Origins The University of Rochester has long been home to a community of nonviolent thinkers, many of them introduced to nonviolence and brought together by a popular freshman philosophy course called The Philosophy, History, and Practice of Nonviolence. In October of 2006, many of these students attended a speech by Arun Gandhi in the campus' Interfaith Chapel. Excited by rumors that the M.K.
Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence would be moving to campus and inspired by Gandhi's words, the students gathered together after the speech to discuss the possibility of founding a student society promoting nonviolence as a lifestyle and, thus, Nonviolent on Campus (NOC) was born, soon gaining recognition as an official student organization.1 Mission NOC's mission is to foster nonviolence amongst its members and in the community (nonviolence being loosely defined as a commitment to not harming others physically or emotionally, with the understanding that this definition will vary from person to person). One important facet of this philosophy is its active implementation—nonviolence is not merely the passive abstention from violence; it is the cultivation of positive understanding and compassion.
NOC accomplishes this active implementation through education, critical examination and practical application of nonviolence. The group meets twice weekly, one of those meetings devoted to dialogue aimed at expanding members' knowledge of nonviolence and the other meeting devoted to planning events both on and off campus.2 Trailer/PSA http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=KETfRU3GzMQ