Forty students came to the Institute of Politics (IOP) Tuesday for the beginning of a two-month study of the Irish peace process.

The IOP study group, led by former Irish ambassador and current IOP Heffernan Fellow Jean Kennedy Smith, focuses on the history and current status of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Kennedy Smith said she decided to lead her study group because it is "something young people are very interested in."

"I'm not an expert in this at all," admitted Kennedy Smith, sister of U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 (D-Mass.). "The best way to make this course interesting was to bring people in who did know."

The seven-week program is filled with speakers from Ireland, all of whom are involved in the peace process in one way or another.

Yesterday's speaker, Irish Senator Maurice Manning, gave the attendees a broad history of the conflict and its roots, a foundation that future speakers will build upon.

"Today, we take for granted that Sein Fein will visit the [British] Prime Minister at 10 Downing St.," said the former Speaker of the Irish House. He went on to remind the audience that such was not always the case.

"When the current trouble started in 1969, there was no common ground," he said.

Manning blamed the British government for missing opportunities early on in the conflict to resolve the situation peacefully.

"Neither the House of Commons nor the British government took any interest," he said. That missed opportunity, Manning asserted, caused the years of bloodshed in Northern Ireland.

Manning focused mostly on the sea change that has occurred in Ireland in the last few years.

"For the first time ever, both sides have voted for the same solution," he said.

Manning is optimistic about the future, saying leaders are confident that peace can be attained.

He sees the key to future progress as the two sides discussing small issues at first. If the Catholics and Protestants can begin to agree on issues like housing and education, he said, then real progress towards peace can be made--progress which might eventually lead to a reunited Ireland.

The 40 study group attendees hailed from a variety of backgrounds: undergraduates, teachers, alumni, military personnel--even a visiting Canadian couple who grew up in Ireland.

T. Malcolm Campbell and his wife Vivienne L. Campbell were touring Harvard's campus when they noticed posters advertising the study group.

"[Manning is] a southern Catholic; we're here as northern Protestants and there wasn't a lot I could disagree with," Malcolm Campbell said. "That shows how things have changed."

Kennedy Smith said she hopes the lessons learned from her study group can be applied to future world trouble spots like Kosovo.

"We can learn from this conflict.... It is a problem we're going to face more and more," she said.

The study group will meet for the next six weeks from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays at the IOP.