Members of the political science and economics departments led a student-faculty panel titled “The Life and Legacy of Nelson Mandela” on Jan. 30 in Academic West.

The discussion is a part of the Pizza & Policy Forum series, hosted by the Bucknell Institute for Public Policy (BIPP) on the third Thursday of each month. The panelists included professor of economics Geoff Schneider, Charles Sackrey, Assistant Professor of Economics Berhanu Nega, and Assistant Professor of Political Science John Doces.

The discussion included personal accounts, historical perspectives, and an economic analysis of the apartheid era, and especially Mandela’s legacy.

Sackrey shared accounts of student activism on campus during the height of apartheid in South Africa. He recalled sit-ins, organized protests, and overall student interest in the University’s divestment in corporations in South Africa. Bucknell Alliance Against Apartheid (BAAA) along with the Association of Bucknell Students (ABS) were able to change the trustees’ investment policies.

Nega expanded upon Mandela’s actions and his treatment of power and put Mandela’s radical ideas into perspective, explaining that at the time, the United States viewed Mandela as a terrorist.

“There is a misconception that there is no life after power,” Nega said.