Gandhi's Grandson to Speak at Cleveland State

Cleveland State Community College, in conjunction with the Tennessee Consortium of International Studies (TnCIS), will be hosting Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mohandas Gandhi, to speak on CSCC’s campus on Friday, November 13.

Born in 1934 in Durban, South Africa, Arun Gandhi is the fifth grandson of India's late spiritual leader Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi. In 1946, just before India gained independence from Britain, Arun's parents took him to live with his grandfather for 18 months.

At the age of 23, Arun returned to India, worked as a reporter for The Times of India, and cofounded India's Center for Social Unity, whose mission is to alleviate poverty and caste discrimination. Arun and his wife, Sunanda, came to the United States in 1987 and in 1991 founded the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence in Memphis, Tennessee.

Arun Gandhi wrote an original essay for the Architects of Peace project. In it, he explores concepts of non-violence taught to him by his grandfather. In his Architects of Peace essay, Arun Gandhi claims that the more possessions we have, "the more we have to secure them from those who covet them."

Explore: The Gandhian Institute in Bombay is a charitable trust dedicated to propagating the writings of M. K. Gandhi. Many of his entire works have been put online, including The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, first published in 1945, the book through which much of the world became aware of his philosophy of nonviolence.

“I think it is fantastic that we are going to have someone with his reputation and background in history speaking on our campus,” stated Denice King, Chair of the International Studies Committee and Associate Professor at CSCC. “TnCIS is a consortium of Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) institutions.   Its purpose is to promote international studies and understanding and to increase the availability of activities to students. CSCC has a long history of sponsoring international studies opportunities. (King said CSCC has two international studies trips being planned for the spring and summer. One is to Europe, and the other is to Chile.) CSCC also sponsors Fiesta Latina, Latin Night and the CSCC Cultural Fairs.”

            Gandhi will be speaking to CSCC students in the morning, and the community is invited to attend the afternoon session at 2:30 p.m. being held in the Foundation Room of the George L. Mathis Student Center. Gandhi will be selling and signing his books during this time for those interested. For more information on the Arun Gandhi speaking engagement or any of the international studies trips, contact Denice King at (423) 472-7141, ext. 344 or email her at dking@clevelandstatecc.edu.