UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon To Speak At Lehman College Thursday

Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary-General, will deliver the 47th Annual Herbert H. Lehman Lecture on Thursday, March 17, at the Lovinger Theatre at 11 a.m at Lehman College. The title of the lecture is “From Turmoil to Opportunity: The United Nations in a Changing Global Landscape.”

UN Secretary-General_Ban ki-Moon_Lehman CollegeSecretary-General Ban is the eighth U.N. Secretary-General and is the second leader of the Organization to appear at Lehman College. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the sixth U.N. Secretary-General, who died in February, was part of a 1995 forum at Lehman to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations.

His priorities have been to mobilize world leaders around a set of new global challenges, from climate change and economic upheaval to pandemics and increasing pressures involving food, energy and water. He has sought to be a bridge-builder, to give voice to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, and to strengthen the Organization itself.

Secretary-General Ban took office on January 1, 2007 and was unanimously elected by the General Assembly to a second term on June 21, 2011. He will serve as Secretary-General until the end of 2016. On October 24th, 2015, the U.N. commemorated its 70th anniversary. “I grew up in war and saw the United Nations help my country to recover and rebuild,” the Secretary-General has said. “That experience was a big part of what led me to pursue a career in public service. As Secretary-General, I am determined to see this Organization deliver tangible, meaningful results that advance peace, development and human rights.”

During his tenure, the Secretary-General has prioritized global issues such as climate change, pandemics and global crises involving food, energy and water. Highlights of his tenure include: the creation of UN Women, an agency dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women; the strengthening of U.N. peacekeeping; efforts to reinvigorate the disarmament agenda; the “Human Rights up Front” initiative; and new ways to make the U.N. more transparent and efficient.

The Lehman Lecture is a tradition at Lehman College – an opportunity for the community to honor the legacy of Herbert H. Lehman, former New York Governor, Senator, and statesman. He was widely admired as a dedicated public servant and passionate advocate for the poor and downtrodden, seeking to expand the rights and opportunities for all Americans, regardless of gender, race, or creed.

Lehman College has played a vital role in the history of the U.N., as its temporary headquarters in the Bronx. From March 1946 until August of that year, the United Nations Security Council was housed on Lehman’s historic campus. During that time, former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, among others, drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that later became a foundational document for the nascent U.N. “The decisions reached while meeting on this campus, proved the organization’s value in mediating, calming and resolving international crises,” wrote President Ricardo R. Fernández recently.

Previous speakers have included George McGovern, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Albert Gore Sr., Geraldine Ferraro, George Mitchell, Jill Abramson, and many more. The 2013 Lehman Lecture was delivered by Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship and former president of Columbia University Teachers College.

Location Information:
Lehman College – Speech and Theatre Building – Lovinger Theatre
250 Bedford Park Blvd. West
Bronx, NY 10468
Print Friendly, PDF & Email