Thursday, February 15, 2007

 

  
Searching for Peace in the Middle East

 7:00 p.m.

IPJ Film Series
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice

 

IPJ Film Series: “Searching for Peace in the Middle East” by Landrum Bolling, Ph.D., Earlham President Emeritus and Director at Large for Mercy Corps. A film about the hopes for peace between Israeli and Palestinian peoples, noting the remarkable degree of agreement on what a peace settlement would look like.

Landrum Bolling served as president of Earlham College from 1958 to 1973, then as president and chairman of the board of Lilly Endowment Inc., and later as chairman, then chief executive officer, of the national Council on Foundations. In 1982 he became research professor of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

Because of his non-official but close involvement in Middle East affairs, Bolling became well acquainted with many of the leaders among all sides in the conflict. From time to time he served as an informal “messenger” between political leaders and governments that had difficulty in communicating directly. In this connection, he functioned as a link for The White House and State Department with Yasir Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization in more than one administration, but particularly during the presidency of Jimmy Carter. He has maintained a relationship with these and other world leaders to this day.

Bolling has served as chairman or board member of the Associated Colleges of Indiana, the Indiana Conference on Higher Education, and the national Association of Protestant Colleges and Universities, and the Association of American Colleges. He has been awarded honorary degrees by more than 25 U.S. and foreign colleges and universities, including Oberlin College, Haverford College, Indiana University and Waseda University in Tokyo.

Bolling is currently director at large of Mercy Corps International, a nonprofit voluntary organization that exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping build secure, productive and just communities. For two years after the cessation of hostilities in Bosnia, he assisted Mercy Corps in projects of economic development and reconstruction in the devastated city of Sarajevo and throughout Bosnia. Bolling is also senior advisor and board member of the Conflict Management Group in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C.

From the website of the Landrum Bolling Center at Earlham College, at       http://www.earlham.edu/landrumbollingcenter/profile.html