(PDF) (DOC) (JPG)February 9, 2009

MAHWAH – Philip Gourevitch, author of “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families” and, most recently, “Standard Operating Procedure,” a collaboration with the filmmaker Errol Morris, will deliver the first annual William K. Gumpert Memorial Lecture in April.  The presentation is free and open to the public.

Gourevitch’s topic will be “Human Rights and Genocide:  The Past Century’s Lessons for Better and for Worse.”  The speaker will reflect on the meaning of the genocide in Rwanda and interviews with U.S. troops about the abuse at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraid prison.

Written after the Rwanda genocide, in “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families,” Gourevitch reflects on the meaning of the tragedy through retelling survivors’ stories.  In “Standard Operating Procedure,” he draws from interviews with the U.S. troops, depicted in the documentary of the same name, involved with prisoner abuse at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison.

Named editor of “The Paris Review” in 2005, Gourevitch also is a staff writer for “The New Yorker.”  He received the 1998 National Book Critics Circle award, the Los Angeles
Times Book Prize, the 1999 Guardian First Book Award and the George K. Polk Award for Foreign Reporting for “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families.”

The lecture will be the first given in memory of William K. Gumpert, a California attorney and longtime Center benefactor who passed away in 2007.  It is supported by a grant by the Gumpert Foundation, established under a bequest before his passing, to foster a series of initiatives in genocide and human rights education.

The event will be sponsored by the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and will be held in conjunction with the Ramapo Lecture Series:  “Diversity Perspectives in 21st Century” and the School of American and International Studies’ Colloquium series.

“Human Rights and Genocide:  The Past Century’s Lessons for Better and for Worse” will be presented Wednesday, April 1 in SC-219 in the Robert A. Scott Student Center at Ramapo College. The presentation will begin at 7 p.m. For more information or to reserve a seat, please call 201.684.7409.

For media inquiries, contact Anna Farneski, assistant vice president, Marketing and Communications, 201.684.6844.

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About Ramapo College

Ramapo College of New Jersey is the state’s premier public liberal arts college and is committed to academic excellence through interdisciplinary and experiential learning, and international and intercultural understanding. The comprehensive college is situated among the beautiful Ramapo Mountains, is within commuting distance to New York City, was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America by CondeNast Traveler, and boasts the best on-campus housing in New Jersey per Niche.com. Established in 1969, Ramapo College offers bachelor’s degrees in the arts, business, data science, humanities, social sciences and the sciences, as well as in professional studies, which include business, education, nursing and social work. In addition, the College offers courses leading to teacher certification at the elementary and secondary levels, and offers graduate programs leading to master’s degrees in Accounting, Applied Mathematics, Business Administration, Contemporary Instructional Design, Computer Science, Creative Music Technology, Data Science, Educational Leadership, Nursing, Social Work and Special Education, as well as a Doctor of Nursing Practice.

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