Chapman hosts first student-led global conflict awareness conference

The event, which featured student research and panels of experts and faculty, aimed to promote Western consciousness. Graphic courtesy of Emily Lam and Sophia Morrissette.

After last year’s study abroad fair, Chapman University student Emily Lam dreamed of an event that would introduce students to international conflicts in desperate need of awareness.

Lam, a senior peace studies and political science double major, ran with that idea and created a primarily student-led conference aimed to educate students about worldwide issues, like ethnic conflicts in Central Africa and tensions in the Middle East.

“The biggest goal was always to spread awareness of these global conflicts and issues that particularly have received little to no media attention in the United States,” said Lam, who serves as the president of the Asian Pacific Political Alliance (APPA) student organization at Chapman. 

Lam enlisted Sophia Morisette, a fellow senior peace studies and psychology double major, to help create the “Global Conflict Awareness Conference.” The virtual conference was held April 5, with nine main events hosted across 12 blocks. The event was a joint endeavor by APPA and the Peace Studies Union, the latter of which Morrissette serves as president. 

Talisa Flores, the interim peace studies administrative assistant, helped Lam and Morrissette spearhead the conference. Hilmi Ulas, a peace studies professor, served as the faculty organizer for the event and helped secure students and faculty presenters. Its goals, Ulas said, were to raise awareness about the issues addressed and to promote student research outside a classroom setting. 

“Our students do really excellent research on these topics, so it's good that they (were) able to share,” Ulas told The Panther. “I myself still keep learning a lot from each of my students and I always enjoy that.”

The conference began with a welcome session from Lam and Morrissette, followed by two student sessions in which Chapman undergraduate students presented their original research.

In addition to Ulas’ goals for the event, Morrissette addressed a third objective of the conference: to encourage action.

“(There are) pretty wide-reaching global issues where we might feel insignificant, honestly, of how can we make a difference,” Morrissette told The Panther. “(Peace studies is) not only about learning about international conflicts; it’s about problem solving and conflict resolution.”

As such, Morrissette and Lam encouraged the student presenters to each include a slide listing organizations students can support and ways they can become more involved in the issues detailed within the presentations. 

Following the first two student panels, the conference featured a keynote panel discussion on ongoing conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, which was moderated by Haleluya Wondwosen, a sophomore history major who has family in the Tigray region.

“Given the consistent telecommunications and internet blackouts, along with impeded humanitarian access to food aid, medical supplies and lack of electricity, it’s a dire situation,” Wondwosen said. “Knowing this is all happening without even having a means to contact (my family members) a lot of the time is quite an alarming situation.”

Although Wondwosen feels the international community’s response to the conflict may come too late, she said the conference aims to promote Western consciousness of global conflict issues. 

“Just as much as we have to consider ourselves with domestic issues, we have to be aware of what we are doing abroad,” Wondwosen told The Panther. “This conference serves as a great reminder to us as students to maintain that kind of knowledge.”

In addition to student discussion sessions, the conference also featured two faculty panels that addressed trends in global conflicts and the impact of COVD-19 on them. 

Rozell “Prexy” Nesbitt, a presidential fellow in peace studies and Chapman peace studies professor, spoke about the issue of landmines used in warfare around the world— a topic he believes is extremely important. 

The U.S. is currently not part of the Mine Ban Treaty and its efforts to achieve a universal ban on landmines. Nesbitt believes it is crucial that President Joe Biden’s administration immediately join the treaty. The professor worked in rural Mozambique and Angola, and said during that time he picked up a child whose legs had been blown off by a landmine left behind by the Angolan Civil War.

“If (the Biden administration) would ever have had to bury children that have been killed by landmines or transport what was left of children who have stepped on landmines in Angola and Mozambique, they would have a far different energy about getting us to sign this landmine treaty,” Nesbitt told The Panther. 

Although Lam and Morrissette are seniors, they hope to make the conference an annual occurrence. Ulas hopes to see more involvement from graduate students in the future and for the conference to potentially extend over several days, instead taking place in just a single day.

“As long as there is student demand for this, and I'm very happy to say that there is, it's going to be a program that keeps being held,” Ulas said.

Nesbitt believes that Chapman’s participation in events like these is crucial for a credible institution. 

“I salute Chapman for the fact that Chapman has students and faculty that care about these issues very deeply,” Nesbitt said. “This is the pace set by students like Emily Lam and Sophia Morrissette.”