Kenyan environmental activist will be Commencement speaker

Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, will be CC’s 88th Commencement keynote speaker.

Just a week ago, Maathai addressed 1,500 parliamentarians from around the world at a meeting in her native Kenya . The group discussed weapons proliferation, women’s rights and global environmental issues, according to published reports.

Addressing the 114th Session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Maathai said developing countries need not only peace, but also to manage their resources in a sustainable manner.

“As parliamentarians, we could legislate laws that protect the environment rather do politics with our resources,” said Maathai. “People do not have the capacity to exploit natural resources to their benefit because they lack capital and skills, hence governments should protect them rather than encouraging people with money to exploit the resources.”

The Fuller-Maathai Professorship in Gender and Women’s Studies, which is held by Mab Segrest, was established by Connecticut College in 1997 with support from Cynthia Fuller Davis ’66. The name was chosen by a committee of faculty, students and alumni to honor both Maathai and Margaret Fuller, a prominent 19th century social and political thinker who is also one of Davis ’ ancestors. Davis will be awarded the College Medal, CC’s highest honor, at Commencement for her support of sustainability, justice and peace.

Maathai, a veterinary science professor and environmentalist, is internationally recognized for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation. She is the founder of the grassroots Green Belt Movement, which was created in 1977 to curtail the effects of deforestation and desertification in Kenya. Today, more than 30 million trees have been planted across Kenya , and similar initiatives have been successfully launched in Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Lesotho, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. The movement has gone on to campaign for education, nutrition and other issues important to women.

She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, and was praised by the committee for taking “a holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights and women’s rights in particular.” In addition to being the first African woman to win the prize, Maathai is also the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, the first woman in Kenya to hold an associate professorship and the first woman in Kenya to chair an academic department.

In 2002, GWS and the Goodwin-Niering Center for Conservation Biology and Environmental Studies sponsored Maathai to lecture about the Green Belt Movement and women’s rights.

Later that year Maathai was elected to Kenya’s parliament with 98 percent of the vote, and was subsequently appointed as assistant minister for environment, natural resources and wildlife in Kenya’s parliament.

The College expects more than 4,000 guests to attend this year’s Commencement ceremony. It is scheduled to begin on the College green at 10 a.m.

In keeping with CC tradition, seniors will process through a “laurel chain” — a pathway lined on both sides by junior-class women dressed in white holding chains of laurel. Each graduate will receive a pine sapling representing the tree on the College seal.

A brunch on the Library Green will follow the graduation ceremony from noon to 2 p.m. Baccalaureate, a reception for legacy families and other ceremonies take place on Saturday, May 20. See the complete schedule of events and what to do in case of rain.