BY KELLY HEYBOER
Star-Ledger Staff
The Dalai Lama will deliver a lecture on war, peace and reconciliation at Rutgers University this fall in his first public appearance before a mass audience in New Jersey, school officials said yesterday.
The Nobel Prize-winning Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader accepted the university’s offer to speak on campus following several years of invitations, said Linda Schulze, Rutgers’ assistant vice president of academic affairs.
The Sept. 25 event could attract tens of thousands of people, depending on the venue, campus officials said.
“Every time he appears somewhere there are huge crowds,” Schulze said. “It will be a major event, and there will be tickets available to the public.”
No site has been chosen, but university officials are considering several large venues, including the campus football stadium and basketball arena in Piscataway.
The Dalai Lama spoke in New York City’s Central Park in 2003 and regularly visits the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center in Warren County, where his last visit drew 5,500 people. But he has never given a mass public lecture in the Garden State, Rutgers officials said.
Born Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama is the 14th heir to Tibet’s 600-year-old religious dynasty. He fled Tibet for India in 1959 after a failed uprising against the Chinese Communist government that still controls his native country.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his ongoing, nonviolent fight against Chinese rule in Tibet.
Rutgers officials said they know their invitation to the Dalai Lama will attract some controversy. A few Chinese students have already sent Rutgers President Richard McCormick letters protesting the school’s efforts to bring the exiled Tibetan leader to campus.
The university is also expecting a formal letter from the Chinese government requesting Rutgers withdraw its invitation to the Dalai Lama, said Schulze.
Rutgers is not trying to make a political statement by hosting the Dalai Lama, she added.
“He’s been invited here … as someone who is an advocate for peace and as someone who won the Nobel Peace Prize,” Schulze said.
Rutgers officials have been speaking with the Dalai Lama for years about a visit. He tentatively accepted an invitation a few years ago, but canceled due to illness.
His lecture will be part of the school’s annual Mason Gross lecture series. Rutgers will make a donation of several thousand dollars to the Office of Tibet in New York, the group representing the Tibetan government in exile, in lieu of the honorarium usually paid to speakers, Schulze said. The exact amount is still being discussed.
The university is also working with the Office of Tibet and the U.S. State Department to coordinate security for the event.
“It will be high,” Schulze said.
The Dalai Lama’s New Jersey visit will be part of a U.S. trip that will also take him to Idaho, Arizona, Texas and New York City in September, according to the Office of Tibet. His tour will include speeches at the University of Texas at Austin and Columbia University, in addition to Rutgers.
“He is going to be 70 soon,” said Tendar, a spokesman for the Office of Tibet, who uses one name. “He thinks that he should spend … whatever energy he has to promote peace.”
Rutgers is planning several seminars, courses, music events and art exhibits to lead up to the event. A campus film festival will feature three films about the Dalai Lama this semester.
Rutgers officials will launch a Web site this year with details about the Dalai Lama’s visit and ticket information.
