Susie P. Gonzalez

210-999-8406

susie.gonzalez@trinity.edu

FORMER POLISH LEADER LECH WALESA COMING TO TRINITY ON OCT. 22; GORBACHEV POSTPONES LECTURE UNTIL 2002

Oct. 10, 2001 — Lech Walesa, who is synonymous with the Solidarity trade union movement of Poland in the 1980s and who later served as that country's first democratically elected president, will speak at Trinity University's Laurie Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 22. Mr. Walesa's lecture, titled “Faith and Democracy,” is free and open to the public. Mr. Walesa will launch the University’s 2001-02 Distinguished Lecture Series instead of Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union from 1985-91 and who had been scheduled to appear here on Oct. 22. Mr. Gorbachev cited security concerns after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States as the reason for postponing what was to have been a two-week speaking tour in this country. That tour has been rescheduled for Spring 2002, and Mr. Gorbachev is now to present his remarks at Trinity on April 17. Auditorium doors will open to the public at 6:45 p.m. Audience members are asked to enter through Doors 2-6. One door - Door 4 - will open at 6:30 p.m. for the faculty, staff, and students of Trinity University. Mr. Walesa rose to power during a 1980 shipyard strike in Gdansk, Poland. As the leader of workers who demanded the right to organize free and independent trade unions, he scaled the shipyard walls and delivered a stirring speech atop a bulldozer. The resulting movement that sprung up around him was called Solidarity and spawned a social revolution. For his heroism, Mr. Walesa was named Man of the Year (1981) by Time magazine, The Financial Times, The London observer, Die Welt, Die Zeit, L’Express, and Le Soir. However, the Solidarity movement foundered for two years, and ultimately was outlawed by the government, whose leaders ordered Mr. Walesa arrested and jailed. Soon after his release, the movement continued as an underground organization. Gradually, Solidarity regained its legal status and was invited to form a coalition government with the Communist Party. In the resulting elections, Solidarity won nearly every race and Mr. Walesa was chosen president. In office, he set Poland on the path to becoming a free-market democracy. By planting the seeds of freedom, Mr. Walesa made Poland a model of economic and political reform for the rest of Eastern Europe. He now heads the Lech Walesa Institute, which advances the ideals of democracy and free market reform. The Distinguished Lecture Series is made possible by an endowment gift from Mr. and Mrs. Walter F. Brown of San Antonio. More details on Mr. Gorbachev's lecture will be made available as April 17 nears. For more information, call the Office of Public Relations at (210) 999-8406.

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Last updated on October 10, 2001 by the Office of Public Relations