Student Cultivates Seeds Of Peace

By Cassie Ferguson

Gazette Staff

Sukanya Lahiri hopes to succeed where secretaries of state, national presidents, and Nobel prize winners have not: creating a comprehensive peace treaty between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.

Next month, the sophomore will lead 40 youth delegates from the Middle East as they try to resolve the complex and protracted conflict during the Seeds of Peace Middle East Youth Peace Summit in Basel, Switzerland.

The students will present their treaty to the president of Switzerland, Flavio Cotti, who will carry it to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat.

"Our hope is that we'll be paving the way for peaceful Arab-Israeli coexistence," said Lahiri, of Winthrop House and Winchester, Mass. However, she knows that resolving the ancient discord won't be easy.

"At first, I had this naive view of the conflicts," Lahiri said. "As time goes on, I realize that it's more and more complicated."

The Seeds of Peace Program was founded in 1993 by the

author and journalist John Wallach. Lahiri has been involved with program for the past three years as a counselor at its conflict mediation summer camp in Maine. There she has worked with students from embattled areas of the world, including Bosnia, the Middle East, and the inner cities of the U.S.

"We instill conflict resolution and mediation skills into young people and hope that they'll take those skills home with them," she said.

At next month's peace conference, sponsored by Seeds of Peace and the pharmaceutical company Novartis, Lahiri will lead one of several committees that will focus on different parts of the peace plan.

To prepare for the summit, Lahiri has been digging up past treaties and treaty attempts as well as preparing packets of background materials for her committee members.

A joint concentrator in sociology and economics, Lahiri also works as a volunteer research assistant for Rosabeth Moss Kanter, the Class of 1960 Professor of Business Administration at the Business School. Kanter thinks students like Lahiri stand a good chance of solving the world's problems.

"I am a great believer in the power of young people to create major transformation," she said. "With her combination of skills, motivation, and dedication, I have no doubt Sukanya can have a big impact."

Lahiri has already made her mark as a leader. Last year, she won a National Conference of Christians and Jews Youth Humanitarian Award. In 1995, she was one of six U.S. representatives in the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity Youth Peace Conference in Venice.

Lahiri, who helps run the Harvard Mediation Service with Dean of Students Archie Epps, plans to continue mediating conflicts, whether counseling world powers or summer camp students.

"It makes me who I am," she said. "I can't imagine not doing what I do."