Spiritual leaders and experts from around the world are gathering at Syracuse University to promote global peace. Two panel discussions, led by the Dalai Lama, will take place on campus as part of the Common Ground for Peace event. Our Brad Vivacqua has the story.

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This is event is being touted as the largest gathering of well known international figures ever in Central New York.

The morning discussion is called "The Rise of Democracy in the Middle East," while the afternoon session is slugged "Shifting the Global Consciousness." The panels will be led by the Dalai Lama and moderated by news correspondent Ann Curry.

Some of the participants in the panels include the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Shirin Ebadi, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Andrew Young.

The goal is to conduct critical conversations about how to shift global consciousness to matters of peace.

"There's a lot of tensions in the world and a lot of animosity, so this is trying to get people to come together to have a better understanding to reach some common ground so that the world is a safer and more harmonious place," said Mark Emery, World Harmony Productions spokesman.

Today's panels and tomorrow’s concerts were made possible by S.U. Trustee Sam Nappi and his group, known as World Harmony Productions, who asked the Dalai Lama to lead this two day event.

These panels are separate from tomorrow's concert, and tickets are still available for that.

The first panel begins at 9 a.m. today. Limited street parking is available, and various parking lots and garages not operated by Syracuse University will be available.

Visit http://oneworld.syr.edu/livestream/symposium.html for more information and to watch the webcast.