MAYDAY! Peace Conference to Focus on United Nations

Gustavus Adolphus College will host its 24th annual MAYDAY! Peace Conference, “The United Nations at the Crossroads,” on Wednesday, April 28, 2004.

Last year, President Bush challenged the United Nations to act in Iraq or face irrelevance. This free, day-long conference examines the U.N. at this critical point in its history.

The conference will begin with a keynote address by Dawn Calabia, former director of the U.N. Information Center in Washington, D.C., at 10 a.m. in Christ Chapel. Peter Vrooman, deputy political counselor for the U.S. Mission to the U.N. in New York, and Arlen Erdahl, former U.S. Congressman and past president of the United Nations Association of Minnesota, will open the afternoon panel discussion at 1 p.m. in Alumni Hall in O.J. Johnson Student Union.

In addition to the main lectures, the following lectures will be held from 2:30-3:45 p.m.:

“Roundtable Discussion with Afternoon Speakers” by Gustavus Model U.N. students and Mimi Gerstbauer, MAYDAY! Committee member

“U.N. 101” by Dawn Calabia and Amy Beightol, MAYDAY! Committee member

“The U.N. and the Indigenous Peoples: A Sami Perspective” by Krister Stoor, visiting fellow, Department of Scandinavian Studies

A meditation room, patterned after the Dag Hammarskjold Peace Room, will be available from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. in Linner Lounge, located in the Johnson Student Union.

The conference will conclude with a closing ceremony and reception at 4 p.m. in Alumni Hall. Registration for the conference will be held in the Johnson Student Union beginning at 9 a.m.

The annual MAYDAY! Peace Conference was established at Gustavus in 1981. The name MAYDAY! carries a duel significance: the international distress call for help, and the return of spring, bringing renewal and hope. The annual conference series was founded and is sustained by Florence and the late Raymond Sponberg of North Mankato, Minn.