The seventh annual Cornell Tradition Convocation will feature William Schulz as the keynote speaker, March 1, at 7:30 p.m. in the David Call Alumni Auditorium of Kennedy Hall. Schulz is the executive director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), the U.S. branch of the international human rights organization.
The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required and can be obtained at the Cornell Public Service Center, 200 Barnes Hall, or by contacting the Cornell Tradition Office, 107 Day Hall, at 255-8595 or at cornelltradition@cornell.edu . A reception will follow Schulz's address.
Schulz oversees the 300,000-member operation, taking charge of all day-to-day activities for AIUSA's 100-person staff. He has been involved in a wide variety of international and social justice causes. He led the first visit by a U.S. member of Congress to post-revolutionary Romania in 1991. In 1992, he sponsored an effort in India to end communal violence and to politically and economically empower women, bonded laborers and others. He organized fact-finding missions to the Middle East and Northern Ireland and was instrumental in his opposition to U.S. military aid to El Salvador. In 1997 he led an Amnesty International mission to Liberia to investigate atrocities committed during the civil war there. In 1999, he returned to Northern Ireland to insist that human rights protections be incorporated into the already volatile peace process.
Throughout his career, Schultz has been outspoken in his opposition to the death penalty and his support for women's rights, gay and lesbian rights and racial justice. In his speech and book of the same name, In Our Own Best Interest: How Defending Human Rights Benefits Us All, Schulz asserts that human rights ought to be worthy of support, not just because they are morally compelling, but also because they are in our best interests from the point of view of economic growth, environmental protection, public health and, perhaps more now than ever, national security.
Schulz graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Oberlin College and obtained doctor of ministry and master of theology degrees from the University of Chicago. Before coming to Amnesty International, the ordained Unitarian Universalist minister served for 15 years with the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, the last eight as its president.
A published author in addition to being a dynamic speaker, Schulz has written several books, including Finding Time and Other Delicacies and Transforming Words: Six Essays on Preaching. He has been quoted and cited widely in many newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Progressive, and he has appeared as a guest on "60 Minutes," "Good Morning America," "ABC World News" and countless other programs.
The Cornell Tradition is an alumni-endowed fellowship program at Cornell that recognizes and rewards outstanding undergraduates. Established in 1982 through an anonymous $7 million gift, the program awards 600 fellows each year who demonstrate significant work experience, campus and/or community service and academic achievement. The annual Cornell Tradition Convocation is held each year to celebrate the achievements of the Tradition fellows.
The event is sponsored by the Cornell Tradition, Teach for America and the Cornell Public Service Center.
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