I would like to invite all of you to join me for the President’s Holocaust Awareness Breakfast next Tuesday, March 18. The breakfast is an important and moving tribute that allows the Northeastern community to come together to bear witness to the atrocities of a terrible era and to raise awareness so that this chapter of history is not repeated.

In addition to fostering a spirit of understanding and reconciliation, this year’s breakfast will include a special dedication in memory of Walter Lind, the former director of purchasing here at Northeastern for 15 years. Walter passed away this past September. He was a longtime member of the Holocaust Awareness Committee and committed a great deal of time and energy to supporting the Committee’s programs and events. Walter was an exceptional University citizen, always seeking the best for Northeastern, and he is missed by his friends and colleagues.

The breakfast anchors a week of events—including the Morton Lecture, the Philip N. Backstrom Survivor Lecture Series, the student-led reading of the holocaust victims’ names, the screening of the film Freedom Writers, and an exhibit at Snell Library. The breakfast itself features a holocaust music presentation by Professor Joshua Jacobson and a keynote address by Nancy Kindelan, professor of dramatic literature and dramaturgy, and Inez Hedges, Stotsky Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies and codirector of the cinema studies program. They will discuss their interdisciplinary Holocaust-centered Advanced Academic Learning Community and share their thoughts on the process of bringing the ideas of the Holocaust play “The Children of Drancy” to the stage. A student-produced film about the making of the play will also be shown.

I urge as many of you who can to join us next Tuesday, March 18, at 7:30 a.m. in the Raytheon Amphitheater, room 240 of the Egan Research Center. Please reply by Thursday, March 13 to 617.373.7907 and indicate if you would prefer a Kosher meal.

I hope to see many of you there.