By Alka Tyagi–
The Grawemeyer Award, named for H. Charles Grawemeyer, is given annually by the University of Louisville to people with fresh and pioneering ideas in specific fields.
But this year, when the University of Louisville board of trustees chose Greg Mortenson, author of “Three Cups of Tea” and “Stones into Schools,” for the Grawemeyer Award in Education, he declined, according to a U of L press release on Sept. 16.
Mortenson was chosen on the basis of “his efforts to build schools and educate children, especially girls, in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan,” read the release.
Junior psychology majors Rabia Bardi and Andrew Withington, said they were moved by Mortenson’s great strides across Afghanistan and Pakistan with regard to education.
After observing the scanty conditions of girls studying with sticks and sand, Mortenson began to raise money at his daughter’s school. He asked people to bring pennies, as the smallest contribution, and thus created Pennies for Peace, a branch of which a new RSO was started at U of L last year.
Mortenson’s actions led Bardi and Withington to decide they wanted to make “a greater philanthropic contribution than simply volunteering.”
Although he declined, Mortenson noted it was “a great honor” to be chosen for this award.
In conversation with Provost Shirley Willihnganz, he supplemented by saying “I wish to humbly decline the Grawemeyer Award as a way to acknowledge the dedication and sacrifice of all those who have gone before us and those who continue to promote peace through education,” according to Willihnganz.
Willihnganz explained that given the copious media reports and controversy surrounding the alleged misinformation in some of his writings, Mortenson and the university eventually came to the agreement that “his good ideas would have gotten lost because the media controversy was overshadowing.”
When asked about the controversy and award, Bardi said “potential inconsistencies in the story should not over shadow the fact that he’s made a huge difference and no matter what the controversy, what he has done is extraordinary. Not many people can do what he did.”
