Gorbachev to Speak Tuesday Night

By Broadside Staff Writer Jared Trice

Mason will host a set of highly-anticipated events this week, beginning with a conference and the keynote address from former Soviet President and Nobel Laureate Mikhail Gorbachev at the Center for the Arts Concert Hall on Tuesday, March 24.

The conference, “1989: Looking Back, Looking Forward” will examine the lessons learned during the Cold War and explain how these lessons can be applied in the promotion of peace and international cooperation in the coming decades.

Gorbachev’s address will provide an introduction to Wednesday’s round table discussion which will include Russian Federation Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, Robert Kuttner, co-editor of The American Prospect, Lee Hamilton, president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and William Webster, director of the FBI from 1978-1987 and Gorbachev. The discussion will take place at 10:30 a.m. in Dewberry Hall in the Johnson Center.

Following the discussion will be several sessions hosting scholars and university faculty. These breakout sessions will adapt the previously-raised issues to a global scale, focusing on Eastern Europe, Russia, China and the Middle East.

The keynote conference and roundtable discussion will coincide with a film series sponsored by the Center for Global Studies and Phi Beta Delta, the international honor society. The film series will focus on movements that have helped create the post-socialism shift since the 1980s in China, Eastern Europe and Russia.