Conference on World Affairs Tackles Topics Like AI, Oligarchy and Censorship

“We’re certainly not in an era of a shortage of information,” says Vara Reom, student program chair of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Conference on World Affairs. “It’s so easy to go online or go on social media and find someone talking about something. Really, what we do have a shortage of is engaging in issues holistically from a lens considering multiple viewpoints.”

That’s the point of the CWA, a free gathering now in its 77th iteration and slated for April 7-10 at CU Boulder and online via livestream. “It invites an exchange of ideas at a time when we could do better at that,” says Jon Leslie, vice chancellor for strategic communications at CU Boulder.

Past keynote speakers include Eleanor Roosevelt,Molly Ivins and Amanda Gorman; this year’s keynote is Tony, Grammy and Emmy award winner and Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, and that event is full. But in honor of Erivo’s attendance, the conference’s traditional Ebert Interruptis, a multi-day examination of a film, will focus on The Wizard of Oz. “We’re excited about that to be a way for folks who hear about the keynote to get some additional Wizard of Oz intel throughout the week,” Leslie says. “That’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Erivo’s keynote and Ebert Interruptis are just two highlights of around fifty panels and speakers from all over the world; choosing the programs is an entirely volunteer-run and community-wide effort. “We have a program committee that is led by volunteers,” Leslie explains. “We have a community program chair who is external to the university and comes in and plays different roles on the program and committees to kind of lead up to that role. And then we have a student program chair who’s kind of the counterpart to that role for students.”

There are also sub-committees for different topics like arts and humanities and science and technologies, all with their own community member and student chairs. Starting in July, the students, faculty and community members network near and far to make recommendations for potential speakers based on the conference’s broad theme (this year’s is “leadership, innovation and impact”). Once the semester picks up in August, the volunteers get together to debate the speakers and source them from a broad range of perspectives and backgrounds before voting on who they want to invite.

“Once they get a sense of who is willing to come, they start to fill gaps that we might have based on expertise or background with folks who are more local, and then they start talking through what the actual panel topics and discussions will be,” Leslie says. “It’s very grassroots. We love the fact that it’s such a shared thought process among students, community members and our current faculty and staff. I don’t know another conference that’s done quite this way.”

Reom, who helped plan the conference in multiple capacities, oversees a lot of moving parts as student program chair, but it’s worth it. “It’s such a rewarding experience and you get to see all your work come to life and also get to meet all these incredible people from around the world,” she says. “You get to have such interesting conversations with people who are interested in the things you’re interested in, or maybe interested or knowledgeable about something you never heard of.”

This year’s lineup of panels and lectures tackles topics ranging from global security, addiction and neuroscience to “Psychology of a Dictator,” “Is Laughter Really the Best Medicine?” and “Star Wars or Star Peace?”

Reom is especially excited for “Life is a Game: Game Design as a Tool to Solve World Issues.” “We have a board game designer, a political pundit, an activist and a storyteller all together on this panel talking about how we might be able to use game design and game design theory as a means of solving issues that we experience from around the world, at home and abroad,” she says.

The conference will examine democracy from both a liberal and conservative perspective, and offer panels on AI, isolationism in America, book bans and censorship and oligarchy. The CWA ends with a panel on satire as a form of resistance.

“CWA is really solutions-focused – we don’t just want to talk about problems,” Reom says. “We want to talk about the solutions to those problems and have that be the lens from which we’re discussing issues.”

For Leslie, the magical part of the conference is seeing people hang out with people they wouldn’t normally spend time with, having interesting conversations. During some panels, participants can also submit questions for the moderator to ask the panelists in real-time. Concludes Leslie: “It’s really an interesting opportunity to step out of your normal comfort zone and bring some curiosity to the table to hear from folks you wouldn’t normally hear from, to be in the community with folks you wouldn’t normally be in a community with, and hopefully to learn things and become stronger as a community as a result.”

The Conference on World Affairs runs April 7-10 on the University of Colorado Boulder campus and online; see the schedule and register on CU Boulder’s website.