By BRIAN ETTKIN, Staff writer First published in print: Monday, April 6, 2009
The Dalai Lama has canceled his scheduled April appearances in Albany, apparently because of negative publicity connected to the sponsoring organization.
In a Sunday e-mail to the Times Union, Tenzin Dickyi, a special assistant to the representative of the Dalai Lama in the New York-based Office of Tibet, stated, "His Holiness's visit to Albany has been canceled."
Times Union Publisher George R. Hearst III, president of the University at Albany Foundation, a fundraising arm of UAlbany, where the Dalai Lama had been scheduled to appear, said he received a similar message by e-mail from Tenzin Taklha, joint secretary of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in India, confirming the cancellation.
The Dalai Lama's April 18 to 22 appearances — with events set for UAlbany, The College of Saint Rose and the Times Union Center — were to be presented by the Ethical Humanitarian Foundation. Its trustees and the event organizers, Sara and Clare Bronfman, the Seagram liquor heiresses, are affiliated with NXIVM, a Colonie-based company that conducts personal-growth training courses. Keith Raniere, the EHF's "conceptual founder," is the founder of NXIVM.
Detractors say NXIVM (pronounced NEX-ee-um) is a cultlike organization that employs psychologically damaging mind-control techniques. Raniere's supporters say those accusations are unfounded. Numerous media accounts in recent years have pointed to the controversy surrounding Raniere, including those last week in the Times Union, Albany Student Press and The Daily Gazette.
"The negative press surrounding NXIVM and NXIVM's association with the Dalai Lama's visit has caused them to rethink the appropriateness of the visit," said Hearst, who met with Taklha when he visited Albany last week.
Before starting NXIVM, Raniere ran a company called Consumers Buyline that closed after investigations by 23 states and two federal agencies alleged it was a pyramid scheme. Raniere reached a monetary settlement with New York state in which he admitted no wrongdoing.
Taklha "was not excited to cancel," said Hearst. "He was really hoping to go forward, but … there's enough stuff out there that (they) don't need to expose His Holiness to this kind of risk."
The EHF's sponsorship of the Dalai Lama's scheduled appearances in Albany was unusual because most of his upcoming U.S. appearances are sponsored by universities and Tibetan cultural organizations. Demand for speaking appearances by His Holiness at U.S. universities is high. Yet Skidmore College and RPI declined the EHF's offer to host the Dalai Lama. UAlbany accepted the offer, renting out use of SEFCU Arena and Page Hall.
"It was an opportunity for us to introduce a Nobel Peace Prize winner to our students and faculty," said UAlbany's vice president for development, Fardin Sanai, who noted, "We had a precondition that by no means were we going to allow NXIVM to be part of our relationship with the Dalai Lama. … NXIVM and the organization were not going to have any part with dealing with our students, or advertising or recruiting. It was not going to be allowed on our campus.".....................................http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=787415
Oh darn, I'll have to get my tickets refunded....... NOT!
When I first heard that the Lama was coming to Albany, I was surprised that there was even enough support for him. Guess there wasn't after all.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
ALBANY Dalai Lama coming to area after all Controversial group says that it is still sponsoring his visit BY LEE COLEMAN Gazette Reporter
The Dalai Lama may be coming to the Capital Region after all. Several weeks ago, it appeared that the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet would be visiting the Times Union Center and the University at Albany during the week of April 20-24. However, this visit, which was being sponsored by the World Ethical Foundations Consortium, was cancelled. The Dalai Lama’s representatives in New York City, The Offi ce of Tibet, gave no specific reason for the cancellation. Now the Palace Theater, at 19 Clinton Ave. in Albany, says it will be hosting the Dalai Lama on May 6. The Dalai Lama has never visited Albany before. “He is scheduled to be here May 6,” said Sean Allen, marketing manager for the historic, 2,800-seat Palace Theater. “The details will be forthcoming,” Allen said. Allen said details such as the cost of the tickets, the time of the Dalai Lama’s appearance and when tickets will go on sale will be announced in the coming days. One of the reasons the Dalai Lama couldn’t be in Albany the week of April 20-24 is that he will be in California on April 24, giving talks at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Allen said. The Dalai Lama’s schedule according to his own Web site (www.dalailama.com) for May includes stops in Boston on May 1 and May 2, a public talk and teaching in New York City on May 3 and May 4 and then the stop in Albany. The stop in Albany is described as “a public talk in Albany.” “His Holiness will give a public talk on ‘The Need for Spirituality in the 21st Century’ at the Albany Palace Theater,” his Web site says. The canceled April stop in Albany was never listed on the Dalai Lama’s Web site. The sponsor of his May 6 visit is not listed on his Web site, but the World Ethical Foundations Consortium said on its Web site this week that the consortium is “delighted” that the Dalai Lama has “rescheduled his visit to Albany, despite media reports that the event was canceled. “This historical visit, His Holiness’ first public appearance in Albany, organized by Sara Bronfman and Clare Bronfman and sponsored by the World Ethical Foundations Consortium, is now set for May 6, 2009,” states the Web site http://www.worldethicalfoundations.org. The “conceptual founder” of the World Ethical Foundations is Keith Raniere, a controversial Clifton Park businessman who also has founded several personal and professional training organizations that some cult experts have charged exhibit “cult-like characteristics.” The 14th Dalai Lama was born in 1935 to a farming family in a small hamlet in northeastern Tibet and is the spiritual leader of that nation. In 1959, with the suppression of ................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01303
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