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Dear Arthur,
Once again, we have a number of events coming up in
the near future and lots of news about them, as well as
some key activities that occurred over the past few
days. We'll be brief, except where we are not.
In addition to reading our newsletters, you may also
want to visit our
web site by clicking here. We have a good deal of
current information, and through the year we will be
working on building up our archives from previous
years.
The U.S., U.N., Iraq, & the American Public
Last Friday evening, September 20, a Town Hall
meeting on the U.S. and Iraq was held at the University
City library. Crowd estimates ranged up to 430 citizens
present. Among them were a half dozen students from
Gateway Model United Nations.
Almost all present expressed their opposition to
unilateral U.S. intervention to effect a "regime change"
in Iraq. This was to be expected, considering the
nature of the group.
Elected officials and candidates had been invited. The
only official to show up was 1st District Congressman
William Lacey Clay. He was very direct in his comments
and expressed strong opposition to U.S. military action
against Iraq. A representative from Senator Jean
Carnahan's campaign also made the effort to appear;
he expressed a very non-committal position on her
behalf.
A number of other events are planned for citizens who
want to express their views against the actions that
President George W. Bush has suggested. This coming
Saturday, September 28, there will be a rally from 2:00
PM - 4:00 PM against the war at the steps of Old
Courthouse in downtown St. Louis.
An editorial comment:....and this may be
somewhat redundant for those who were at last
Saturday's country draft:
We encourage Model U.N. students -- all young people -
- to become actively engaged in the political process.
When apathy engulfs the people in a democracy, the
system may as well be tyranny. It is inspiring to see
that more people -- particularly young people -- are
getting involved in the question of what action (if any)
the U.S. should take against Iraq.
Gateway Model U.N. and Civitas Associates do not take
a particular stand on this issue. It is important that we
at least try to maintain some semblance of
neutrality.
However, there are some words that we would like to
share about the act of public political protesting. We
had the good fortune of going to college in Washington,
DC during the period of the Vietnam war. We observed
many demonstrations. We often found it ironic that
those who felt that they were being responsible in
protesting the policies of their government often
personally acted in an irresponsible fashion. We
remember a march in November, 1967 (designed to
have the force of the march cause the Pentagon
building to levitate one foot off the ground ???) where
protesters decided to "liberate" the street vendors.
These vendors were individuals in the Washington, DC
area trying to scrap out a living by selling candy, ice
cream, soft drinks, etc. to the demonstrators. In more
than one case, the protesters "liberated" the vendors;
meaning that they accosted them and threw all the
candy and other items out to others in the crowd. In
the name of justice and non-violence, certain
protesters were stealing and engaging in thuggery.
Many protesters carried signs that were so outrageous
that when they were seen on television, they only
strengthened the resolve of those supporting the war.
We chose to never participate in these marches (only
observe them) because the conduct of many
demonstrators was anything but representative of
peace and justice. This may have been a minority, but
it was still significant and very visible.
We urge that anyone who goes to Saturday's
demonstration (or any other protest or meeting for that
matter) act in a fashion that will advance the cause
that they purport to support. The media will glom right
on to the unusual, the erratic, the theatric, the non-
intellectual. The current situation regarding what
actions the U.S. takes against Iraq may carry on for
some time. We urge all who exercise their right to
participate in the democratic process do so with
integrity and thoughtfulness. The stakes are too
serious for frivolity!
Specific information on the rally as supplied to
us by Rosati-Kain Junior Laura Casey:
Meet at the Old Courthouse on Market, in between 4th
and Boardway. It's at the east end of Kiener Plaza.
Meet on the steps of the Old Courthouse facing the
Arch.
A coalition of (I believe) 11 different peace groups and
other organizations have organized this and will be
there. I believe multiple senators and representatives
have again been invited to speak, but don't quote me
on that.
I'll be there. Hopefully we can organize and make it a
UN event too. I know the seniors have their college
counseling gig in the morning until noon, so maybe we
could make it a big day. Everybody meets around noon
at Crossroads, we all go to lunch somewhere, and then
take the link down to the Old Courthouse. It would be
fun. Hope to see some of you there!
More Photos from the Town Hall Meeting
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Video from Discussion on Iraq |
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Last Saturday, (Sept. 21, 2002), we had our 2002-
2003 Country Draft [next story]. Following the country
draft, we had a lively discussion about the Friday night
Town Meeting on Iraq, this Saturday's planned
demonstration, and general thoughts on the U.S., the
U.N., and Iraq. Below is six and a half minutes of video
from the discussion.
Video on Iraq Discussion following Country Draft �
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High School Country Draft Successful! |
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We want to thank all of the teachers and students who
came to last Saturday's Gateway Model United Nations
country draft. Students from sixteen schools selected
fifty countries to represent in the General Assembly.
All fifteen countries in the Security Council were also
selected for representation.
We want to thank everyone for being so thoughtful and
deliberative in their selections. We have a good
representation of General Assembly countries, and for
those schools that feel they can take on more
countries, one hundred forty countries still remain.
We remind you that a school needs at least three and
possibly four students to represent each country that
it selects. We have three General Assembly
committees: POLITICAL & SECURITY, ECONOMIC &
SOCIAL, and HUMAN RIGHTS. Additionally, we will have
the SECURITY COUNCIL as well as possibly one or two
other small committees.
Where in the world is Egypt?. We know that
Egypt was one of the countries selected in the draft.
However, we are not sure what school took it. If you
know, please E-Mail or phone us to let us know.
More photos from the draft are available by
clicking here
You can click on the link below to access the country
rosters for 2002-2003.
Country Selection for 2002-2003 �
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On-Line Registration now available for College Workshop |
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Civitas is providing a special workshop for high school
seniors with information about both selecting colleges
and enhancing one's chances to receive substantial
financial aid. The workshop is this Saturday,
September 28 from 9:00 AM - 12:00 Noon at
Crossroads School
click here for map.
Presenters will include Joan Graviss, college counselor
at Crossroads School; Roz Lowenhaupt, Director of the
Independent Schools College Placement Center; and
Faith Sandler, Director of the Scholarship Foundation of
St. Louis.
We will take the first twenty-five seniors who respond
to this (and other) invitations to attend. You can
register by filling out a very simple on-line form. Just
go to the link at the bottom of this article to get to the
registration page.
We encourage all seniors in our program who are
looking for ways to enhance their college prospects to
consider coming to this workshop. The information will
in all likelihood be new and different to you -- a
combination of valuable resources delivered in an
informal but caring fashion. Students who are
interested in receiving more individualized help through
this program can pursue that possibility at the end of
the meeting.
Link to Sign-up Page for Civitas Workshop on Colleges �
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On-line Application Now Available for U.N. & Africa Conference |
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Our first major conference of the year will be a two-
day session on the United Nations and Africa. It will be
at the Clayton Radisson Hotel from 5:30 PM on Friday,
October 18 - 5:30 PM on Saturday, October 19.
Initial information and an on-line application form are
now available. You can access them by clicking on the
link at the bottom of this article. This is going to be an
outstanding conference which will touch on the myriad
of issues facing the African continent: AIDS, tribal
warfare, corrupt and tyrannical leadership, hunger, lack
of basic services such as food, health care, education,
housing, etc.
We thank the forty-one students who have submitted
application forms. We can accept nineteen more. If
you want to participate, we urge you to submit your
application form immediately!
For those of you who have already applied, we will
announce country selections in next week's newsletter!
Description of and Application for U.N. & Africa Conference �
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Workshop for High School students on Thursday, Oct. 3 |
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This is an item that we should have been giving
more "play" to. It is our annual Fall workshop for high
school students. It will be one week from this
Thursday, October 3, at the E. Desmond Lee
Technology Center on the south campus of the
University of Missouri, St. Louis from 9:00 AM - 2:30
PM.
There will be two main foci to the workshop:
1. To introduce new delegates to information on the
United Nations and its role in global affairs, as well as
how to become an effective delegate in a Model
U.N.
2. To work on the multitude of computers in the
Technology Center, allowing students to do research
on the U.N., global issues, countries that they will be
representing in our model U.N.s, and countries that
they may be representing in the Africa conference.
The cost of the conference is $5.00 per student. This
includes doughnuts, bagels, and juice at the opening as
well as a pizza lunch!
The maximum number of students that we can take is
seventy-five. Since this will involve a day off of
regular school (sigh!), we ask that teachers contact us
with reservations. They may E-Mail us at
[email protected] or call us at (314) 367-6480. We
would like to have reservations made by this coming
Monday, September 30.
Much more information on this conference will be made
available on our web site this coming week and will also
be published in next week's newsletter.
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High School "Dinner & Movie" this Friday Night! |
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This Friday night, September 27, we will be having our
first high school dinner and evening at the movies of
the year. It will be at the Chase-Park Plaza complex at
Lindell & Kingshighway in the Central West End (map
link below).
We will meet at 6:00 PM in the lobby of the CHASE!
We'll have dinner at the Tenderloin Room (a mere $5.00
for you) and then take in a movie at the Chase Cine.
In order to make dinner plans, we need to know who is
planning on coming. We can take a maximum of 20
people. If you are planning on coming, please E-Mail us
and let us know how many will be in your "party."
Map to Chase Park Plaza �
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If you have been having trouble with our intranet..... |
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If you have been having trouble with our intranet, we
have tried to simplify the password issue. We are also
sending out fresh invitations to those who have been
trying to join and having difficulties. Anyone else who
would like to join may request an invitation from the
web site:
.
Even if you don't join, you may engage in the lively
discussions, the topical polls, etc. We encourage you
to use the tools on this intranet site!
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Chrissy Kirchhoefer to be at October 5 discussion. |
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Chrissy Kirchhoefer has been active in opposing U.S.
intervention in Iraq. Last May she visited Iraq and
provided humanitarian assistance to civilians. Chrissy's
work was the subject of Bill McClellan's column
in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on
Wednesday, September 18. You can access the
article by clicking on the link below. Chrissy will also be
meeting with our Model U.N. group at its discussion on
Saturday, October 5. She is a graduate of member
school Rosati-Kain High School.
Bill McClellan article on Chrissy Kirchhoefer �
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