“It was a privilege to attend a wonderful tribute to the late Senator Richard Lugar, our school’s namesake, as a statue of him was unveiled in Indianapolis,” said Dean John Ciorciari, who attended the event with 19 HLS students.
Lugar’s lasting impact is memorialized on both the Indiana University campus and in the city of Indianapolis. Lugar served as the city’s mayor from 1968-1976, then represented the state as a U.S. senator from 1977-2013. When Indiana University created a new School of Global and International Studies within the College of Arts and Sciences in 2013, Lugar and former Rep. Lee Hamilton both joined the school’s faculty. Five years later, the university announced the naming of the School of Global and International Studies in honor of Hamilton and Lugar.
In 2018, Indianapolis dedicated a space on the south side of the City-County Building as the Richard G. Lugar Plaza. As of this month, the Lugar Plaza is now home to the latest tribute to his legacy – a seven-foot likeness of the late senator which will be surrounded by bronze tablets featuring some of his most famous quotes and highlighting his public service.
“Live and recorded speeches from prominent Republicans and Democrats praised Lugar for virtues we hope to embody and instill at HLS,” said Ciorciari. “He set a great example of what it means to lead with intelligence, decency, openness, and a strong ethical compass.”
The statue – and the festivities surrounding its dedication – were the brainchild of Lugar’s former chief of staff, Jim Morris. After Lugar’s passing in 2019, Morris spent five years diligently spearheading the creation of a suitable tribute to his legacy. Unfortunately, Morris passed away just two months before the statue’s official unveiling, but he had already made provisions for Hamilton Lugar School students to attend the event.
“Morris was a respected humanitarian leader and friend of IU, and had similar traits to Lugar,” said Ciorciari. “He worked tirelessly to arrange for this celebration before his recent passing. He graciously invited HLS students to attend the ceremony and lunch conversation between former Governor Mitch Daniels and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.”
Macey Montgomery, a junior International Law and Institutions major, was one of the students representing HLS at the event. “The value that Senator Lugar held for civil discourse is one that I truly hope to embody in the future,” she said, “it meant the world to me to attend this tribute to one of my biggest inspirations.”
Although Montgomery was already inspired by Lugar, she said, “I didn’t truly understand how vast his impact was until I witnessed all of the incredible statements about him from important figures in our nation’s history.”
Erik Dabelko, a first-year International Studies major, also gained a greater appreciation for Lugar through the events. “Although I had known some information previously about Senator Lugar,” he said, “his work on the dismantling of nuclear capabilities in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union was a part of his work which I was not aware of before.”
The 1991 Soviet Threat Reduction Act, authored by Lugar and Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia, was designed to secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction and their infrastructure in the former states of the Soviet Union. Commonly referred to as the Nunn-Lugar Act, it is an important part of the late senator’s legacy.
During his career, Lugar had a significant impact in other areas as well. “During the luncheon I also spoke with a former colleague of Senator Lugar who shared his experiences of working with the Senator to obtain monetary commitments for the distribution of healthcare materials abroad during the HIV/AIDS crisis,” said Dabelko.
The students attending the event were thankful that Morris made a point to ensure representatives from the Hamilton Lugar School could attend the event. “During the unveiling of the statue, you could genuinely feel the excitement and appreciation fill the venue,” said Montgomery. “I think this moment was one I will remember forever.”
For senior International Studies major Mahi Patel, attending the event helped her see the real-world legacies of the people and events she has been studying. “The most memorable part of the event was hearing all of the speeches from influential people such as Condoleezza Rice about Senator Lugar’s history of bipartisanship and how his work has affected all of our lives.” she said. “His work on nuclear disarmament makes my reality safer.”
