health, which they often don鈥檛 have the money or time to properly maintain. 

At the end of the workshop, Guitcha will host a graduation ceremony, during which the women will be able to sell the products they鈥檝e made.

鈥淚’m hoping that they leave their workshops feeling more empowered and more in control of their lives,鈥� Guitcha says.

Guitcha, a biochemistry major with a math minor, volunteers regularly in the Lewiston community through the Harward Center and at St. Mary鈥檚 Hospital. She plans to attend medical school.

鈥淚’m very passionate about community service,鈥� Guitcha says. 

Davis grantee Vyshu Viju will head to India this summer for her project 鈥淪ustainable Cycles: Integrating Hygiene Equity and Waste Sovereignty in Chelannur,鈥� which aims to improve access to menstrual waste disposal by installing trash incinerators specifically for menstrual waste.

The town of Chelannur, where Viju鈥檚 grandparents live, is known for its excellent trash management system. However, menstrual product waste is excluded from regular trash pickup because of health safety concerns. Residents are instead expected to dispose of it at a site two hours away, but many residents burn their menstrual waste at home, Viju says, which causes pollution.

鈥淭hey’re supposed to collect [their menstrual waste] for two to three months and then throw it away,鈥� Viju says. 鈥淏ut most people just find that to be a lot of work, and it just takes up too much of their time.鈥�

Viju and her grandparents will together work to secure government approval for the incinerators, then purchase and install them around Chelannur. 

鈥淚’m hoping it decreases pollution and creates a more sustainable pathway in the way that trash is done,鈥� Viju says. The incinerators鈥� emissions from burning waste could also be harvested as an energy source, she says. 

Viju has long been passionate about issues related to reproductive justice and access; she volunteers with Maine Family Planning as a Harward Center Bonner Leader and hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroendocrinology. She thought up the idea for the incinerators in conjunction with her grandmother, who is involved in a local feminist group called Kudumbashree.

Staff at the Harward Center were instrumental in helping the project come together, Viju says, including Comeau and Ray, along with Ellen Alcorn, associate director of community-engaged learning and director of student leadership programs, who initially connected Viju with Maine Family Planning.

Viju has also learned a lot about waste management while working as a landscape assistant with 乐播传媒 Facility Services, specifically from 乐播传媒 grounds and maintenance workers Amy Ray and Ian Brownlie.

鈥淭hat’s been a very meaningful part of my 乐播传媒 experience, and I think it very much inspired this project,鈥� Viju says.

Both Projects for Peace are scheduled to be completed by September.

Supported by a $10,000 grant from the Davis Projects for Peace program, Axelle Tougouma 鈥�27 of Fada N’Gourma, Burkina Faso, will pursue a solar-powered irrigation system and deliver agricultural training for Burkinab茅 women refugees in Ivory Coast, aiming to combat food insecurity and foster economic independence.

Each year, Projects for Peace provides funding to 125 or more student leaders to implement innovative, community-centered, and scalable responses to the world鈥檚 most pressing issues.

Tougouma鈥檚 project supports women refugees living in Ouangolodougou, an Ivory Coast city 18 miles from the border of Burkina Faso, a conflict-ridden country in recent years.

Millions of Burkinab猫, mostly women and children, have been displaced within their country, and nearly 190,000 people have sought refuge in neighboring countries, according to the UN Refugee Agency. Tougouma鈥檚 own father, who owns a business selling agricultural inputs, had to relocate his farm due to the conflict.

Tougouma鈥檚 irrigation project seeks to support and empower Burkinab茅 women in Ouangolodougou as they deal with economic hardship and food insecurity. But, she says, 鈥測ou cannot just build an irrigation system. You need to study the soil so that you implement the best system that works with the kind of culture they have and also the kind of crops they are willing to have in the future.鈥�

Once installed, the system will provide the women of Ouangolodougou with access to water and the ability to more efficiently grow food, both as a means of subsistence and a source of revenue. 鈥淎 system of irrigation provides the opportunity to those women to have constant activities going on instead of waiting for the rainy season,鈥� says Tougouma.

Working remotely over the summer, Tougouma will guide her project partners in the region, including an agricultural engineer based in Burkina Faso who is leading the irrigation system build-out, scheduled to be completed by August. 

鈥淢y way to contribute to peace is through humanitarian action.鈥�

Ultimately, Tougouma hopes her project creates a more resilient community. 鈥淢y vision is just empowering the whole community and giving that financial autonomy to those women so that they can thrive, the family can thrive, the children can thrive.鈥�

At 乐播传媒, Tougouma, who is a double major in mathematics and economics, has learned to combine her analytical skills with her passion for community service and engagement. In Assistant Professor of Economics Kyle Coombs鈥� 鈥淒ata Science for Economists鈥� course, for example, Tougouma learned to apply her economical knowledge to a real-world community engagement project completed in conjunction with the city of Lewiston.

鈥溊植ゴ� gives you that opportunity to explore community services through your major,鈥� Tougouma says. 

In 2023, through a United World College GoMakeADifference grant, Tougouma worked with an organization that employs internally-displaced women in Burkina Faso in soap-making jobs. In 2022, she co-led a project that provided displaced women and children with essential goods, mental health activities, and skills training, such as crocheting and soap-making.

鈥淢y way to contribute to peace is through humanitarian action.鈥�

This edition of recent 乐播传媒 mentions in the news media includes an alumnus whose high-tech investigative talents help to uncover humanitarian crises, the hopeful legacy of a 1951 乐播传媒 tragedy, and a new novel by bestselling author Lisa Genova ’92 exploring bipolar disorder.

Jack Sapoch ’18

Border drownings rose as migrants rushed to cross and Texas clamped down 鈥� The Washington Post

Jack Sapoch ’18 contributed his distinct area of investigative expertise to a Washington Post exclusive on , where far more people have died while attempting the treacherous crossing than has been reported by U.S. and Mexican authorities.

Sapoch played a key role in uncovering data discrepancies and mapping migrant deaths along the Rio Grande, revealing that at least 1,107 people drowned between 2017 and 2023 鈥攈undreds more than reported by U.S. and Mexican authorities.

The investigation also sheds light on how intensified border security measures, like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott鈥檚 Operation Lone Star, have pushed migrants into more dangerous crossing areas, leading to a spike in fatalities.

Sapoch is an open-source intelligence investigator with Lighthouse Reports, specializing in visual and 3D reconstruction techniques. Employing advanced visual forensics and open-source methodologies, he and his team analyze and reconstruct events related to humanitarian crises, particularly those involving border violence and migrant tragedies.

Alexandria Onuoha 鈥�20

Harnessing Black girl joy as a force for change 鈥� TEDx

In her recent TEDx talk, Alexandria Onuoha 鈥�20 spoke about the importance of Black girl joy as a transformative force for civil discourse and social change.

In her talk, 鈥淲e Just Do: The Transformative Power of Black Girl Joy,鈥� Onuoha shared personal stories and research about how Black girls cultivate joy amid systemic oppression. 鈥淛oy is not necessarily about happiness. It鈥檚 a choice to withstand difficulty and a tool for collective healing,鈥� she said.

Drawing from her academic work on misogynoir and developmental strategies for Black girls, Onuoha highlighted how joy acts as a radical form of resistance and a catalyst for community building.

Onuoha, who is a doctoral candidate in applied developmental psychology at Suffolk University, is conducting research examining how psychosocial well-being is impacted by a person鈥檚 environment. Joy can help: 鈥淲hen we reclaim joy as a transformative power, our worlds become different.”

Tom Whalen ’86

Sports and politics collide in BU prof鈥檚 new book about 1984 Boston Celtics 鈥� BU Today

BU Today interviewed Tom Whalen 鈥�86, a Boston University associate professor of social sciences, about his newest book, .

鈥淭his is autobiographical in many ways,” said Whalen, who grew up in Beverly, Mass. “The Celtics were a really important part of my life growing up. 鈥淚 talk about scoring a press pass covering a Celtics game for my high school newspaper. I got to interview Larry Bird as a rookie.鈥�

Sports and politics intersect in Dynasty Restored, as Whalen talks about emergence of Reagan-era politics and the rise of Donald Trump in the 1980s.

In some ways, Whalen says, “the political world of the 1980s never ended. Even Bill Clinton was more Reagan than Reagan. We haven鈥檛 abandoned that era of certain policies… giving businesses freedom and downplaying regulation. Government鈥檚 role has shrunk. Clinton said big government鈥檚 days are over. He was right.”

Scott Allen 鈥�84

The Book Awards at IPNE announces 2024 Award Winners 鈥� Independent Publishers of New England

Dr. Scott Allen 鈥�84 received a bronze award in narrative nonfiction at the 2024 Independent Publishers of New England (IPNE) Book Awards .

The memoir recounts Allen’s journey as a teenager as he navigated his recovery from a life-altering burn injury and decision to run away from home, to Cambodia in 1980, during the aftermath of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.

In 2006, Allen’s first-person essay in 乐播传媒 Magazine was his initial effort to narrate the profound experiences that eventually became the foundation of his memoir.

In his memoir, Allen delves deeper into the emotional and physical recovery from his own trauma, his coming-of-age journey to Cambodia to support refugees, and the difficult aftermath of that formative experience.

A physician, Allen’s career has focused on the intersection of medicine and human rights. In 2019 he and a recognizing his and others’ efforts on behalf of families in U.S. immigration detention.

William Searls ’52

New Year’s Eve gala honors legacy of William Searls and raises funds for local student scholarships 鈥� Bar Harbor Story

An article in the describes the legacy of William Searls ’52, who died in a car accident in 1951.

On Dec. 23, 1951, Searls was hitchhiking to his home in Southwest Harbor, Maine, for the holidays when the car that picked him up rolled over near Ellsworth. A chemistry major, Searls had been in Boston earlier in the day setting up a post-graduate fellowship at MIT.

“Searls was a brilliant student, a kind person who went out of his way to help others,” writes Jones.

More than 70 years later, a permanent college scholarship created in Searls’ memory continues to help “local students become smarter, more educated, and given them the chance to pursue their own dreams,” writes Jones.

In spring 1952, 乐播传媒 granted Searls a posthumous bachelor’s degree. The 1952 Mirror yearbook was dedicated to his memory. “He lived as full a life in a short span as many people do in a much longer time,” wrote classmate Ruth Russell in a 乐播传媒 Student editorial.

Jason Hall ’97

Columbus Partnership finds its new CEO in St. Louis 鈥� The Columbus Dispatch

Jason Hall 鈥�97 is the reports The Columbus Dispatch. Described as “the region’s premier business organization,” the non-profit Partnership is a member-based coalition composed of more than 82 leaders from the Columbus area.

Hall, an entrepreneur with extensive experience in both law and business, is focused on leveraging the Partnership’s resources to make Columbus’ economic benefits more inclusive.

“How do we ensure that the prosperity we create is truly accessible to all?” asks Hall in the story.

Previously, Hall was CEO of Greater St. Louis Inc., an economic development agency composed of five business organizations, including Arch to Park, which he founded. The Dispatch noted that Hall was the first openly LGBT person to hold a cabinet-level position in Missouri when he served as director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

Rachel Ferrante ’10

History and culture museum begins work on a new home in Lewiston 鈥� Lewiston Sun Journal

The Lewiston Sun Journal interviewed Rachel Ferrante 鈥�10, the executive director of the Maine Museum of Innovation, Learning and Labor (Maine MILL) .

Under Ferrante鈥檚 leadership, Maine MILL, long housed in the 乐播传媒 Mill Complex, is nearing its goal of securing a new home in the historic but long-unused Camden Yarns Mill. The redesigned 22,000-square-foot facility will house classrooms, a children鈥檚 area, a design lab, offices, and expanded galleries for both permanent and temporary exhibits.

鈥淚t puts everything we need in one space,鈥� Ferrante told the Sun Journal, emphasizing the project鈥檚 goal to create an accessible and engaging environment for visitors of all ages.

The museum will host a groundbreaking ceremony in the spring, with plans to open the new building in summer 2026.

Lisa Genova ’92

She wrote a modern classic about Alzheimer鈥檚. Now Lisa Genova tackles bipolar disorder in 鈥楳ore or Less Maddy鈥� 鈥� Toronto Star

Bestselling author Lisa Genova ’92 spoke to about her sixth novel, More or Less Maddy, which tells the story of Maddy, a college student diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

As told by Genova, the student’s life “becomes a crisis of identity,鈥� referring to Maddy’s battle to reconcile her sense of self with her diagnosis.

Genova, who received an honorary degree from 乐播传媒 in 2016, is known for novels, like her breakout debut, Still Alive, that explore mysteries of the human brain, or as she says, “everything from the neck up.”

But this is Genova’s first to focus what’s typically framed as a mental illness, as opposed to a physical disorder, such as ASL or Alzheimer’s.

鈥淚 had the sense that a lot has been written about depression and more people are comfortable talking about depression in 2025,” she told Govani. “But bipolar hadn鈥檛 been tackled as much.鈥�

John Miley ’08

How AI will impact our lives in 2025 and beyond 鈥� Kiplinger

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly present in daily life, John Miley 鈥�08, a senior associate editor at The Kiplinger Letter, weighed in on on our world.

There’s explosive growth in AI spending, with tech giants like Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft expected to invest over $300 billion by 2025.

Miley notes that AI is already reshaping sectors 鈥� enabling applications from autonomous virtual assistants to AI-driven healthcare tools 鈥� and warns of potential pitfalls such as data privacy risks, misinformation, and the massive energy consumption of data centers.

鈥淭he pressing risk for society is how humans decide to use powerful AI,鈥� Miley notes.

Looking out at the audience gathered in Gomes Chapel on Monday morning, Erica Chenoweth, an expert on nonviolent protest and this year鈥檚 Martin Luther King Jr. keynote speaker, piqued the audience鈥檚 interest by saying they could easily mount a big, DIY nonviolent protest that very evening. 

鈥淟et鈥檚 say we all got on social media and said we are organizing a mass demonstration tonight in, say, Portland, and we said, 鈥楤e there or be square,鈥� and we had a couple of fun little slogans. I kid you not: We could get 10,000 people to do it, just like that.鈥�

Yet the ease of creating such a protest, said Chenoweth, is partly why nonviolent movements around the world are achieving less success than ever: Organizers are embracing easy tactics instead of doing the hard work that marked the successes championed by King and his mentor, the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Mays, 乐播传媒 Class of 1920.

At 乐播传媒, MLK Day can be retrospective, as in 1999, when the writer John Edgar Wideman gave a heartbreaking address, 鈥淟ooking for Emmett Till,鈥� about the infamous and haunting black-and-white photograph of Till, a boy who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955, lying in his casket. 

Other times, MLK Day at 乐播传媒 responds to the 鈥渇ierce urgency of now,鈥� as King said, such as in 1991, when the 乐播传媒 faculty voted to cancel classes and hold a day of discussion about the war in Iraq, which had broken out five days earlier. 

That pivotal moment in 乐播传媒鈥� MLK Day history was highlighted by 乐播传媒 Student Government co-president Dhruv Chandra ’25 of Kolkata, India, who, with co-president Ethan Chan 鈥�25 of Westborough, Mass., offered a welcome that framed this year鈥檚 keynote as a 鈥渘ow鈥� moment.

“Today we find ourselves navigating similar complexities in a world still fraught with conflict, war, and social injustice,鈥� Chandra said. 鈥淭he values Dr. King championed 鈥� peace, nonviolence, and justice 鈥� are more relevant than ever.”

With a presidential inauguration occurring nearly simultaneously in Washington, D.C., the 2025 MLK Day keynote was here and now. Speaking from the Gomes pulpit, President Garry W. Jenkins addressed the elephant in the room in his opening remarks.

鈥淲e all know how contentious the recent presidential election cycle was. We all remember Jan. 6, 2021. We know that such transitions can be disorderly and even violent. We all, whatever our leanings, understand that these are uncertain times, to be sure. There’s ample anxiety about what’s to come [and] potential changes that may be faced in this context.鈥�

Jenkins invoked the words of Benjamin Mays, Class of 1920, who delivered the final eulogy for Martin Luther King Jr. at Morehouse College on April 9, 1968. Mays said that King 鈥済ave people an ethical and moral way to engage in activities designed to perfect social change without bloodshed and violence.鈥�

And as the U.S. confronts potentially divisive new policies under a new administration, Jenkins encouraged 乐播传媒 to embrace Mays’ and King’s ideas, modeling civil discourse while honoring diverse perspectives.

In light of potential policy shifts that could challenge higher education, Jenkins reaffirmed 乐播传媒鈥� responsibility to learning and civic responsibility. “We will defend to the fullest of our abilities the importance and power of higher education. This may not always be easy work, but it is essential work. It is what Dr. King and Dr. Mays call upon us to do.”

Chenoweth was introduced by Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Tyler Harper, who chairs the college鈥檚 Martin Luther King Jr. Planning Committee. 

Harper linked Chenoweth鈥檚 work on the promise of nonviolent action to H.G. Wells, who, shortly before his death in 1946, predicted 鈥渢hat humanity could not be trusted with nuclear power, that were the atom bomb ever invented, full-scale nuclear war would be inevitable in the near term.”

Yet, 鈥渘early eight decades have passed since nuclear weapons were invented, and they have never again been used in combat,鈥� said Harper. 鈥淭he worst did not come to pass. Humanity proved more capable of restraint than imagined.”

That restrain, that possibility, of “peace and specifically peace through justice and nonviolence, our keynote speaker Erica Chenoweth has devoted their life to studying.”

In their keynote, Chenoweth, who is a professor at Harvard University, shared findings from their book project, The End of People Power. Chenoweth鈥檚 other books include 2011鈥檚 Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, with Maria Stephan.

Beginning with Mahatma Gandhi and his followers, who successfully kicked the British out of India, and on to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, nonviolent protest has had a good run by relying on training, strategy, discipline, and organization. 

鈥淏asically, we’ve lived through what you might call 鈥楪andhi’s century,鈥欌�� said Chenoweth, noting that Gandhi began articulating and experimenting with methods of organized, collective, nonviolent action in the 1920s, which would spread around the world, including to the U.S., thanks to Martin Luther King, in service of desegregation and dismantling Jim Crow.

Since the early 1900s, nonviolent movements have succeeded more than twice as often as the violent ones, Chenoweth said. 鈥淥n the face of it, [that] gives a lot of credit to King’s argument that there is a realistic alternative to violence, even for revolutionary goals.鈥�

They succeeded through large, inclusive participation, strategic planning, and disciplined resistance. And they use diverse tactics. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 just stick to a single technique like protest or marches.鈥� 

But in the last decade, even as the tactics of nonviolent protest have been embraced in historically large numbers (think of those images of mass protests in Myanmar or Belarus), 鈥渨e have seen a historic decline in their effectiveness,鈥� said Chenoweth. 鈥淲e are now basically to pre-Gandhi levels of the success of unarmed collective action.鈥�

(Chenoweth defines success of a 鈥渕aximalist鈥� campaign as ousting an authoritarian leader or achieving a revolutionary goal within a year, and recent research indicates that the findings are likely also to apply more narrowly, to protests over policy issues.) 

So, organizers, listen up about why protest success is slumping:

Authoritarian regimes are learning and adapting

Autocrats have learned from the successes of past nonviolent movements and developed strategies to counter them. “Many different dictators no longer take for granted that they can just ignore these movements or expect to politically survive in the face of them,鈥� Chenoweth said. 

Autocrats use tactics like narrative control, delegating violence to unidentifiable actors, selective repression, and counter-mobilization. And they share the playbook with other autocratic regimes.

“It’s a very well-worn toolkit,” said Chenoweth, that “blames a movement on outsiders or foreigners, mischaracterizing people who engage in nonviolent resistance as terrorists or coup plotters or traitors.”

Decline in 鈥渄efections鈥�

To succeed, a movement needs defections from key pillars of society, like security forces, which are crucial for the success of movements. 

For example, mass protests led to the toppling of Slobodan Milo拧evi膰 in October 2000. Importantly, those large protests undermined the loyalty of Milo拧evi膰鈥檚 police force. Interviewed afterward about why they didn鈥檛 follow one order to shoot live fire on the demonstrators to disperse them, the police said things like, 鈥淚 thought I saw my kid in the crowd,鈥� or 鈥淚 thought I saw wife’s brother,鈥� or 鈥淚 thought I saw the guy who sells me liquor on Saturdays.鈥�

In other words, Chenoweth said, 鈥渁 very large and diverse participation [in protests] activates all kinds of loyalty questions that can prove politically very powerful.鈥�

But today鈥檚 regimes 鈥渉ave figured out how to proof themselves against consequential defections in ways that movements haven’t fully grappled with.鈥� What movements might do, said Chenoweth, is be more strategic. Do homework. Get some intel. Find out which of the pillars, 鈥渨hether they’re business elites or state media or security forces, are already a little shaky in their loyalty, and go for them first, and that activates the cascade of defections.鈥�

Over-reliance on mass demonstrations

As noted earlier, movements today are choosing to pick the 鈥渓ow-hanging fruit鈥� of the nonviolence orchard, neglecting deeper preparation or strategy, or another tactic altogether that might not be photo-friendly.

鈥淚f we are in an Instagram world, what could be cooler than 鈥� Yet tactics like a stay-at-home action might be just as effective, 鈥渂ut people don’t know what they’re looking at when they look at a photo of an empty marketplace in Kashmir. I’m sure that it took them longer to prepare for and to execute the stay-at-home demonstration and a general strike than it does for us to whip up a mass demonstration.鈥� 

Today鈥檚 movements 鈥渕ight be missing out on some of the real political power that can be built and developed by basically training, preparing, thinking about a strategy of impacting those pillars and then organizing tactics to match the strategy.鈥�

Lack of training and preparation

Movements today often lack the organizational foundations and training in nonviolent resistance seen in past successful movements. 

“Maybe movements today haven’t had the deep civil society organizational basis and the preparation that movements like the civil rights movement and the noncooperation movement in India spent years developing before they ever mobilized.”

Smaller average participation

Movements today tend to mobilize smaller proportions of the population compared to earlier successful movements.

鈥淢ovements in the 1990s and the 1980s [had] some of the biggest movements…. 3 to 5 percent of the population participated in these mass movements. Now we’re more down to the average campaign getting about 1 percent.鈥�

During the audience Q&A, a student said that he was struck by a scene in Fantastic Mr. Fox, when the minor character Petey adopts a revolutionary tone yet remains loyal to the farmers, helping them dig out the foxes. 鈥淭hat’s a little bit what I feel like sometimes when I’m rallying against the machine [yet] do all these things that support all the institutions in power.鈥�

When you feel complicit in something or otherwise struggling to go along, you have three choices, Chenoweth said, referencing Albert Hirschman鈥檚 book Exit, Voice, and Loyalty.  鈥淥ne is exit, which is just get out of there and go do what you want to do. The second is voice, which is protest, and the third is loyalty, which is basically just acquiescing and going along.鈥�

Each person must make their own choice, each person must 鈥渆xamine your values, where your heart is, and your future aspirations. Be real with yourself. Write down what you鈥檙e trying to achieve in the world and how you are going to behave and not behave in order to live your values.鈥�

With the help of friends, advisers, and mentors, Chenoweth wrote their own personal ethical code, as a way to live their values.

While Chenoweth wasn鈥檛 trying to be directive, 鈥渢here are reference points for the values that we might align to. And those are things like or the and the incredible aspirations defined in it, which inspired even the civil rights movement in making the claim that all people are equal in the eyes of God.鈥�

Ultimately, Chenoweth noted, 鈥淚 spent a lot of time working with and for people who are involved in the very movements that I study. They inspire me and give me a lot of hope.鈥�

Wearing an apron and standing at a lectern beside a table full of mixing bowls and vegetables, Bryant Terry showed the crowd gathered in Gomes Chapel on Martin Luther King Jr. Day just how communal, joyful, and personal food is to him by opening his keynote address with a soulful rendition of the song his grandmother sang while cooking in her kitchen in Memphis, Tenn.

鈥淕lory, glory. Hallelujah. When I lay my burden down, burden down. No more Monday, no more Tuesday, when I lay my burden down,鈥� Terry sang.

An artist, author, activist, and award-winning chef, Terry delivered the 乐播传媒 MLK Day keynote address on Monday, tying together the problem of food injustice today with the history of Martin Luther King Jr.鈥檚 fight against systemic racism during the Civil Rights Movement more than 60 years ago. Along the way, Terry spiced his talk with personal stories and, as a dessert of sorts, ended his presentation with a live cooking demonstration of one of his vegan recipes.

President Garry W. Jenkins first greeted the more than 200 gathered at the observance, explaining that while this year鈥檚 乐播传媒 MLK Day theme of food justice is a modern-day concern, it is one of many injustices King fought to correct before his life was cut short.

鈥淒r. King himself was explicitly focused on the issue of food justice,鈥� Jenkins said. 鈥淪peaking in Montgomery, Ala., in 1965 he said, 鈥楲et us march on poverty until no American parent has to skip a meal so that their child may eat.鈥欌��

Offering further evidence how King raised awareness about the stark inequalities in the American food system, Jenkins quoted from King鈥檚 1960 speech at Spelman College where King said: 鈥淚 do believe that in America we must use our vast resources of wealth to bridge the gulf between abject, deadening poverty, and superfluous inordinate wealth.鈥�

Phoebe Stern 鈥�24 of Nashville, Tenn., one of  the student representatives on the 乐播传媒 MLK Day planning committee, briefly spoke about the prevalent inequalities in food systems today. And Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Tyler Harper, the committee鈥檚 co-chair, thanked the committee for its work and reinforced the connection between King and food justice. 

Describing King鈥檚 speech from when he accepted the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, Harper noted the continuing relevance of King鈥檚 message, that 鈥渆ven as our politics feel fraught and perhaps broken, we must not lose sight of the most basic political question of who has food and who does not.鈥�

Then after the MLK Day Keynote speaker greeted the crowd with his grandma鈥檚 song, Terry shared with energy, humor, and personal anecdotes how his life鈥檚 work came to focus on the fight for healthier, more equitable, and more sustainable food systems. 

The James Beard Award鈥搘inning chef added with some mirth that in his early days as a food justice activist he was 鈥渢he most self-righteous, dogmatic, judgmental, vegan that you鈥檝e ever encountered.

鈥淚 don’t know if you guys have ever dealt with someone who has a vegan diet, and they are the most self-righteous, finger wagging nanny. That was me, and I apologized to my parents almost every week for putting them through hell for several years because of my zeal.鈥� 

On a more serious note, Terry explained how, just as King did, he came to champion the idea that healthy food should be a fundamental human right. The fact that marginalized communities in the United States have less access to healthy, more sustainable food systems, he said, has resulted in food apartheid in our country.

Terry explained that he specifically chose the term 鈥渇ood apartheid鈥� rather than the more familiar term 鈥渇ood desert.鈥� 

鈥淭he word desert almost makes these 鈥渆conomic, physical, geographic barriers that many communities face seem natural. But 鈥榝ood apartheid鈥� refers to the systemic and structural inequalities in the food system resulting in some communities having limited access to healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate food while others have more abundant access,鈥� he said.

His love of cooking came from his grandparents in Memphis, Tenn., who Terry said used their example of scratch baking and farming to teach him the ideals of 鈥渟elf-determination, practice of generosity, community care and the mutual aid to meet the immediate needs of neighbors and the wider community.鈥� These early life lessons instilled in him a desire for healthier food systems. 

View the full Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote gathering in Gomes Chapel on Jan. 15, 2024:

鈥淢y maternal grandmother kept a cupboard in her kitchen that was about 7 feet tall and a foot deep,鈥� he said. 鈥淓ach shelf crowded with glass jars full of preserves, pickle, pears, peaches, carrots and green beans, figs, blackberry jam, sauerkraut, and her not to be forgotten: chow, chow 鈥� cabbage, onions, peppers, chopped finely cooked for about five hours and served as a relish along with leafy greens such as collards, mustards, turnips, kale, dandelions. Listen, my grandmother could work magic in the kitchen.鈥�

His activism took root in culinary school in New York City, at the Natural Gourmet Institute, where he worked to empower young people in neighborhoods affected by food apartheid by teaching them culinary skills and training them in advocacy work. 鈥淥ur aim was to empower these youth to resist the influence of these corporations and make healthier choices,鈥� Terry said. 

Around 2001, Terry said he started advocating more strongly for food justice within marginalized communities after he first attended gatherings aimed at addressing the problem and looked around at those attending.

“These gatherings were predominantly attended by privileged white people, and those who suffered the most from our flawed food system were often absent from the discussions.” He also noticed educational and class biases within the gatherings, and felt those impacted the most by injustices in food systems should have been leading the discussions.

“The conversations often initiated with discussions of public policy and high level intellectual concepts, yet they lack the essential elements of art, culture and a focus on community,” Terry said.

His journey in activism at that time spawned his personal mantra 鈥� that he repeats to this day: 鈥淪tart with the visceral to ignite the cerebral and end with the political.鈥�

While he found inspiration everywhere 鈥�  in art, music, and literature, including some of the hip hop music he played for those gathered in Gomes 鈥� Terry said that two creative works, published 85 years apart, inspired his path forward. One was Upton Sinclair鈥檚 expose of the Chicago meat-packing industry, The Jungle. The other was 鈥淏eef鈥� by Boogie Down Productions and KRS-One in 1990. 

鈥淪urprisingly, it wasn’t a scholarly monograph or a lofty intellectual lecture that profoundly reshaped my habits, attitudes, and political views concerning food. It was a song and a novel,鈥� Terry said.

While a graduate student at New York University in the early 2000s, Terry researched the 鈥渕ethods of resistance employed by the Black working class in the 20th century to combat capitalism and white supremacy,鈥� such as protests and slowdowns in work places that were used as forms of resistance.

Yet, Terry said, he came to advocate for food justice by embracing a simpler approach, such as foraging, cooking, and breaking bread together.

鈥淲hile the food justice movement engages in organized forms of resistance, I believe it鈥檚 equally vital to recognize and celebrate seemingly apolitical acts such as growing food, preparing meals from scratch, and fostering community around our dining tables as profoundly political, dare I say, radical acts of resistance,鈥� Terry said. 鈥淚 celebrate these everyday acts of resistance and view them as accessible entry points into the food justice movement for everyday people.鈥�

Terry closed his keynote address demonstrating his most favorite everyday act of resistance to food apartheid: A 25-minute cooking demonstration in which he encouraged novices, assuaged cooking fears, and served up humorous stories about spices, tofu, and the pleasure of a communal feast.

When he finished preparing the curry dish from his Afro-Vegan cookbook, Terry thanked the 乐播传媒 crowd for joining him on his 鈥渋ntellectual and creative journey,鈥� Then he asked those gathered to consider finding their own accessible entry points to the fight for food justice.

鈥淚 think whatever talents and skills we could bring to bring us to a tipping point, we should bring those,鈥� Terry said. 鈥淵ou need chefs, you need designers, you need scholars, you need journalists. We need all hands on deck to really work toward what I would argue is one of the most important movements of the 21st century.鈥�

His closing remarks were met with a rousing standing ovation from the Gomes audience.

Associate Dean for International Student Programs James Reese closed the keynote asking the crowd to thank Terry again and encouraging them to go forth and enjoy the day full of workshops, and, importantly, bear in mind that King was mentored by one of 乐播传媒鈥� own: the Rev. Benjamin Elijah Mays 鈥�20, longtime president of Morehouse College, and remembered as 鈥渢he schoolmaster鈥� of the Civil Rights Movement.

Scholars, senators, activists, and authors have delivered stirring words from the Gomes Chapel pulpit as part of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote at 乐播传媒.

This year鈥檚 keynote promises stirring words 鈥� and more. Noted author, food justice activist, and James Beard Award-winning chef Bryant Terry plans to stir up a vegan dish featured in one of his acclaimed cookbooks.

Noted both for his culinary skills as well as his exploration into the intersections between poverty, structural racism, and food insecurity, Terry will offer this year鈥檚 keynote session in Gomes Chapel on Monday, Jan. 15. The gathering begins at 9 a.m. and will also feature welcoming remarks by 乐播传媒 President Garry W. Jenkins.

For this year鈥檚 distinctive pulpit-to-platter presentation 鈥� kicking off the 2024 MLK Day theme of Food Justice 鈥� Terry draws from a recipe from his 2014 book, Afro-Vegan, which reimagines various dishes of the African diaspora. He鈥檒l work from a cooking station set up in front of the chapel鈥檚 transept, using ingredients provided by Dining Services, including tofu, mustard greens, chopped tomatoes, and lots of different spices.

Terry鈥檚 most recent book, 2021’s Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes From Across The African Diaspora pays tribute to Black culinary ingenuity and explores the shared culinary histories of the African diaspora. In an interview with NPR, Terry described the cookbook as a “communal shrine” to these shared histories. 

Following the keynote are 18 different MLK Day offerings in various places across the 乐播传媒 campus, plus one off-campus field trip to a local compost facility. Programs range from a virtual-reality experience of Martin Luther King’s March on Washington to discussions on food sovereignty in science fiction, decarbonization, and energy equity that aim to explore the many facets of the theme.

Tickets and Livestream

• Martin Luther King Jr. Day events at 乐播传媒 are open to the public. Unless otherwise noted, all events require tickets. See the complete schedule for ticket links.
• Two events, the keynote (9 a.m. Monday) and the Benjamin Elijah Mays Debate (4:45 p.m. Monday), will be livestreamed on the 乐播传媒 website and on .

Since the early 1990s, MLK Day at 乐播传媒 has provided a platform for the community to engage in discussions, teachings, and reflections on the legacy of the civil rights icon.

Past 乐播传媒 keynote speakers include legal scholar Eleanor Holmes Norton (1990), author John Edgar Wideman (1999), 鈥嬧�媋ctivist and educator Cleveland Sellars (2007), and author, scholar, and activist Angela Davis (2021). Other speakers have shared their memories of King, such as in 2014, when U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, recalled attending the 1963 March on Washington.

About This Year鈥檚 Theme: 鈥楩ood Justice鈥�

Tyler Harper and Justin Moriarty, co-chairs of this years鈥� Martin Luther King Jr. Day Planning Committee, offer their insights into this year鈥檚 theme, Food Justice.

鈥極ur Common Humanity鈥�

鈥淢artin Luther King Jr.鈥檚 vision of justice was rooted in an appeal to our common humanity. Nothing is more basically human than food: growing it, preparing it, sharing it,鈥� said Harper, an assistant professor of environmental studies who has .

鈥淥ur foodways are at once a window into the richness of cultural difference and a bridge that reaches across divides of region, identity, history, and language,鈥� he added.

鈥淏ut in a world racked by environmental calamity, economic inequality, war, and rapid technological change, eating is also inseparable from questions of justice. The MLK Planning Committee chose this year鈥檚 theme not only because it is topical but because food is inherently interpersonal, interdisciplinary, and intercultural. It is a subject that every member of our campus is an expert in, no matter their job, field of knowledge, or place of birth.鈥�

鈥楬ome and family鈥�

鈥淭his year鈥檚 theme has the power to connect us all in deeply personal ways,鈥� said Moriarty, who is a lecturer in theater and technical director of the Department of Theater and Dance.

鈥淢ost of my fondest stories of home and family revolve around food. From growing to preparing to sharing with others, food has a way, like art, to allow each of us to fully experience our unique selves. Our hope as a committee was to choose a theme that provided space for our entire community to find ways to fully and holistically participate in the day鈥檚 events.鈥�

Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024: A prelude to MLK Day

A new offering for 2024 is the MLK Day Spoken Word Festival. Held in Gomes Chapel at 7 p.m. and sponsored and convened by the college鈥檚 multifaith chaplaincy, the event will feature powerful words and uplifting songs celebrating the voices of the movement. The evening鈥檚 special guest is

Earlier on Sunday is a screening and discussion of the film Gather, which follows the stories of Native Americans from four tribes who are on the frontlines of a growing movement to reconnect with spiritual and cultural identities that were devastated by genocide.

Monday, Jan. 15, 2024: Keynote and 18 offerings on MLK Day

On Monday, other morning topics include the challenges in reaching food sovereignty in the Lewiston/Auburn area and the intersection of food and mental health among college students, led by the college鈥檚 Counseling and Psychological Services team.

The afternoon comprises two sessions of workshops. The first offers topics like halal school meals, young Mainers’ efforts for food and climate justice, and a presentation by Alicia Kennedy on food and food justice via Zoom. Led by three 乐播传媒 students, one workshop on 乐播传媒 recycling efforts includes a visit to We Compost It in Auburn.

The second afternoon session includes a film screening and discussion of the documentary Nuh-Mi-Bee-Uhn, which and how arable land is at the heart of conversations today about genocide and its afterlives.

The trailer for the documentary Nuh-Mi-Bee-Uhn:

Another session offers reflections on the definition of Maine food by the editors of the Maine Bicentennial Community Cookbook and the Maine Community Cookbook (vol. 2). The editors will discuss their inclusive vision that honors the food traditions of all people who call Maine their home, and bring to the table four different styles of cornbread whose recipes are included in the Maine community cookbooks: anadama bread, johnnycake, muufo, and creamy cornmeal cake.

At 4:45 p.m., the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays Debate, livestreamed on the 乐播传媒 website and the , brings together student debaters from 乐播传媒 and Morehouse colleges to explore the motion that illegal community farms are a just response to food deserts.

The day wraps up with the annual Sankofa presentation at 7:30 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall. Organized by the Black Student Union, this year鈥檚 event will be presented as a panel discussion.

At the end of November, 顿谩苍颈别濒 Karsai will travel from his home in Budapest, Hungary, to Strasbourg, France, where he expects to have a few days of great fun.

He will see old friends, watch a soccer match between Strasbourg and Marseilles, and dine on good Alsatian food. 

And while there, Karsai, who is a human rights lawyer, will argue a case before the European Court for Human Rights 鈥� with help from a 乐播传媒 faculty member 鈥� that is literally about life and death: whether Karsai has the legal right to end his own life. 

Even that part of his trip 鈥� arguing the case Karsai v. Hungary for his right to die 鈥� will be fun to Karsai, because it means he still can feel alive, still can do what he loves to do.

Karsai has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, an incurable, progressive, and fatal neurological disease that is slowly robbing him of his ability to control his muscles, including his ability to speak. He wants the right to die before he becomes completely incapacitated, stripped of his dignity.

In Hungary, assisted death is a crime, so Karsai is appealing to the ECHR, which will hold a hearing Nov. 27鈥�28. The hearing will be conducted in English, one of the court鈥檚 two official languages, French being the other, so Karsai knew he needed help to deliver his personal statement, both with English words that are difficult for a Hungarian to pronounce and help to contend with how the disease is ravaging his speaking ability.

So he turned to a fellow Hungarian who is a 乐播传媒 faculty member: Kati Vecsey, a senior lecturer in theater, vocal director for all 乐播传媒 theater productions, and a noted speech and language pathologist and therapist. 

A member of the 乐播传媒 faculty since 1996 and currently chair of the Department of Theater and Dance, Vecsey earned a doctorate in developmental and educational psychology from E枚tv枚s L贸r谩nd University in Budapest. 

At 乐播传媒, Vecsey teaches courses, has served as vocal director for well over 100 theater productions, was the long-time adviser of the student Robinson Players theater club, and is widely published in her field. Well known in Hungary for her voice work, she was awarded the Farkas Kempelen Plaque Award from the Hungarian Association of Phonetics, Phoniatrics and Logopedics for research and professional contributions to her field.

Sometimes, the goal of Vecsey鈥檚 voice teaching is to train someone鈥檚 voice toward something different, whether helping a theater student adopt a British accent or helping someone transform their very identity. In the early 2000s, for example, she worked with author and then-Colby professor Jenny Boylan in her transition to becoming a woman by helping Boyle achieve an optimal pitch and varied inflection.

With Karsai, the goal is to help him be the best Daniel Karsai possible, vocally speaking, for as long as possible. 鈥淢y work with Daniel is not different from what I do during voice coaching with actors,鈥� Vecsey says. 鈥淚 work to nurture the confidence and self-reliance 鈥� so vital to create the optimum conditions for spontaneous, truthful, and healthy expression.鈥�

Karsai is no stranger to the European court, having worked there for four years in the mid-2000s, helping to prepare more than 1,000 draft decisions in English and in French. Since 2011, he has run his own law office in Budapest dealing with constitutional law and human rights issues.

For now, Karsai uses a wheelchair but is still able to go to work at his law firm each day. Before his illness, his English was already quite good, in terms of his vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure. But his speech is now slower and slurred due to an ALS-related condition known as dysarthria that Vecsey studied during her training. 

鈥淭he muscles become weak and tight, limiting tongue and/or jaw movement,鈥� she explains. Swallowing is difficult, leading to a build-up of saliva in the mouth, and 鈥渉e has developed hoarseness and sounds more nasal than before his illness.鈥�

As an example of Karsai鈥檚 very good English, here鈥檚 a nearly verbatim text of how Karsai describes the first few months after receiving his ALS diagnosis in August 2021.

鈥淎fter the death sentence, I needed four months to take my s–t together. I’m sorry. Really, the first four months after I received the diagnosis, 25 August last year, I suffer from depression and anxiety, I mean in a medical sense. And with the help of amazing psychiatrist, and the medicines that were necessary, by the end of December, I find back to the light. And then I could restart to live, not just fighting with this situation.鈥�

Neither Vecsey nor Karsai is particularly worried about his accent. 鈥淲e Hungarians have a terrible accent, even if we are not ill,鈥� he jokes. And, he adds, few people who speak before the ECHR are native English speakers. 鈥淵ou hear many accents. So it’s not strange.鈥�

For Hungarians, difficult sounds to pronounce in English words include the W sound in 鈥渨hat鈥� or the TH sound in 鈥渢eeth鈥� or 鈥渢hree,鈥� 鈥渨here you put your tongue between bottom and upper teeth, that鈥檚 a lisp in Hungarian, and you get sent to speech therapy.鈥�

Overcoming an accent is a great challenge, she says, because an accent is integral to a person鈥檚 physiology. Getting rid of one is not the same as putting one on, like Meryl Streep using a Polish accent in Sophie鈥檚 Choice. 

鈥淵our entire mouth develops around the formation of sounds for your primary language,鈥� Vecsey says. 鈥淪o when you learn a second language, you will have difficulty.鈥�

Knowing Karsai鈥檚 voice before ALS is a key concept, says Vecsey. 鈥淭he knowledge of a 鈥榟ealthy voice鈥� is very important because you are not trying to teach a person something new, but what they know but are having difficulty doing.鈥� 

Appearing on a Hungarian talk show four years ago, looking fit, relaxed, and strong, Karsai speaks in a measured and calm voice with subtle inflections. Now, Vecsey is helping him manage pitch, tone, rhythm, and volume. 鈥淵ou can hear that his voice is already strained.鈥�

Using her theatrical chops, Vecsey is also coaching Karsai on his performance. He has appeared before the court several times, and will be reading from a prepared text. 鈥淪o it’s not alien for me,鈥� he says.

鈥淕enerally it’s much harder to think and speak at the same time in a foreign language in a high-tension situation. This hearing is really like in the movies: full courtroom, big media attention,鈥� including a documentary film team from Hungary that is capturing his story. 鈥淎nd so I would say the psychological part is the most difficult one.鈥�

During our interview, Karsai jokes about wearing his jiu jitsu robe to the hearing. Vecsey ran with it, thinking theatrically: Maybe not the robe, she said, but perhaps he could wear his brown belt around his neck.

顿谩苍颈别濒 Karsai appears on a Hungarian talk show four years ago, prior to his ALS diagnosis.

His approach is 鈥減ractice, practice, practice. My sensei, my master, always said that if you can do something with 130 percent perfection in practice, in real-life situation that will be 80 or 100 percent. So this is what I try to achieve, practice as much as possible, and then I can perform well.鈥�

And if he makes a mistake, 鈥淲ho cares? So what? I correct myself and go on. So I should not be afraid of making mistakes. Everybody will think that this is the illness, not my weak English that made the error.鈥� 

To which Vecsey quickly interjects a friendly jab: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e telling me that you’re hiding behind your illness now when it comes to English?!鈥� Indeed, the warmth between the two Hungarians comes through. 鈥淒aniel is a genuinely fine human being: charismatic, compassionate, and great character and integrity. And a fantastic sense of humor.鈥�

Vecsey and Karsai have been meeting on Zoom weekly since summer. (He is also working with two other speech and language pathologists in Hungary.) 鈥淲e have fun conversations, and I try to evaluate his speaking skills, ask questions about what he feels when he speaks, and give him feedback and suggestions.鈥�

鈥淭his public fight gives me strength because I enjoy it. I enjoy this conversation because we are discussing an issue which intellectually gives me passion and strength.”

顿谩苍颈别濒 Karsai

鈥淔un鈥� might not be anyone鈥檚 idea of what Karsai is having these days, but the word comes up more than a few times during our interview. For Karsai, the capacity to still have fun 鈥� to do what he loves doing, to have dignity, to feel purposeful 鈥� is what it means to have a life still worth living. The capacity to have fun is one measuring stick for being human.

And for Karsai the human rights lawyer, mounting a major legal battle against what he feels is an unjust law is a blast. 鈥淭his public fight gives me strength because I enjoy it. I enjoy this conversation because we are discussing an issue which intellectually gives me passion and strength,鈥� he says over Zoom. 鈥淚 even feel much less tired than one hour ago.鈥�

Published on Nov. 20, 2023, this brief video shows 顿谩苍颈别濒 Karsai two years ago during his jiu-jitsu training and brown belt ceremony, and recently as he tries to get up from the ground.

The European Court for Human Rights hears cases brought against its 46 member states for alleged human rights violations, and its rulings are binding and are considered to have a significant impact on the interpretation and application of human rights law in Europe. 

The case Karsai v. Hungary is not complicated. In Hungary, it is a criminal offense to help someone end their life. (In the U.S., 10 states and the District of Columbia allow assisted death, including Maine.) Karsai is asking the court to consider this a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, on which the court bases its rulings. (Currently the 鈥渞ight to a death in dignity .)

What is complex is the court鈥檚 potential judgment. 鈥淎 positive judgment could have different levels,鈥� he explains, since the court is looking at three ways Hungarian law might violate the European Convention. 鈥淗ow far the court goes in the very complex issue of end of life decisions, we don’t know. We will see, and then the Hungarian state has to execute it somehow.鈥� (A decision date is not known; however, the court has thus far granted the case priority.)

Speaking for himself, Karsai says that he would 鈥渂e very happy if we could talk about the concrete measures that the Hungarian state must do after a positive judgment. That would be a huge victory for us. And especially because it is almost sure that there will be other applicants from Hungary, people who are dying but don’t have the time and energy to go to the court because they can barely go to the bathroom.鈥�

Though he will be supported during the hearing by legal colleagues who will help him present the case, Karsai鈥檚 participation is much more than ceremonial. 

“And my firm view is that in this situation, flowing from the right to dignity, everybody should have a right to finish their life in a dignified manner.鈥�

顿谩苍颈别濒 Karsai

鈥淓ven if I’m terminally ill, I can show up and I can give real context to this question. It won’t be a theoretical issue for the court. It will be a living issue,鈥� he says.

鈥淚 always say that this human rights issue concerns 8 billion people on the planet. My personal story shows it very well because two years ago I was a semi-professional sportsman. I did jiu jitsu at a high level; I reached brown belt, which is something, believe me. Now, I can barely go out to the toilet alone, which is five meters from here. 

鈥淚t’s everybody’s problem 鈥� everybody will pass away one day, and it can happen. It can be the situation that happens after an undignified phase of life, which can last even for years. And my firm view is that in this situation, flowing from the right to dignity, everybody should have a right to finish their life in a dignified manner.鈥�

He is clear that he knows where he is now and where he is headed. 鈥淔or the time being I have a happy life, but with big f—ing difficulties,鈥� he says. 

鈥淏ut I have a happy life. But it can disappear. Now I can speak. Maybe in a year I won’t be able to speak at all and I won’t be able to go to a football game because I will be stuck to a bed. I can eat now, but maybe in a year I won’t be able to eat, just through a feeding tube. This is not fun. For the time being, I have a good life and I’m lucky because of that. This is why I say I am not a hero. I receive strength for this and I’m lucky.鈥�

Late on Tuesday afternoon, a 6-year-old girl and her family made their way down Alumni Walk, which had been transformed from a pedestrian walkway into a Halloween paradise by 乐播传媒 students 鈥� with a candy assist from the Red Cross 鈥� as a way to show love for their Lewiston community. 

It had been just six days since the shootings in Lewiston. Pain and worry ruled days and nights. But now, at twilight on a frosty fall day, there could be, and were, smiles everywhere as children and families flocked from the Lewiston community to the 乐播传媒 campus.

On Alumni Walk, as well as around the corner on Bardwell Street and on nearby Frye Street, they were met with an outpouring of emotion, support, and bagfuls of treats from hundreds of 乐播传媒 students who had, on short notice and in response to the tragedy, had tripled the size of a planned community trick-or-treat event for nearby Frye Street.

The smiling little girl, dressed as Cat Noir from the animated TV series Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, was trailed by her mom, Marissa Porter of Auburn, and her grandmother, Jennifer Randall of Lewiston. The young child, said Porter, had been too scared to return to school since the crisis. 鈥淪he has been struggling.鈥� 

Some of her family members are in the military, and the man who committed the shootings was an Army reservist. 鈥淪he鈥檚 scared,鈥� said Randall. 鈥淪he鈥檚 always known military people to be safe.鈥�

Randall watched as 乐播传媒 students greeted her grandchild with great warmth. 鈥淭he way they are engaging with her 鈥� it鈥檚 so important. She needs this. We appreciate this so much.鈥�

Steven Wiles and Evelyn Wiles of Lewiston and Gardiner, respectively, had heard about the 乐播传媒 Halloween event that morning and decided right away to come to campus with their child. After a week that has left everyone frayed and edgy, 鈥溊植ゴ� is the place to go,鈥� he said.

A crowd of 乐播传媒 students happily dance with a trick-or-treater dressed as Wednesday from the Addams Family during the Halloween event held on campus:

Enclosed by some of 乐播传媒’ most iconic buildings, Alumni Walk is only 16 years old, having opened in 2007. From what was once a paved access road running in front of Lane Hall, architects created both a wide campus walkway, connecting the east and west parts of campus, and a community gathering place, with funding from Jack Keiwin 鈥�57 and his wife, Beverly Keigwin. 

As 乐播传媒 News writer Doug Hubley reported at the time, 鈥渇or the pair who made Alumni Walk possible, it’s about the space, but more about the people who will use, enjoy, and ideally find some kind of sustenance there.鈥�

On Tuesday night, sustenance came not only from the surge of sugar treats, but from 乐播传媒 students turning their high-wattage energy toward a community that was hurting, and that they love. 

All along the Walk, 乐播传媒 students gathered with their sports teams, clubs, and organizations 鈥� from the sailing club to The 乐播传媒 Student 鈥� to staff treat stations to welcome the local trick-or-treaters. 

Decked out in their own costumes (such as a lobster, including claws) and with faces brightly painted, the students handed out sweet treats, stickers, and novelties to local children, who, depending on their age, either trundled along on foot, rode in colorful wagons, or were carried on the backs of parents and family members.

Some children were swaddled in fleece blankets, newly received from Red Cross volunteers stationed at the head of Alumni Walk. They provided event support, along with staff from several college offices, including Facilities, Dining and Campus Events, Campus Safety, and the Harward Center for Community Partnerships.

Students cheered for each arriving trick-or-treater, and did dance moves to the music of Halloween standards like 鈥淢onster Mash鈥� and 鈥淭hriller鈥� played from Bluetooth speakers, along with plenty of Taylor Swift, including 鈥淪hake it Off.鈥� 

乐播传媒 President Garry W. Jenkins and his husband, Jon Lee, did a circuit on Alumni Walk with a big wicker basket that was rapidly drained of candy. 鈥淩ather than stay in the [president鈥檚] house,鈥� Jenkins said, 鈥渨e decided, let鈥檚 make the candy mobile!鈥�

Maggie Forger 鈥�25 of Norwell, Mass., was stationed with her sailing club teammates not far from Lane Hall. Like many 乐播传媒 students, she has gotten to know Lewiston by taking courses with a specific community-engaged component, so she feels a strong personal connection to her college town. 

One such course was 鈥淭echnoGenderCulture,鈥� taught by Assistant Professor of Digital and Computational Studies Anelise Hanson Shrout, which explores how technologies not only have histories and cultures, but that they are gendered as well.

As part of the coursework, Forger and her classmates spent time at a few Lewiston locations, helping the community understand different facets of technology. Forger鈥檚 group worked at Meadowview Apartments, a senior living center in Lewiston, where they spent time with the residents and helped them with their personal and communal technology.

鈥淚t felt really cool for so much of the Lewiston community to be with so much of the 乐播传媒 community at once,鈥� Forger said. 鈥淎nd 乐播传媒 students really brought the energy.鈥�

As she looked out over the little Buzz Lightyears, ladybugs, Spidermen, Barbies, and witches pulling parents along Alumni Walk, she said, 鈥渇or the community to be able to come to 乐播传媒 is the best of both worlds.鈥�

This year鈥檚 Senior Address at Commencement will be offered by Rishi Madnani 鈥�23 of Langhorne, Pa., who came to 乐播传媒 in fall 2019 with two major expectations about his path forward.

Both were quickly upended, but neither because of the expected culprit, the worldwide pandemic, which very easily could have defined the Class of 2023. Their college experience was perhaps the most sidelined by COVID, starting with being sent home in March of their very first year.

Instead, for Madnani, the son of immigrants from India, the altered expectations had to do with his career and culture. In terms of the former, he planned to focus on theater at 乐播传媒. That changed. With the latter, he didn’t expect to miss the Indian culture he’d been bathed in since childhood as much as he did.

乐播传媒 represented Madnani’s opportunity for a role reversal, a chance to be true to himself and the possibilities of self-evolution. He quickly found great purpose in pre-medical studies and the idea of being a researcher, physician, and advocate for change in the sciences. On Sunday, he will graduate as a biochemistry major with membership in Phi Beta Kappa.

He became an advocate for South Asian culture and inclusion on campus, founding and being president of a new program of student community, the South Asian Student Association. He served as a Student Government class representative and as a student liaison on the college’s Student Affairs Committee.

And he never stopped his engagement with the humanities and social science courses that instructed him on the big picture and his place in it.

Freddie Wright of 乐播传媒 Communications spoke to Madnani recently, and here is an edited selection of his remarks.

A basic question: Why did you want to give the senior address?

It’s been a dream of mine. I really love the Class of 2023, so it鈥檚 an incredible honor to be able to speak to all of our families and the faculty and staff who helped us get to where we are.

I’m also an actor at heart. I just love public speaking 鈥� I can’t lie. 

So tell us a little bit about that 鈥渁ctor at heart.鈥� You came to 乐播传媒 thinking about theater, and now you鈥檙e graduating with a biochemistry major.

Acting was my childhood dream. I arrived undecided but thinking I wanted to be an actor. Freshman year I was in a production of LOVE/SICK. But I kept doing pre-med courses on the side. And once I took organic chemistry, it was like, 鈥淚 can’t deny it any longer. I love 迟丑颈蝉.鈥�

On paper, my progression looks like going from wanting to be an actor to wanting to be a doctor. People might think, 鈥淚ndian parents. They probably told him, 鈥楤e a doctor!鈥欌�� But they were very supportive of me. 

My parents are both physicians, and as the son of immigrants from India, there are certainly stereotypes imposed upon me. For the longest time, I wanted to go against the grain. I didn鈥檛 want to take the safe, expected route. I suppressed it: 鈥淚 can’t be a doctor. I can’t do anything sciencey.鈥�

But I realized that careers aren’t one dimensional; I don鈥檛 have to 鈥済ive up鈥� acting. For example, there鈥檚 a definition of acting by Sanford Meisner: 鈥淎cting is the ability to behave absolutely truthfully under the imaginary circumstances.鈥�  

If you think about it, that’s an effective definition for empathy. The ability to behave truthfully while imagining someone else’s circumstances and lived experiences is how I think about empathy, including clinical empathy.

What do you mean by clinical empathy?

Especially in the U.S., our healthcare system operates on a fundamental divide between provider and patient. That’s bound to exist because of the power dynamic that exists between those two parties. An effective way to bridge that gap and produce better patient outcomes is to use clinical empathy. You try to understand your patient鈥檚 life circumstances, their story, their background, their beliefs, and the advantages and disadvantages they face.

Essentially, you use the empathic skills that we all have as humans. My junior year, I took “Literature, Medicine, Empathy” with [Professor of English] Lillian Nayder, and a guest speaker was [Kelsey Professor of Neuroscience] Nancy Koven. Believe it or not, there is a neuroanatomical basis for empathy. Capitalistic and individualistic notions of thought and behavior might obscure it, but it鈥檚 there.

You鈥檝e done Purposeful Work summer internships while at 乐播传媒. What would you say to a student about the value of an internship?

I interned in an OB/GYN research lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for two summers. Those were among the most formative experiences that I’ve had in my four years. And I can’t thank Purposeful Work enough 鈥� they were the ones who linked me with this lab and funded me for the first summer. Complementing my curriculum at 乐播传媒 with this real-world learning experience helped me refine exactly what I want to do, concretely and tangibly, in my life.

You have been active in diversity, equity, and inclusion issues at 乐播传媒, including starting the South Asian Student Association. What prompted you to start SASA? 

I was raised in a very Indian household, but for a lot of my life I had a conscious desire not to engage too heavily with my culture. I didn’t grow up in a large South Asian community, so I felt that I had to conform to what the media and society around me told me I should do, to look and act like the people around me. I didn’t see South Asian culture with the same beauty, brilliance, excellence that I do today. 

Coming to 乐播传媒, a lot of that got turned on its head. Once I was in an environment where I didn’t have my family and didn’t have this cultural context constantly surrounding me, I was like, 鈥淪hoot, I need that. That’s who I am.鈥�

So on the one hand, freshman year, I was super deep into the 乐播传媒 community. I was really feeling it, loving it, having a great time. But at the same time there was something missing, a big part of who I am. How can I change that? How can I fill that gap for others who are feeling the same thing?

Truthfully, it was more than filling a gap. It was also advocating for ourselves and advocating respect for our culture. For example, maybe saying something about people practicing yoga in whitewashed and inauthentic ways. I think everybody can benefit from yoga, but did you know it was banned in India during British colonial rule? 

There鈥檚 been a lot of support from my peers and other South Asian students who’ve taken on leadership in the club. Last week, SASA had a mock wedding; all of my friends did a dance at the wedding. We had 200 people show up, including people you might put into a certain box and say, 鈥淭here鈥檚 no way they would get down like that to Bollywood music.鈥�

That鈥檚 the power of pridefully and unapologetically representing your community. Especially at 乐播传媒, people will happily engage with other people’s cultures and celebrate them, and create an environment where all of our backgrounds are valued. Perhaps I’m being overly optimistic, and there are of course still issues, but it鈥檚 been a great journey for SASA.

What characteristics have you come to value in the people around you? 

乐播传媒 students have intellectual curiosity, a really fascinating lust for knowledge. They want to understand how the systems and structures around us dictate how our society works, how cultures operate, how religion influences people 鈥� all these different fascinating things. 

And professors lead us on this journey 鈥� the intellectual journey, the pursuit of knowledge, and how to contribute to the world in some positive way. These things are really valued here at 乐播传媒.

At 乐播传媒, you’re so intimately connected with the people around you. You see how your actions and words impact them 鈥� and you learn the little things you can do to make someone else’s day so much better. This collectivist framework of our community instills in us a genuine desire to give back and be positive citizens.

During COVID, you started to create a number of TikTok videos on brown racial identity that gained hundreds of thousands of views. How did you start that?

When I came to 乐播传媒 freshman year, there was a fundamental decision that I had to make. Do I put efforts into advocacy, or do I go with the status quo, blend in, and take the easy way out? 

Ultimately, I chose to put in the work. Doing all that work gave me the comfort to talk with people, to work with and against the 乐播传媒 administration, and to really demand space for myself and the people who look like me. It taught me resilience and the ability to speak up. 

Being Indian at a PWI forced me to grapple with the multidimensional nature of my racialized existence. On the one hand, my ancestors were subjected to atrocities under British rule, and on the other, Indians in the U.S. often have access to an immense amount of socioeconomic privilege. I was always somewhat conscious of these complexities, but taking social sciences and humanities classes at 乐播传媒 allowed me to explore them with a scholarly lens and better articulate my thoughts. And that’s really what the TikTok videos reflected. 

You expressed your goal to become a physician and scientist and to contribute to the revision and alteration of dated Eurocentric medical curricula, among other goals. How is medical curricula Eurocentric? How does that create harm?

Almost every profession and discipline evolved and grew through colonial practice, tradition, and belief. We define medical conditions, visualize them, and diagnose them largely through their presentations in white men. 

A really simple way to understand this is by thinking about dermatology and skin-based conditions. It鈥檚 very easy for anybody to understand how a skin condition would look different on white skin versus on dark skin. That’s something that is very real. 

I took this wonderful course, 鈥淣atural Products and Secondary Metabolites as Drugs,鈥� with [Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry] Colleen O’Loughlin. She gave us so much information on the health disparities and poor clinical outcomes that exist in the U.S. When you really zoom in on those stats, you’ll see that these disparities reflect deplorable inequities on the basis of race, gender, class, and sexuality.  

Addressing those kinds of disparities and clinical outcomes sounds like a big goal. Does it feel daunting?

I have a lot of big goals, that’s for sure! It鈥檚 something that I struggle with, wanting to be a physician / scientist / policy maker. It鈥檚 like three to four lifetimes worth of work. So we’ll see what I actually get around to. But you know, now is the time to be ambitious! 

Can you tell me about your thesis and what it was like working with your thesis advisor?

My thesis advisors are professors Jen Koviach-C么t茅 and Colleen O鈥橪oughlin, both of whom are incredible scientists and enthusiastic professors. Their joint project looks at compounds called pyrazinones produced by staphylococcal bacteria that might have a role in regulating their virulence, their ability to cause infection.

I got to play a small role in that research, but I mostly got sidetracked to a project involving computational protein modeling, but still within the scope of their larger research question. With Colleen’s advice and guidance, I went to Peter Schlax, who is a 乐播传媒 research librarian with a Ph.D. in biophysics. He’s incredibly understated, but a brilliant guy. 

He guided me through an amazing project where I was able to use an artificial intelligence鈥揵ased technology to predict the structure of the protein that makes those pyrazinones in the bacteria, then use that structure to simulate the binding of substrates to that enzyme. I’m so proud of the work that I was able to do with everybody. And now I have this really strong interest in biophysics that I didn’t know I had.

You received the department’s award for research excellence in biochemistry just this past month. What does that mean to you? 

It means the world to me. I remember that when Jen presented the award, she read a little section from my thesis about the ideological implications of my project. I connected my thesis work to the Cyborg Manifesto by Donna Haraway, which is something that I was exposed to in an anthropology course, 鈥淎rt, Power, Politics,鈥� taught by [Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology] Josh Rubin. He’s just amazing. 

I had him freshman year for cultural anthropology, and that class pushed me so hard to think about the ways that my identity 鈥� racially, culturally, religiously 鈥� shapes my experience in this country, and the ways I exist and behave in relation to the structures around me. So in my last semester I had to come back around and take 鈥淎rt, Power, Politics.鈥�

Professors will often meet you where you are. If you want to learn the material and you’re excited about it, they’re excited to have you. And that mutual excitement is what I love about 乐播传媒. 

I wrote a paper about how my thesis project kind of subverts the distinction between nature and technology, which is a lot of what Donna Haraway writes about. I figured I should take some of that thinking and put it at the end of my biochemistry thesis because it’s so relevant. For me, that interdisciplinary thinking and engagement defines the beauty of the 乐播传媒 education.

We hear that a lot about the value of interdisciplinary thinking.

At 乐播传媒, you have your major, but you can pretty much take anything and be welcomed with open arms, even if you are a significant outlier, for lack of a better word.

There are classes where you don’t meet the prerequisites, but sometimes all it takes is an email to the professor saying, 鈥淚’m very interested for these reasons. I think I can do well because of 迟丑颈蝉.鈥� And professors will often meet you where you are. If you want to learn the material and you’re excited about it, they’re excited to have you. And that mutual excitement is what I love about 乐播传媒. 

Your class was sent home in March of your first year, and sophomore year was lived under great restrictions. What was lost?

I think we lost 鈥渢angential鈥� friendships. Maybe those friends aren’t your core group of friends, but they鈥檙e important. They represent wider connections and intermingling within the community. Freshman year, you create so many lighthearted connections. You see them in Commons, you’re like, 鈥淗ey, how are you? What’s going on?鈥� 

They鈥檙e the people you like to see at parties, to catch up, feel a good vibe. If we didn’t have those, everyone would just be in their circles, kind of isolated. And that鈥檚 what happened with COVID. But those relationships have made a comeback in the last two years. So that feels good.

On the bright side, in my sophomore year I was academically locked in, and really forced to confront the important questions. What do I want to do? What calls me? Do I want to go into acting? Do I want to go into politics? What do I want to do? And then biochemistry called my name. And I just got swept away.

Do you have any advice for incoming students? 

Speak up. The words you say here can have a large impact, simply as a result of them being a proportionally larger component of collective discourse compared with those same words being said at a large school. To me, that’s empowering. It pushes you to do more because you can 鈥� you have the ability to make this place better. 

What鈥檚 up for next year?

I’m in the midst of applying to medical school for fall 2024. So in the gap year, I’ll be doing research at the same lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. 

I’m especially excited because every summer we get two 乐播传媒 interns from the Center for Purposeful Work. I’ll be able to teach these students and hopefully help them understand the career that they want to have, and whether they want to be a physician, scientist, or both.

乐播传媒 connections are very tight. 乐播传媒 students and alumni, for lack of better words, really ride for each other. They want to give back to the students that come after them.

I really do believe that this community has an incredibly formative impact on everyone within it. So I’m going to give back starting this summer, and after that who knows? We’ll see what’s in the cards.