Nobel Peace Prize-winner Desmond Tutu will kick off a six-day "Stop the Silence" AIDS symposium March 29 at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The former archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, is the keynote speaker of the symposium that includes advocates and scholars from CU-Boulder and Harvard University. Tutu will discuss his new book, "God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Times," at 7 p.m. in the Coors Events/Conference Center.
Tickets are $17.50 for the public, $5.50 for CU students and are available through TicketWest.com or at King Soopers stores. Premium floor seats are available for $52.
Dustin Craun, a senior ethnic studies major and chair of the University of Colorado Student Union's Distinguished Speakers Board, said Tutu's battle against apartheid was one of the most difficult conflicts of the 20th century. "Now he's taking on the greatest battle of the 21st century, which is the AIDS virus," Craun said. "He believes we can beat the disease if we work together."
The "Stop the Silence Symposium" will run from March 29 through April 3 and includes more than a dozen events with speakers and panel discussions on AIDS locally and around the world. A complete schedule of events is available at
The Distinguished Speakers Board organized the symposium, with support from 11 other CU-Boulder student groups, because people aren't talking about AIDS and the media coverage is lacking, Craun said. "We want to stop the stigmas and silence associated with the disease. Three hundred million people could die during our lifetimes from this disease unless we do something.
"The epidemic has gone away in people's minds but the percentage of infection in every demographic category is going up, including heterosexuals in the United States," he said. "We want people in the university community to know this information."
Craun said Tutu will address AIDS in his keynote speech, and several other symposium events will discuss the epidemic on the African continent.
Born in 1931 in Klerksdorp, Transvaal, Tutu attended Johannesburg Bantu High School, trained as a teacher at Pretoria Bantu Normal College and in 1954 graduated from the University of South Africa.
He taught high school for three years before studying theology and becoming an ordained priest in 1960. Six years later he earned a master's degree in theology and taught the subject in South Africa until 1972. He took a job as assistant director of a theological institute in London, and in 1975 became the first black dean of St. Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg. From 1976 to 1978 Tutu was bishop of Lesotho, and in 1978 became the first black general secretary of the South African Council of Churches.
Tutu's work against social injustice and apartheid was recognized with a Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Today Tutu is archbishop emeritus of Cape Town and chancellor of the University of Western Cape. He holds honorary degrees from Harvard, Oxford, Columbia and other universities.
His new book, "God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Times," is scheduled to be released March 16. Culled largely from Tutu's lectures and sermons, the book features anecdotes delivered "with his trademark humor and a deceptive simplicity," according to Publisher's Weekly.
Tutu's appearance is made possible by the UCSU Distinguished Speakers Board. For more information call (303) 492-4174 or visit .