KINGSTON, R.I. – June 28, 2007 – The University of Rhode Island’s Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies is offering a Summer Institute that prepares participants in the art of nonviolent conflict reconciliation. The program will run from July 9 through July 20.

The nonviolence center invites clergy, social activists, counselors, teachers, nonviolence practitioners, students and people who struggle to make sense of the violence within and around them to attend this summer for a series of seminars, programs and workshops.

“Participants will be asked to consider a force more powerful – the active, moral force of nonviolence,” said Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr., the main facilitator of the Institute. “The goal is to manage conflict in a way that avoids the destructive aftermath of recrimination and retaliation.”

LaFayette, a friend and confidant of Martin Luther King, Jr., is a civil rights activist, minister, educator, lecturer and an authority on the strategy on nonviolent social change.

He will be joined by certified trainers Charles Alphin, retired captain of the St. Louis Police Department, formerly with the King Center in Atlanta, Ga., and Rich Tarlaian, retired captain from the Providence Police Department.

There are two levels of the Institute. Level I costs $600. Level II is offered from July 16 through July 20 and costs $350.

For more information or to participate in the Summer Institute, visit www.uri.edu/nonviolence/si2007, email summerinstitute2007@yahoo.com or call 401-439-4912 or 401-323-7851.