If you enjoyed last year’s Campus Community Book Project featuring Anne Fadiman’s “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down,” start Gandhi’s Way: A Handbook of ConflictResolution,” by Mark Juergensmeyer. The centerpiece of this year’s Community Book Project, Gandhi’s Way hones in on Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of moral action and conflict resolution. While you’re at it, turn on your computer and visit the new Campus Community Book Project Web site. A campus visit from Gandhi’s grandson and a showing of Michael Moore’s film “Bowling for Columbine” are only some of many programs that the Web site features.

Visit the Book Project Web site at to find a variety of events and information about Ghandi’s Way.

The Campus Community Book Project aims to create a common experience for UC Davis community members, and the Web site has proved a vital tool to execute

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this mission. “It has provided momentum for more faculty, staff and student organizations to get involved in this year’s program,” says Karen Roth, coordinator for the Diversity Awareness Education Program. “For example, more faculty members are interested in creating discussion groups and using the book in their classes.”

Despite the program’s focus on campus involvement, you don’t have to carry a UC Davis ID card to get involved. The Web site connects UC Davis to outside communities by providing easily-accessible information about events open to the public.

“The Web site lets people know that the project is simply not a closed campus event” says Roth, who initiated the creation of a Web site for last year’s inaugural Campus Community Book Project.

Jennifer Ng, the Campus Community Relations student assistant, agrees that the main purpose of this website is to make information about the project accessible to whoever is interested. “This way, anyone can enter this website at anytime and find information on the book project,” Ng said.

Ghandi’s Way: A Handbook of Conflict Resolution by Mark Juergensmeyer is this year’s selection for the Campus Community Book Project.

In addition to bringing a diversity of people together on common grounds, the Web site serves as a channel through which people can submit ideas and provide feedback on the Community Book Project. In fact, last year’s pilot Web site helped bring about this year’s choice of book.

“After the UC Davis Bookstore saw the site, they started sending in potential titles for this year’s book project,” Roth says. The Web site also encourages brainstorming for next year’s project by displaying current book nominations. “[It] will be a valuable way to keep the community up-to-date about the selection process,” Roth continues.

Both the 2002 and 2003 Campus Community Book Project Web sites include very detailed information about the book projects, Ng adds. The “Programs, Events and Campus Resources” page includes the times, locations, and descriptions of Book Project events such as movie screenings and workshops. Other pages on the site point to archived articles about the project, a biography of the author, information about the availability of the book, and links related to peaceful conflict resolution. A “Photo Gallery” page awaits pictures from the Book Project events.

One new addition to the Book Project Web site is the “Book Discussion Tools” page. This page is mainly intended for use by the facilitators of the Book Project discussion programs and allows them to access transcripts from various meetings about the book, according to Ng.

Roth says the most important benefit of the Web site is that it draws attention to the book itself. “We really wanted people to read the book before the programs start in the fall, especially [those] who are a little less invested in the book,” Roth said. “If they see all the momentum that has been generated for the book project, it may prompt them to read the book and see what the hype is all about.”