Sean Farren, left, talking to the media with SDLP leader John Hume outside Castle Buildings on April 10, 1998, prior to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. ROLLINGNEWS.IE
An all-day symposium devoted to the topic of Nobel Peace laureate John Hume will be held on Saturday, April 28, at Boston College.
The Derry-born leader’s fellow Social Democratic & Labour Party member Sean Farren will launch his book “John Hume: In His Own Words” at a lunchtime event at the symposium with Irish Ambassador Dan Mulhall. Farren, with another party colleague Denis Haughey, also edited a 2015 collection of essays about Hume.
“John Hume: His Vision & Legacy for Ireland” begins at 9 a.m. in Devlin Hall 101, with contributions by Professor James H. Murphy, director of Center for Irish Programs, and Professor Catherine B. Shannon.
The event is free and open to the public. Contact irish@bc.edu for further details.
The symposium’s sessions are as follows:
9:15-10:30 Panel 1
“John Hume: Civil Rights and Human Rights Campaigner” with Professors Paul Arthur, Monica McWilliams, and Brandon Hamber (Chair: Ronnie Millar, IIIC)
10:40-11:55 Panel 2
“John Hume: Healing Divisions within Northern Ireland: Power-sharing and Partnership” with Professors Sean Farren, Arthur Aughey, and Cathy Gormley-Heenan (Chair: Meghan O’Sullivan, JFK School of Government).
1:40-2:55 Panel 3
“John Hume: Building an Agreed Ireland: Irish Unity and the European Dimension" with Professor Richard Kearney, journalist Susan McKay, and Ambassador Daniel Mulhall (Chair: Robert Mauro, Global Leadership Institute, Boston College)
3:05- 4:20 Panel 4
“John Hume: The Irish American Dimension from President Carter to the Present," political and economic support with Thomas P. O’Neill III, Catherine B. Shannon, John Cullinane (Chair: Kevin Cullen, Boston Globe)
4:30 to 5:00 pm
Summary of the day’s discussion with audience Q and A (Chair: Kevin Cullen, Boston Globe)
5:15 to 6:45 pm
Closing Reception and review of John Hume exhibit at the Burns Library
The conference sponsors are:
Center for Irish Programs at Boston College, Global Leadership Institute at Boston College, Boston
College Libraries, the Charitable Irish Society of Boston, the Irish American Partnership, the Eire Society of Boston, Northern Ireland Bureau at Washington, D. C., Department of Foreign Affairs, Dublin, Irish
Consulate at Boston, British Consulate at Boston, Ulster University-Magee Campus Derry, Global
Citizens Circle.
