Congratulations to Anna Kaminski recipient of the Inna Meiman Human Rights Award and Tenzin Pelkyi, who was awarded the Sullivan Ballou Award in a ceremony among family, friends and University faculty on Friday, April 20, 2012.
Each award, carrying a $1,000 scholarship, recognizes a University of Minnesota undergraduate student who embodies a commitment to human rights and has worked tirelessly to address human rights abuses.
Read article in Minnesota Daily by clicking here.
The Inna Meiman Award is given in recognition of the friendship between Inna Meiman, a Soviet era Jewish refusenik who was repeatedly denied a visa to seek medical treatment, and Lisa Paul, a graduate of the University of Minnesota who fought tirelessly on her behalf, including a 25-day hunger strike that galvanized a movement for Inna's freedom. The friendship between Paul and Meiman is memorialized in the book, Swimming in the Daylight: An American Student, a Soviet-Jewish Dissident, and the Gift of Hope.
The Sullivan Ballou Award is named after Major Sullivan Ballou, an Army soldier killed at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. Ballou became the inspiration for this award because of the heartfelt commitment he expressed in a letter to his wife before the battle. The award carries on Ballou's spirit by honoring a student who devotes heartfelt energy to those around them.
The presentation included brief remarks by Lisa Paul, Elissa Peterson (founding member of the Sullivan Ballou Fund), and Professor Joachim Savelsberg (Advisory Board member of the Human Rights Program).
Sponsored by: Human Rights Program, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
