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Questions &Answers
Stephen Dunnett is vice provost for international education and co-chair of the committee planning the visit to UB of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
What should you say when you meet the Dalai Lama? How do you address him and what should you wear?
The formal honorific when addressing the Dalai Lama is "Your Holiness," just as when you meet the Pope. The Pope is addressed as "Your Holiness," as well. Actually, the Dalai Lama is a very simple person. He's very warm and friendly. He takes the initiative when you meet him and he usually begins a conversation with questions, "Who are you? What do you do?" and so on. He's very skillful at putting people at ease right away. When I first had an audience with the Dalai Lama in Toronto two years ago, he sort of ran over, grabbed on to me and shook my hand with both of his hands. He was very animated and engaging, and put me at ease immediately. He's not at all intimidating. Tibetans, I should note, have a traditional protocol when they meet His Holiness. The traditional Tibetan way is to present him with a long white silk scarf, called a khata, which His Holiness blesses and puts over your head. As for what to wear when meeting the Dalai Lama, you should wear what you would wear if you were meeting any important person or head of state—business attire. Of course, if you're going to the UB Stadium to hear him speak you should dress comfortably.
Is the Dalai Lama the head of a religion or a state leader? What is his background?
He is both. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is a spiritual leader and he is head of the Tibetan government in exile. In that sense he is like the Pope because the Pope is the head of the Vatican, which is a sovereign state, and he is the head of the Roman Catholic Church. The Dalai Lama was born in 1935 to a farming family in a small village in Tibet. At the age of two, he was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama. His Holiness began his monastic education at the age of six. He refers to himself as a "simple monk." I'm not an expert on Buddhism or on the Dalai Lama; however, if people would like to learn more about His Holiness and his teachings, the UB Bookstore has an excellent array of books on these subjects to choose from. "Freedom in Exile" is a particularly good book that all UB freshmen are reading this semester. And you can learn more by going to the Dalai Lama's official Web site, http://www.dalailama.com.
The Dalai Lama meets so many people in his travels; do you expect him to remember you when you meet him for the second time?
Oh, yes. When I met him in Toronto with my colleague, Professor Richard Lee from UB's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, we were impressed with how much he knew about us already. The Dalai Lama has tremendous recall. One of his staff was telling me that he can meet people in a crowd or in a receiving line and remember them many years later. His hobby is repairing mechanical watches and clocks. It is said that he is able to just look at the works of a clock and then take it all apart. When he puts it back together, he knows where each gear and part goes. His staff is just astonished by his phenomenal memory.
What will be the impact of the visit on UB students?
The Dalai Lama's visit is fundamentally an educational event. It is part of UB's Distinguished Speakers Series, which each year brings famous and accomplished individuals to our campus. Among those distinguished individuals, there are often world leaders. This wonderful program provides opportunities for our students, faculty and staff, as well as members of the Western New York community, to encounter these leaders and learn about world events from them. That certainly will be the case with the Dalai Lama's visit. By listening to the Dalai Lama and by participating in the Day of Learning activities, as well as activities and courses being offered throughout the semester, our students will gain a greater awareness of issues of great concern to the Dalai Lama: peace, nonviolent conflict resolution, human rights and the situation of Tibetans and other refugees who live in exile. The students' parents have gained a greater awareness, too. During student orientation, many parents seemed really excited about the visit. Many purchased the Dalai Lama's book, "Freedom in Exile," and some bought tickets to his speech. The parents seemed really pleased that they were sending their children to a school where they are able to encounter a world leader like the Dalai Lama. There is a great resource specifically for students on our Dalai Lama Web site at http:// www.buffalo.edu/dalai_lama/students.html.
What will be the impact of the visit on UB?
The impact will be very significant in my view. It already has served to raise UB's profile among many alumni, students and friends of UB, both in the U.S. and overseas. Somebody asked me if the Dalai Lama's visit has had any effect on enrollment. I think it has. Announcement of the Dalai Lama's visit to UB was front-page news in Asia, and many of our Asian alumni were absolutely thrilled. And after the announcement, we experienced quite a lot of hits on our Web site. When our recruiters were in Asia, a lot of students asked them if it was really true that the Dalai Lama was coming to UB. This visit has been very good for UB's prestige and standing, and it has generated a lot of interest in our university. The visit itself will get a lot of attention in Asia, too. And of course, we will be able to use this in our future recruitment activities. The fact that we attracted this level of personality will certainly enhance global awareness of UB as a world-class institution.
You, your staff and the planning committees have worked around the clock preparing for the Dalai Lama's visit. What will you do the day after he leaves UB?
Hopefully the entire visit will go smoothly! Then, we'll all take a day off to reflect on the success of the visit. You're right, we have been working nonstop since January planning and preparing for the Dalai Lama's visit. My staff and I didn't take vacations this summer. Colleagues at other universities that have hosted the Dalai Lama said the visit would require a lot of work, but it would be the event of a lifetime. I'm sure they are right. I should add that programming does not end with the visit. Special courses continue this semester and outstanding exhibits in the UB Libraries and UB Art Galleries will also be available for viewing for a time after the visit. Students will be discussing the Dalai Lama's visit and lecture in their courses and doing assignments on related topics. Special events, both at UB and in the community, are scheduled throughout the fall. More importantly, I expect the visit will have a long-term positive effect on student and community awareness of the larger world, particularly around issues of concern to the Dalai Lama. It will also serve to benefit the development of our Asian Studies Program. I can't say often enough how grateful I am to the many people who have worked so hard to plan for the Dalai Lama's visit and to organize all the activities around his visit. I've received a lot of attention because of the visit, and it's been very nice, but I want to keep repeating that something like this is put together and is successful only because of the hard work of many people. I have been very fortunate to work with two very dedicated and creative co-chairs, Bill Regan (director of the Office of Special Events) and Beau Willis (interim executive vice president for finance and operations), as well as with my colleague John Wood (associate vice provost for international education). A lot of people's lives are being disrupted by this visit, and yet nobody has ever refused a request for assistance or said they didn't want to participate in the visit. On the contrary, our problem—if you could call it that—is to ensure that we find a role for all the faculty, staff and community members who have volunteered so they can all feel they are helping in some way with the visit. Which reminds me, I received a call the other day from a colleague at University of California-Davis. He asked about the Dalai Lama's visit, and was very impressed when I told them about the tremendous commitment of our campus. That sense of commitment and the willingness to pitch in are very typical of the people of Buffalo, and a characteristic of our UB community as well, I think.