During his visit, Walesa was shown a bronze sculpted bust in his image, which will be on permanent display in the recently named Lech Walesa Hall on the NEIU campus. The sculpture was donated to the University by the Polish Arts Club of Chicago.
Nobel Peace prize-winner Lech Walesa is largely responsible for the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. In the 1970s, Walesa worked as an electrician in a Gdansk shipyard and went on to found Solidarity, the independent, noncommunist trade union in Poland. Led by Walesa’s vision and courage, Solidarity fought a peaceful revolution for the dignity of human labor in the Eastern Bloc. Because of Walesa and the union’s efforts, the establishment of a noncommunist government in Poland was initiated in 1989. The following year, Walesa was elected President of the Republic of Poland, an office he served until 1995. Walesa’s election to this post served as a striking victory for anti-communist candidates and led to a succession of anti-communist revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe.
Named the “Most Diverse University in the Midwest” by U.S. News and World Report, Northeastern Illinois University serves more than 11,000 students in the Chicago area. The University is strongly tied to the Polish community and is a leading institution of higher education in the United States in the area of student exchange programs with Poland.