On Thursday, February 11, Dr. Alexandru Balas of the Clark Center for International Studies came to IHS and delivered a lecture on the Syrian Civil War and the formation of ISIS. Dr. Balas teaches international relations at SUNY Cortland and is well-versed in the Syrian conflict, thanks to his years of study, observations of the region prior to the outbreak of the war, and contact in southern Turkey, with whom he speaks about ISIS movements and checks the accuracy of Western media coverage of the violence.
For an hour after school, Dr. Balas taught students at Ithaca High School about how the Syrian Civil War began, as well as how ISIS came to power. There was a lively question-and-answer period following the presentation, in which students asked why women were drawn to ISIS, how ISIS recruited, and what the ideal amount of American intervention would be. Approximately 50 people were in attendance, including several teachers.
Two weeks later, on February 25, Assistant Professor Juan Arroyo from Ithaca College gave a lecture on Uruguay. Mr. Arroyo is a professor of politics as well as the advisor for IC’s Model UN and Model EU, and he has a great deal of experience in his field. His lecture, which was also open to the public, educated IHS students about Uruguay’s place as a modern success story, as it has transformed itself from a “banana republic” to a democracy with a vibrant economy. Through Dr. Arroyo’s talk, Model UN members and IHS students learned more about MERCOSUR (European-Union-style bloc of countries in South America), as well as the importance of geography to politics.
The talks were arranged by IHS’ Model United Nations, but many people from outside of the club attended. Model UN plans to hold one more lecture in the series, which is aimed at increasing awareness in the community of global issues. If you are interested in current events or diplomacy, please come to F4 on Thursdays, after school, where Model UN meets every week.