2006 Truman Scholar Zachary Manfredi is passionate about political justice.
Fighting for justice: Emory’s eleventh Truman Scholar
Zachary Manfredi 07C is living proof that 1960s-era college student activism is alive and well.
His passion for political justice and human rights has earned Manfredi a 2006 Truman Scholarship. He is one of just seventy-five students chosen from nearly six hundred nominations for the fellowship, created to foster careers in government and public service. Scholars from around the nation are selected on the basis of leadership potential, intellectual ability, and the likelihood of making a difference. Manfredi is the eleventh Truman Scholar from Emory and the first since 2002.
Manfredi is president of Emory’s Amnesty International chapter and
founder and president of the Student Activist Coalition. He also has worked as an intern in the democracy program at the Carter Center, where he supported civil society building programs and election monitoring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, and Haiti.
A special focus for Manfredi has been the continuing crisis in Darfur, Sudan, which led him to cofound Paperclips for Peace in Sudan, a nonprofit that has raised about $6,000 so far for humanitarian relief. The organization is named for Norwegians who wore paperclips on their clothing during World War II to protest the identification tags Jews were forced to wear, which founders liken to the Sudanese government’s oppression; in April, Emory students made chains with paperclips and beads and sold them for a donation of $1.
“Ever since I was really young, I’ve been passionate about political justice, due in large part to the values my parents instilled in me,” says Manfredi, who is from Rochester, Michigan. “So I’ve tried to do whatever I can in small ways to make the world a more just place.”
After he finishes his Emory degree in international studies and philosophy, Manfredi plans to pursue both a law degree and a PhD in political philosophy, focusing on cases of war crimes, political prosecutions, and genocide. As a Truman Scholar, Manfredi will receive $30,000 for graduate study, as well as priority admission and supplemental financial aid at select graduate institutions, leadership training, career counseling, and special internship opportunities with the federal government.
In addition to his activist work, Manfredi was a member of the Barkley Forum debate team and continues to volunteer with the Urban Debate League. A Goodrich C. White Scholar, he has maintained a near-perfect GPA and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society last fall.—P.P.P.
For more information on the 2006 Truman Scholarships, see www.truman.gov.
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