Mason’s Student Conflict Organization Hosts First Conference April 8

The George Mason University undergraduates who created the conflict-field organization Agora are putting on their first student-led conference two years after the group’s founding.

Agora is a conflict study organization and is intended to help those with interest in the field to network, socialize and create student projects.

“We’ve been planning it since the summer,” says Agora outreach officer Dylan Bates, a senior conflict and analysis major and one of Agora’s five founders. A committee of Agora members has been polishing the event’s details for most of the fall semester, determining what type of conference to hold, securing the location, inviting the speakers and publicizing the date. (The link is here.)

Agora’s “Polarized Conflict Between Parties” takes place 1-4 p.m. Wednesday, April 8, in Research Hall, Room 163, on the Fairfax Campus. Admission is free and refreshments will be available.

As Agora is affiliated with Mason’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, the conference keeps to the theme of addressing differences that need examination. In this case, it’s a big one: Agora’s four guests speakers will tackle the issue of America’s bitterly divided political parties and the current state of social justice in the United States.

“We wanted people who are close to politics but not in politics,” Bates says.

Ermira Mehmeti is a member of the Macedonian parliament. Mehmeti, Bates says, began with the country’s revolutionary party, Democratic Union for Integration, and legitimatized herself with the reformation of the Macedonian government in 2001. “She has a very good view of what it takes to have a working bipartisan government.”Richard Boucher is a career U.S. Foreign Service officer and a former ambassador to Cyprus with other postings around the world. He was also spokesman for the State Department under Secretaries Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. His insights to U.S. policy will illuminate how rifts are created and perhaps mended.Bill Schneider was CNN’s senior political analyst until 2009 and is a professor in Mason’s School of Policy, Government and International Affairs. He continues to write about politics and current affairs for a number of international and national outlets.Richard Rubenstein is a professor at Mason’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution and teaches and writes on community conflict, peace and social justice. The former lawyer from Chicago was involved in protest activities during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

The guests will speak first, setting the stage for a second-half break-out sessions with audience members.

“Creating a dialogue was the whole point of the conference,” says Bates, who will serve as moderator.

Agora continues its Monday evening meeting series through the end of the semester. The group meets at 7:30 p.m. at the Johnson Center, Meeting Room B.