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VOL. VI, No. 13;  Tuesday, October 24, 2006   

Dear Arthur,


HAPPY U.N. DAY!


Today's newsletter includes (Note: You can now click on the blue hyperlinks below to go directly to the story!):


  1. Excellent U.N. Day Program
  2. High School Discussion This Saturday
  3. Preparation for High School Model U.N.
  4. Barack Obama -- Is This Train Leaving for the White House
  5. China Program & St. Louis Immigrant Programs from Washington U.
  6. UNICEF
  7. Middle School Country Assignments
  8. International Simulation with High School and College Students
  9. Two more weeks to submit essay for Human Rights Contest

 

Civitas Home Page
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 EXCELLENT U.N. DAY PROGRAM LAST NIGHT


Special thanks to Hazel Tamano and Dr. Ron Glossop from our local United Nations Association who arranged for U.N. Foundation Special Advisor Gillian Sorensen to address members last night at the Missouri Historical Society.

Ms. Sorensen, who spoke eloquently without "uhms," "ers," or "whatevers," focused on relations between the United Nations and the United States.  While she painted a somewhat pessimistic view of what is happening in the present, she said that she is optimistic about the future.  In addition, she said that the United Nations continues to do outstanding work in areas of economic and social development and well as broadening human rights, even in an era where there is less than full support for the organization from the United States.

She provided two important items of information that were new to many in the audience:

  1. When she was recently in Hyde Park, NY (summer home of Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt), scholars were engaged in further research regarding a comment by President Roosevelt in 1943 that at the conclusion of World War II, he would have like to have move from president of the United States to secretary-general of the U.N.  However, President Roosevelt died in April, 1945, two months prior to the establishment of the U.N.

  2. When Japan proposed that it become a permanent member of the Security Council (without veto power), the United States supported that measure.  However, China said that it would veto such a move.  An alternate plan was developed with more widespread global support: to add four new permanent countries to the Security Council  -- Japan, Germany, Brazil, and India.  While the U.S. said that it would support Japan, it said that it would veto such membership for Germany, Brazil, and India.

Below is information on Gillian Sorensen.



 

 

High School Discussion Group this Saturday


Our fifth high school discussion group of the 2006-2007 school year is that Saturday at Crossroads School (map) from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM.  This will be our last "open" discussion session until December (November sessions will focus on the high school model U.N.).

While the topics are up to the students, we do have a few topics for discussion:


  • BEIJING, China

(Reuters) -- China launched two satellites into space on Tuesday aboard a Long March-4B carrier rocket, the official Xinhua news agency reported, the latest step in its ambitious space program.

Both satellites successfully entered their orbits after an early morning lift-off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in the northern province of Shanxi, Xinhua said.

In 2003, China put a man in space, becoming only the third country to achieve the feat after the United States and the Soviet Union. It launched a second manned space flight last year, and plans a space walk by 2008.


  • PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania

(Reuters) -- The father of a young football player pulled a gun on his son's coach because he didn't think the boy was getting enough playing time, Philadelphia police said on Monday.

Wayne Derkotch, 40, was charged with aggravated assault after getting in a fight with the coach over the amount of time the boy was getting on the field at a game for 6- and 7-year-olds on Sunday morning, said police spokesman Officer Raul Malveiro.

.... and more!



PREPARATION FOR HIGH SCHOOL MODEL U.N.

Regarding the November 18, 2006 High School Model U.N.: 

  1. You can access the country roster on-line by clicking here.   
     
  2. We want to remind you that we will have three committees of the General Assembly: (a) Political & Security; (b) Economic & Social; and (c) Human Rights.  Each country needs a representative in each of these committees.
  3. For schools that have a country that is on the Security Council, they will need a fourth delegate to be a representative in that committee.

Issues that have been suggested for each of the committees include:
    

Political & Security

Economic & Social

Human Rights

Effects of colonialism & imperialism

Alternative Energy

AIDs Research

Election reform

Contraception

Child Soldiers

Illegal Immigration

Disposing of Chemical Waste

Equality for GLBT persons

Not stockpiling arms

Drug Trafficking

FGM

Nuclear proliferation

Genetically Altered Crops/Livestock

Genocide

Occupation of Iraq

International Debt

Police Brutality

Reconstruction of war-torn countries

Invasive Species Control

Refugee Status

Separatist Movements

Propaganda

Slavery

Space (the final frontier)

Public Education

Torture/Geneva Conventions

War on terrorism

Religious Conflict

Sexual Education

Universal Health Care

 

Listed below are excellent links to access information on countries that students will be representing.  Next week we will include links to issues likely to be discussed in the model U.N.

We have also listed from our web site excellent links to access information on likely issues that will come before your committee.  You can get them all by going to the following link:



Again, our next high school student meeting is a regular discussion group on Saturday, October 28.  It will once again be at Crossroads School (map) from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM.  Here is the calendar of events for the next month:

DATE

TIME

PLACE

ACTIVITIES

 

 

 

 

Mon.
10/23/06
7:00 PM -
9:00 PM
Missouri
Historical
Society
U.N. Day Program with Gillian Sorensen

Tues.

10/24/06

--

--

U.N. Day

 

 

 

 

Sat.,

10/28/06

9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Crossroads

Discussion Group #5

 

 

 

 

Tues.,
10/31/06

5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

--

UNICEF Drive

 

 

 

 

Sat.,

11/11/06

9:00 AM - 12:00 AM

Crossroads

Final Prep Session for M.U.N.

 

 

 

 

Sat.,

11/18/06

9:00 AM - 2:30 PM

Radisson Downtown Hotel

Civitas Model U.N.


IMPORTANT NOTE:

We need to receive delegate lists for each school from either faculty advisors or student leaders.  You can enter information on our on-line form by
clicking here, or download a copy of the form by clicking here (PDF) or here (MS WORD).


da Blog:


IS THIS TRAIN HEADING FOR THE WHITE HOUSE?

 

It's been quite a week for Illinois junior senator BARACK OBAMA. He and his possible 2008 presidential ambitions were on the cover of TIME magazine. He is on a tour touting his just-released book My Spiritual Journey. He was the featured guest on last Sunday's Meet the Press. The fact that he was on Oprah last week was not unique; the fact that he was the first candidate whom she has ever publicly endorsed is potentially monumental.

This man is a thinker, a person who can see more than one side to an issue, and someone whose heritage is so diverse that by not "belonging" to any one group, he may be more prepared to "belong" to a group called humanity!

These political trains have been known to pull out of the station more than two years before the presidential election before, but is he the "real thing?" Let's hear your thoughts on it. If you want to read the TIME magazine article on Senator Obama as well as excerpts from his book, you can access them by
< font size="4">clicking here
.




LINK TO CIVITAS BLOG:

 


WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY STUDENTS OFFER WORKSHOP ON CHINA FOR CIVITAS STUDENTS and TEACHERS 


And the date has finally been set....it will be on Sunday afternoon, November 5, at 2:00 PM (location to be announced).

During the first two weeks of November, Washington University's freshman International Leadership Program (ILP) will be putting on a series with the theme of "China: Price of Power."  China's economic and political rise has had deep implications for regional leadership (i.e. nuclear proliferation in North Korea), impact on the environment, domestic human rights and international political and economic relations; namely with the United States.  The ILP students are interested in promoting some of these issues to a high school audience to explore Chinese-U.S. relations in a presentation and discussion format.  Ideally this forum will facilitate the exchange of ideas between local high school students and Washington University freshmen so as to establish an academic community interested in promoting understanding of global issues. 

 
 

Danielle Silber

International Events Coordinator

International & Area Studies Department

(314) 935 - 8602

[email protected]


For more information, click here:

We hope that interested Civitas students and teachers are willing and able to come to the "China: Price of Power" program.  If you are interested, please e-mail us at

[email protected] and indicate which of the dates listed above work best for you!

Also from Washington University:

This Wednesday, October 25, students from Washington University are sponsoring a town hall meeting: "The Immigrant Experience: Case Study St. Louis."  We have good word that the panelists will make for a lively event, Sunita Parikh is a political scientist and a professor of American Culture Studies, I hear that the lawyer is a really vibrant character/activist, and Dr. Briones will be able to speak from his own experience which should be interesting - apparantly he was a doctor in Nicaragua but since coming to the United States his  credentials have not been recognized and he now works for landscaping services on campus.

 

PDF flyer on Immigrant Experience: http://www.civitas-stl.com/civ0607/Immigrant_Experience_STL.pdf




UNICEF 2007

If you really want to "pig-out" on Halloween and you don't care about the suffering of hundreds of millions of children in the world, read no further.  However, if "enough is enough" when it comes to sweets on Halloween and you want to do something to help feed and care for starving children in the world, we hope that you will consider collecting money for UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) on Halloween night.  We can provide you with all the necessary information including the simple instructions on how to do it, one or more collection boxes, and then how to send in the money you collect to UNICEF.  You can get the information from us at the Saturday, October 28 Civitas high school discussion at Crossroads or we can send you what you need.  Just e-mail us if you would like materials.

Special thanks to Jessica Davie and Ellen Robinson, both seniors at Soldan International Studies High School, who are taking the initiative to organize a school-wide program!


M.S. COUNTRY ASSIGNMENTS STILL POSTED!


Middle School teachers and students can now access country rosters for each of the nine Spring dates for the model U.N.  The rosters are available at http://civitas-stl.com/civ0607/MS/MS-country-rosters.htm.      

Teachers can now move at their own rate in assigning countries to particular students.  The next important event for middle school teachers and students alike is the Fall workshop on Monday, November 13.  We are expecting nearly 1,000 students and teachers at the session.  It will be held in the Khorassan Room of the Chase-Park Plaza (
map and directions) from 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM.

Twelve high school students have signed up to help us with the workshop that morning.  They are:


If you have any questions about anything that has taken place to date (most particularly the country draft), or any upcoming activities, please do not hesitate to contact Lisa Granich-Kovarik at [email protected] or (314) 865-4704.

Genevieve Buthod (Rosati-Kain)

Jessica Davie (Soldan International)

Morgan DeBaun (Rosati-Kain)

Megan Favignano (Rosati-Kain)

Amy Keys (Rosati-Kain)

Rachel King (Rosati-Kain)

Philip Knapp (Edwardsville)

Zora McGinnis (Metro)

Michael Mulligan (S.L.U.H.)

Allison Reed (Rosati-Kain)
Ellen Robinson  (Soldan International)

Devin Wright (Rosati-Kain)




As published last week, we are excited to announce that Professor Joe Davis has agreed to work with both Civitas students and local college and university students on an international simulation.  Professor Davis, in consultation with Civitas and university staffs, will create a hypothetical international issue for students to deal with.  The issue will be one in which there will be numerous "players," most of whom have their own unique ideas about how to deal with the problem.  As the evening progresses, students will have to wrestle with the task of trying to reach some sort of a consensus as to how to solve the problem (from past experience, the students may or may not be able to do this.).  You can expect that alliances will be made and broken; that conflict will exist within each individual's mind as well as within the group.  The key question will be whether or not students will be able to "give a little (or a lot) in the hope of gaining a lot (or a little).  Past reviews of Dr. Joe Davis' simulations are extremely positive.


We will have it on a Friday evening, most likely from 6:00 PM - 11:00 PM.  We'll have plenty of food and other goodies.  Right now we need to figure out what date works best the group.

Our choices are:

  • Friday, November 10
  • Friday, November 17

We need your feedback to help us settle upon a date.  If you are interested in the simulation, please e-mail us and tell us so and also indicate which of the two dates above work best for you.  If you have any questions, please e-mail us at [email protected] or call us at (314) 367-6480.

   


One Week Left:


10th Annual
St. Louis Coalition for HUMAN RIGHTS
Essay Contest

Open to all Middle & High School Students in the Metro St. Louis Area

HS: 1st Prize $200 2nd Prize $100 3rd Prize $50

MS: 1st Prize $100 2nd Prize $50 3rd Prize $25

Honorable Mentions

"In a democracy, what is the relationship between human rights and religious freedom?"

Essay must be no more than 500 words (preferably typed) on the above theme.

Discussion questions for thought are: How is religious freedom protected in a democracy? What are the areas of conflict and how do you see them being resolved? When is religious freedom in violation of other human rights? Is separation of church and state the best way to address freedom of religion? What do you personally do to respect and protect the religious freedom of others? Can a democracy work without freedom of religion? What specific practices or laws need to be changed or strengthened to protect religious freedom?

Deadline for essays is October 31, 2006!

Mail essay entries to P. O. Box 5277, St. Louis, MO 63115 or

email to [email protected]. Include a cover page that gives full name, address, grade and school of student.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Winning essays will be read by their authors on December 10 2006

at the Celebration for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

4:00 p.m. at Forest Park Community College


For more information, call the St. Louis Coalition for Human Rights at (314) 652-7663




Additional Links


Streaming Video [Real Media]
  
Civitas Blog

 Resolutions (High School U.N.) for 2004-2005
   
Checklist for Writing a Model U.N. Resolution
 

Reinventing U.N.Conference Home Page 
    


Middle School Country Rosters for 2006-2007

232 No. Kingshighway, #2101; St. Louis, MO 63108-4002
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