Former SLC Mayor to Head New Human Rights Center at U

None by KCPW

Wilson to Focus on Fundraising

(KCPW News) Former Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson will direct the new Barbara L. and Norman C. Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy at the University of Utah's College of Social and Behavioral Science.

"I really believe in this cause of peace - I guess wars stimulate that," says Wilson, who served as mayor of Salt Lake City from 1976 to 1985, adding, "but I believe that there are definite techniques for peace."

The new center was originated by Barbara L. and Norman C. Tanner, who have been active in peace and nonviolent conflict resolution for many years, and their daughter, Deb Sawyer. The Tanners have given the center a $1 million posthumous gift, with $600,000 in immediate seed money.

Wilson, who directed the U's Hinckley Institute of Politics from 1985 to 2003, says the new center will be non-political, aimed at teaching students how to be advocates for human rights using non-violent means. Specifically, "to try to teach students that they can be advocates for problems like child abuse, if you want to start on the domestic level, all the way up to international relations, and that these are practical things, there are definite techniques by which to achieve peace through human rights - so that's what we're all about."

Wilson will act as fundraiser, while George Cheney -- a university professor of communication - will direct the center's academic programs. In collaboration with the Institute of Public and International Affairs and the S.J. Quinney College of Law, the center's first forum will be held March 1 and 2 and will focus on terrorism and human dignity.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2009 KCPW