NONVIOLENCE: New director for Gandhi Institute

By Tim Louis Macaluso on November 4, 2009

Kit Miller has been named director of the MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence. She is the organization's third director, and replaces Arun Gandhi, grandson of Indian spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi. | Miller was formerly the director of Oakland, California-based Bay Area Nonviolent Communication, which she grew from a staff of three to 18. | Miller's goals for the MK Gandhi Institute are: to promote nonviolence education and conflict resolution based on Gandhi's writings; to build a peaceful community based on Martin Luther King's work in restorative justice; and to emphasize sustainability through conservation and protection of the environment. | A shortage of resources causes fear and conflict, Miller says. | The Institute is located at the University of Rochester in the Interfaith Chapel. | Arun Gandhi resigned from the Institute two years ago, under fire for a Washington Post blog he authored that was critical of Israel. | "There's no question in my mind that what Arun said on that Washington Post blog was unskillfully said," Miller says. "I'm sadder than I can say. I wish there could have been a way to work through that."