Liberian president to speak at Lilly Library

In a speech at the Lilly Library on Friday, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is expected to talk about the “current challenges facing Liberia,” said Patrick O’Meara, IU’s vice president for international affairs.\nSirleaf will give the speech before she is presented with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree during IU’s commencement ceremony Saturday. Sirleaf, the first female president in Africa, will speak at 4 p.m. Friday in the Lilly Library’s Lincoln Room.\nAfter giving a press conference at 3:30 p.m., Sirleaf will look at different items from the Lilly Library and the Liberian Collections Project, said Verlon Stone, the project’s coordinator. The Liberian Collections Project officially started in 1999 and aims to “collect, preserve and make available a comprehensive range of materials and information about Liberia,” according to the project’s Web site. Stone said the project creates a unique bond between the University and Liberia.\n“It’s the largest academic collection of Liberian materials,” he said. “(We’re) working with a number of Liberian institutions on archival projects.”\nSirleaf attended the College of West Africa in Monrovia, Liberia and received degrees in accounting and economics from two U.S. colleges and a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard, according to an IU press release. After an era of unrest, Sirleaf was sworn in as Liberia’s first woman president in 2006 in a democratic election facilitated by the United Nations.\nFaculty member Amos Sawyer, who was Liberia’s interim president from 1990 to 1994, chairs the Governance Reform Commission in Liberia.\n“As Africa’s first woman president, a lifetime champion of human rights and democratic governance, and an internationally celebrated development expert, President Sirleaf has been honored and continues to be honored by academic institutions and development-oriented organizations around the world. Indiana University is in good company in doing her this honor,” Sawyer said in the press release.\nO’Meara said while he didn’t have the details of what Sirleaf would discuss, he thinks Sirleaf will talk about her experience rebuilding Liberia.\n“They’ve been through a difficult time and a civil war,” he said. “There’s been damage done to the infrastructure.”\nAfter her speech Friday, Sirleaf will receive her honorary degree at Saturday’s first commencement session at 10 a.m. and will be present for the second session at 3 p.m.