The Goldstein Lecture on Human Rights 2009, "Hope for Darfur,"  will be presented by Brian Steidle, co-author of The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur; former Marine Captain and executive director of HOPE (Helping Other People Everywhere). The lecture will be held Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 7:00 p.m. in the Thompson Alumni Center on the University of Nebraska at Omaha campus.

Brian Steidle grew up living around the world as the son of a naval officer.  He graduated with a B.S. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University in 1999 and received a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps as an infantry officer.  He completed his service with the USMC at the end of 2003 as a Captain. 

In January 2004, he accepted a contract position with the Joint Military Commission in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan working on the North-South ceasefire, now a peace treaty.  Within seven months he worked his way up from a Team Leader to the Senior Operations Officer.  In September 2004, Brian was then invited to serve in Darfur as an unarmed military observer and U.S. representative to the African Union.  He was one of only three Americans serving with a coalition of African countries monitoring the ceasefire between the two African rebel groups and the Government of Sudan.  After six months, Brian’s conscience would no longer allow him to stand by without taking further action, and he became convinced that he could be more effective by bringing the story of what he witnessed to the world.

Since Brian's return from Darfur, he has spoken at over 500 public awareness events in communities and at universities across the country, including Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and UCLA.  He has testified in the US Congress and the UK Parliament, and continues to advise Non-Governmental Organizations, Government Agencies and the International Criminal Court on such subjects as intelligence gathering, NGO operations, AU effectiveness, war crimes, and Sudanese Government military operations.   

Save Darfur Coalition sponsored a special speaking tour in Spring 2006 which took Brian 22,000 miles across our nation for over 50 events. Brian has met with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, U.S. Ambassador and Alternate Representative to the UN on Special Policy Issues Holliday, and U.S. Ambassador to the UN on War Crimes Prosper.  He has spoken before the UN Human Rights Commission, the British House of Commons, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Senate Republican Steering Committee, and he has officially testified before the Human Rights and Africa Subcommittee of the Congressional Foreign Relations Committee. He remains an advisor to numerous NGOs regarding their policies on Darfur.

Brian currently serves as the Executive Director of  HOPE (Helping Other People Everywhere), a non-profit organization he founded with his wife Andi Scull Steidle.  HOPE is an energy conscious humanitarian organization focused on involving artists and their contributions in campaigns, programs and events to support existing social projects that promote education and growth around the world.

The Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Lecture is sponsored by the Religious Studies Program at UNO. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend. The Thompson Center is located at 67 th and Dodge on the west edge of the UNO campus.

For more information, please contact William L. Blizek, 554-3347.

Brian Steidle, center, with members of the Sudan Liberation Army.