Psychology professor selected as interim director of university's Nonviolence Center

04/02/09 - Psychology professor Paul Bueno de Mesquita sat in room 202 of the Multicultural Center earlier this week, surrounded by colorful posters of Martin Luther King Jr., Tibetan monks and other global leaders. The group of people on the wall had one mission: to promote the nonviolence movement, with Bueno de Mesquita as the newest member.

As newly selected interim director of the University of Rhode Island Nonviolence Center, Bueno de Mesquita is aiming to give the center more of a presence on campus, since many do not know the center's mission.

The nonviolence program at URI mainly focuses on the work of King - or a "Kingian" viewpoint - centered on the creation of a "beloved community." In URI's case, this means connecting the family of students and administration in nonviolent conflict resolution.

"[Nonviolence] gives you a framework for the way to live your life," Bueno de Mesquita said. "Every day, we do either engage ... or passively support microagressions. If we don't say no to violence, then we become a part of it."

He added later, "It's the idea where I saw you as my enemy, I now see you as my friend. We're inextricably linked, even to our enemies."

Bueno de Mesquita's appointment comes on the heels of Distinguished Visiting Scholar and former director of the center, Bernard LaFayette Ed.D., ending his residence with the university after nearly a decade of work.

"We develop the leadership so the center will be able to have the capacity to build itself and help as well," LaFayette said in a phone interview. Currently, he is with the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta building a nonviolence center.

"Doc" LaFayette said he is still affiliated with URI and plans to attend the center's annual Summer Institute, which teaches participants the principles and methods for nonviolence. He said he is planning "collaborative efforts" with both universities in the future.

"I would like to see the [URI] center help to establish nonviolent courses in all of the other universities and colleges in Rhode Island and the Northeast," LaFayette said.

Bueno de Mesquita said he and others were sad to see LaFayette leave the university, but that he is looking forward to "increasing awareness and having a larger footprint on campus."

One of the ways Bueno de Mesquita and others will do this is by creating a graduate certificate program for nonviolence. The certificate program's proposal has been completed, but the courses need to be approved by administration before a program is officially established. Bueno de Mesquita was also chosen for his globalized view, with ties in Cape Verde, Nepal and Sierra Leone, among other countries. He said thousands have been trained in nonviolence through URI, and he is hoping "for thousands more."

Right now, URI only offers a nonviolence minor - which Bueno de Mesquita helped create - but he is hoping to eventually establish a master's program and a major.

In addition, he plans to hold seminars similar to the Summer Institute in the fall and is drafting proposals for research projects about nonviolence through the center.

Smiling, he said, "I have a 'Think Big' idea that every student will take away something from the Nonviolence Center."

The center is not without its problems, however. This summer, its budget - which supports operating costs and covered the salaries of LaFayette and an administrative assistant - was cut in half. Bueno de Mesquita declined to divulge the exact budget previous to the cut.

Despite this, the new director says his focus will be on recruiting students to the center and revamping the curriculum, which has an interdisciplinary focus.

"There are a number of faculty from different areas that their research and teaching are all very compatible with nonviolence," Bueno de Mesquita said, explaining the overarching goal of nonviolence is tied to social and economic justice.

About a dozen students in support of nonviolence have also formed a group, entitled the Student Nonviolence Involvement Committee, which is "still in the planning stages," Bueno de Mesquita said.

SNIC - which collaborated with the Student Entertainment Committee to bring Emmanuel Jal to URI - will imitate a group that LaFayette, once a close friend of King's, started in 1960 at his own college: Lafayette started the group while leading the Nashville Movement and participating in the Freedom Rides of 1961. He was also active in the 1965 Selma Movement.

Junior Andrew McQuaide, member and one of the founders of SNIC, said the center has had a lasting impact on him. He first met LaFayette at Chariho High School when he was a student there and later "begged his way" into LaFayette's 400-level honors course as a freshman.

"Something just clicked, and I knew that I wanted to work with this guy," McQuaide said. "The stories he was telling, the things he was experiencing; that was what I wanted to experience, what I wanted to learn about."

McQuaide has traveled with "Doc" to Nigeria to spread the message of nonviolence, and said he had "an influential impact on many students' lives, including my own."

"While I can say that I have such a special relationship with him and he's done so much for me, I'm very conscious that there are thousands of people around the world that have this same relationship and that is extraordinary from one man," he said.

McQuaide said he plans to continue his work within the Nonviolence Center, and is eager to work with Bueno de Mesquita to promote the center's mission.

"Top, down, bottom, up - from the students to the administrators, we have a responsibility to make sure this is just as strong as when Doc was at the helm," McQuaide said. "I don't believe in letting Dr. King down, and I don't believe in letting Dr. LaFayette down.