A steady stream of excited youngsters filed into the University of Hawaii’s Stan Sheriff Center late this morning, anticipating the Dalai Lama’s 1:45 p.m. appearance. They were being warned of high security and told they couldn’t bring in anything that wouldn’t fit in their pockets. No bags, not even any purses.

Jayson Barba, a 28-year-old Fulbright scholar from the Philippines, is here working on second language studies. He said he hoped to be inspired on “how to work on peace and hopefully also convince people war has no option in the world.”

Twenty-four-year-old Julie Jezequel, an intern with the Hawaii Institute for Human Rights and a French student, said she works on issues with indigenous peoples. Asked why she was coming to see the Dalai Lama speak, she said, “just to see him because people say he has an aura or something about him. Not just what he’s going to say, but what he’s going to bring in the atmosphere.”

Many of the attendees were college and high school students. Maggie Desmond, a 25-year-old teacher at Nanakuli High School, said 10 students and six staffers took a long bus ride to the center. She said she hoped her students would get messages of peace as well as be inspired by the environment.

“Apart from hearing and seeing the Dalai Lama speak I just am always excited when they get to be in this environment, when they get to be on a college campus and they get to interact with people who are not necessarily where they’re from and they can hear different perspectives. Thats what I’m excited about.”

— Michael Levine