Colgate students packed into Lathrop Hall Monday night 30 minutes before the guest speaker was to begin.

When Helen Sperling entered the room she implored the standing students to try and find empty seats, asking them not to make her feel guilty because she had a lot to say.

Sperling is a Polish Jew and a Holocaust survivor. She has been speaking publicly about the Holocaust for 44 years, long before the public took an active interest in it.

As a young student, Colgate University professor Peter Balakian's curiosity about his family roots led him on a personal and intellectual journey. Balakian has spent decades unraveling his Armenian ancestry and, in the process, educating the world about the atrocities of the Armenian genocide.

Now, the Armenian government is recognizing Balakian, the Constance H. and Donald M. Rebar Professor in the Humanities and professor of English at Colgate.