REPORT OF ACADEMIC YEAR 2023-24
WILLIAM AND ELIZABETH KAHANE UNITED NATIONS PROGRAM AT OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE
ABOUT US
The William and Elizabeth Kahane United Nations Program at Occidental College is a signature program for the College that differentiates and distinguishes Oxy on a national scale. Students learn firsthand about government negotiations and grow in ways that they aren’t able to anywhere else by being immersed in internships with U.N. agencies, country missions, and NGOs, supplemented with thoughtful curriculum in the classroom. Such experiences provide participants with insights, networks, and skills that will stay with them for the rest of their lives, establishing a foundation to help them become effective leaders in their careers and communities.
Under Director Cynthia Rothschild’s remarkable leadership, the Kahane U.N. Program continues to evolve and—importantly—adapt to address pressing global issues. This year was no exception amidst a background of heightened conflict and militarization. The 13 students in this cohort rose to the semester’s challenges and made significant contributions to their host sites. Our students consistently remark on how critical these internships are to their growth: from learning how to research, write reports, analyze and synthesize data to better understanding how the U.N. and governmental systems work. Through their experiences, students are able to acquire skills, gain new perspectives, expand their thinking, and build bridges of mutual understanding between different people, countries, and cultures, aligning with fundamental career skills that are needed by today’s employers.
The tremendous impact of the Kahane U.N. Program also extends back to Occidental’s campus. During the spring semester, faculty and students from the Diplomacy and World Affairs Department collaborated to organize our annual U.N. Week. Held from March 25-29, 2024, along the theme of “Human Rights Defenders,” this year’s U.N. Week featured a dynamic series of events highlighting issues in the global community. The William and Elizabeth Kahane United Nations Program Endowment has allowed us to expand U.N. Week considerably over the years, introducing a wider range of students on campus to the Kahane U.N. Program and allowing us to generate community-wide conversations around U.N.-related ideas, norms, and practices, particularly related to social justice issues.
Such singular opportunities both on campus and in New York are made possible each year through the generous support of William and Elizabeth Kahane for the William and Elizabeth Kahane United Nations Program Endowment and the William and Elizabeth Kahane Scholars at Occidental and the United Nations Endowment. We thank you for your advocacy and partnership, and for helping to make such transformative learning experiences possible for today’s students and those who will be here at Occidental in the future.
FOREWORD FROM THE DIRECTOR
Our 2023 semester at the U.N. was both business as usual and also out of the ordinary. Despite what may seem contradictory, the bulk of the semester rolled out as a normal semester: Students worked hard in their internship placements and classes; were given outsized responsibility for their age; and overall, made strong contributions to U.N. agencies, government missions, and nongovernmental organizations. They also, by semester’s end, deepened their own understandings of how the world actually works, for better and worse.
The main difference between this semester and those in years past was the onset of the Israel/Gaza/Palestine conflict; between that and the ongoing Ukraine/Russia conflict, students, and all of us, worked and lived with a backdrop of war, heightened militarization and related hatreds, and existential threat. Three more things to add to this context: 1) The layers of conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia, and countless other sites of internal conflict; 2) deepening concerns about climate and environmental catastrophe; and 3) the never-ending range of threats within the U.S., with a resurgent right wing, and questions about the resiliency of democratic systems.
I give the Kahane U.N. Program students credit—we are living in perilous times.
All of our students had to address these challenges (and/or others) in one way or another in our courses and in their internship projects. Military conflicts are generally the backdrop to government negotiations within the General Assembly, which many students follow in some detail. A global rise in fundamentalist and autocratic governance shapes programs, policies, and budgetary expenditures in many, if not all, of our placement sites. And people in marginalized communities tend to bear the brunt of geopolitical machinations, as students glean from their own experiences but also through learning about, for instance, the human rights violations targeted at people living with HIV/ AIDS, LGBTI people, women generally, and those targeted for a panoply of other reasons.
When students finish the Kahane U.N. Program, they are better positioned to understand how “power” functions within U.N. and governmental systems— including to whose benefit and to whose detriment. That education is priceless, and I hope it elicits humility and informs decision making about their futures post-Oxy.
Once again, I offer thanks to the Oxy team that makes the Kahane U.N. Program as successful as it is, especially the inestimable and wonderful co-pilot Jacques Fomerand, Robin Craggs and Marisa Grover Mofford in the International Programs Office (still our backbone!), Laura Hebert and Derek Shearer in the Diplomacy and World Affairs Program; and many friends in Institutional Advancement. I offer a special “shout out” to President Harry J. Elam, Jr. and Dean Wendy Sternberg, whose support has been steadfast. And, of course, to Bill and Elizabeth Kahane for their unwavering enthusiasm!
CYNTHIA ROTHSCHILD Director, William and Elizabeth Kahane United Nations Program at Occidental College
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
We shifted a few placement sites because of staffing changes, but created new ones as opportunities became available. Many of the specific site supervisors were new (the United Nations Development Programme, three of four at the U.K. Mission, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and the International Service for Human Rights, for instance) although others have worked with Oxy for many years. Our close colleague at the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, for instance, has been supervising Oxy interns for over 20 years! And, we were back at the Costa Rican Mission, this time trailing the Ambassador, among other formidable responsibilities.
Our arrangement with the School for International Training through our trusted colleague Karl Rivera remained so useful; students continued to see Karl’s engagement and NYC support as quite beneficial to their time here. Karl functions as the student mental and physical health point person, and takes them on various excursions through the semester.
As the Gaza conflict took root, we all saw in real time the challenges facing the U.N. system: could agencies such as UNICEF and WHO and the Secretary-General’s office respond adequately? Would governments allow the U.N. to function as it needed to? Of course, we are still facing these questions and there are no simple answers. But in our courses, we took the opportunity to focus less on the broadest parameters of the crisis itself, but more on how agencies were trying to do their research and work, how they were collecting and disseminating data, and what specific challenges they faced.
One of the more compelling moments of the semester was immediately connected to this lens: We attended the U.N. daily press briefing given by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, a longtime friend of the Kahane U.N. Program. Students sat amidst reporters as they questioned Dujarric, and then he was kind enough to meet with us privately after the briefing. It was rewarding for all of us to be able to hear the behind-the-scenes details alongside the actual public articulations of policies and obstacles, and then to speak with an aerial view to all of it.
On a lighter note, a few students and I enjoyed a weekend guided tour of the Brooklyn Museum and a delicious lunch there thanks to the generosity of Elizabeth Kahane! We were lucky to receive the insiders’ view of the African Fashion and Spike Lee exhibitions, both of which were fantastic.
We also enjoyed visits with President Elam and his wife, Michele, and Bill and Elizabeth Kahane soon after the students’ arrival, and then with Dean Wendy Sternberg toward the end of the semester. We remain so appreciative of their support and wish them well in their post-Oxy endeavors.
And through all of this, students were steady on, steady on—in their classes, they prepared policy briefs for Jacques’ course on “prevention” and used U.N. treaties to analyze human rights concerns they care about in mine. And for their three and a half months, they focused on all of the government negotiations, event planning, researching, and report writing that form the crux of their time in NYC.
ACADEMICS/COURSES
Our 2023 courses maintained their focus axes: human rights and also conflict prevention/peace and security, although both courses took on new relevance as shifting global realities appeared. As noted elsewhere, the Israel/Gaza/Palestine conflict shaped some of our ongoing discussions, as did other tragic and complicated conflicts, including Russia/Ukraine and Sudan. Some relevant course highlights included discussions with guest speakers Mariam Jalabi, of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, and Subha Wijesiriwardena, who spoke of human rights concerns related to global criminalization of sexual and reproductive rights.
Our two courses continue to provide a contextual foundation for understanding nuances of the entire program semester. In mid-October, for instance, we analyzed an archived stream of a U.N. press conference featuring staff of U.N. agencies as they addressed delivery of humanitarian aid, health concerns, and threats to their staff amidst a growing crisis in Gaza. And, in December, we had the opportunity to attend the official U.N. press briefing noted above and then discuss media messaging in our classes. Both experiences allowed exploration of the contexts of students’ studies, their daily internships, and the U.N. itself.
Our students remain thoughtful and creative in their writing. Both classes push them not only to analyze global problems, but also to think of concrete policy, and legal and practical solutions to those dilemmas. One key lesson that we learn over and over again is that it’s easier to name problems than it is to propose viable solutions. We believe our courses support Oxy students to be better problem solvers and to be better at identifying fixes for vexing political challenges.
OVERVIEW OF THE GROUP AND INTERNSHIPS
Thirteen students were accepted into the 2023 Kahane U.N. Program. They were placed at nine sites.
PLACEMENTS
Costa Rica Mission
Melany Bennett ’24
General Assembly (GA) focus, with emphasis on peace and security, and specifically disarmament.
International Service for Human Rights
Alaitasune Love ’24
GA human rights monitoring; contributed to campaign illuminating human rights records of governments vying for membership in the U.N. Human Rights Council.
UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)
Kel Kline ’24
Climate and environment focus, preparation for UNDP engagement in Dubai environmental COP 28 meeting; focus on government financial contributions in climate remediation.
U.K. Mission
Emanne Balaghi ’24
GA focus, Fifth Committee, including in relation to U.N. resources and budget negotiations.
GOVERNMENT MISSIONS: 6 students
U.N. AGENCIES: 3 students
NGOs: 4 students
Costa Rica Mission
Hanah Galvan ’24
“Trailed” Ambassador; translated urgent communications to and from the capital.
IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation)
Leela Cullity Younger ’24
GA focus, including sexual and reproductive health and rights; planning for global convening; writing for IPPF constituencies.
UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund)
Eliza Kirk ’24
Support for UNFPA engagement in global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign.
U.K. Mission
Max Eichenmuller ’24
GA focus, some emphasis on economics and supporting logistics for Mission.
U.K. Mission
Mia Thiagarajan ’24
Communications/public relations and social media focus.
GPPAC (Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict)
Mathilde Depery ’24
Peacebuilding focus; reported development on “early warning” systems and constituency communications.
OutRight Action International
Hannah Christensen ’24
GA focus, human rights, resolution monitoring related to gender and sexuality; support for Advocacy Week with global activists and Special Procedures engagement.
UNHCR (The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)
Julia Henry ’24
Support for Third Committee human rights and Security Council meetings; review of refugee/migration positions of new Security Council members.
U.K. Mission
Max Manzare ’24
GA focus, generally human rights; coordination of Mission engagement at GA and analysis of voting patterns.
OTHER NOTEWORTHY TOPICS
On the more “mundane” side, and just to keep the threads going across recent previous semesters: a few students contracted COVID and, thankfully, that was no longer an emergency. Our systems to care for students and their systems to care for one another worked.
Remote work remained the norm, with some students required to be in an office a few days a week, and others given the freedom to work from other sites.
SUMMARY REMARKS
LAURA HEBERT
Kahane U.N. Program at Occidental College, Committee Co-Chair
U.N. Week begins with a panel discussion on “Art, Truth, and Memorialization” on the role of art in truth-telling and resistance, featuring, l-r,
The William and Elizabeth Kahane United Nations Program Endowment created many valuable opportunities for campus-wide engagement around the principles and politics of the U.N. during spring 2024. Our U.N. programming kicked off with a Zoom event on March 18, 2024, on the Israel-Palestine conflict, co-sponsored with the Young Initiative on Global Political Economy and featuring Ardi Imseis, associate professor of law at Queen’s University and author of The United Nations and the Question of Palestine. As in years past, however, our annual U.N. Week, from March 25-29, 2024, was the focal point of Oxy’s on-campus Kahane U.N. programming. This year, with even well-established human rights principles under threat in the U.S. and around the world, the Kahane U.N. Program Advisory Committee decided to focus our theme on “Human Rights Defenders”—those who individually or in concert with others are actively involved in ensuring the respect, protection, and fulfillment of human rights. We were thrilled that Bill Kahane could join us on campus for some of the week’s events.
Our keynote speaker for U.N. Week was Victor Madrigal-Borloz, a Costa Rican jurist who had recently stepped down from his position as the U.N. Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. MadrigalBorloz gave an illuminating talk on “Fundamentalisms, ‘Queerness,’ and Other Vexing Issues in the U.N.: Advancing Human Rights in Times of Crisis.” He also generously extended his time on campus an extra day to be able to meet with students and faculty more informally, including during a lovely luncheon in which he emphasized the vital importance of civil society actors in the advancement of human rights principles and practices. This theme was also powerfully highlighted during a Zoom panel discussion moderated by Kahane U.N. Program Director Cynthia Rothschild, titled “Defenders Fighting Extremisms: Activism in ‘Multilateral’ Spaces,” which featured Varyanne Sika, a feminist writer and researcher from Kenya who has worked with the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and the Coalition of African Lesbians; Naureen Shameem, a feminist activist and human rights lawyer who has worked in Canada, the United States, and Pakistan with organizations investigating and challenging global anti-rights and anti-democratic movements; and Fernando D’Elio, who works with Akahatá in Argentina on sexual and reproductive health and rights.
One of the most exciting U.N. Week-related developments over the past few years has been the impressive leadership role played by Oxy students in event planning, which reflects the high level of student engagement around the Kahane U.N. Program. This year, students served as the lead organizers and moderators of several panel events, including “Art, Truth, and Memorialization,” during which Gail Kennard of the Kennard Design Group (the oldest African American-owned architecture firm in the Western U.S.) and Brenda Perez of Restorative
Gail Kennard, vice president of the City of Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission; Brenda Perez, founder of Restorative Justice for the Arts; and DWA students Taylor Miller ’26 and Arden Courtney Collins ’25, who moderated the talk.
Justice for the Arts spoke about the role of art in truth telling and resisting oppression. The same student team organized a weeklong art exhibit in the Oxy library and the McKinnon Center Global Forum showcasing the long history of Oxy student protests for social justice. The DWA Majors Association (DWAMA) hosted and moderated this year’s Kahane U.N. Program Alumni Panel, which for the first time also featured Oxy graduates who spoke about how their participation in the program positively shaped their post-Oxy employment and education paths. DWAMA also hosted a U.N. Trivia Night and a film screening of How to Survive a Plague, an inspiring documentary about the work of key activist groups during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. In addition, members of Oxy’s Model U.N. Club organized a Model U.N. Mini-Conference focusing on humanitarian worker safety in conflict zones. The week ended with another panel discussion organized and moderated by students, “Exploring Human Rights Defense: Perspectives from the Occidental Community,” which allowed for an opportunity to spotlight faculty and students who grapple with the intersections of development, local and global norms, and human rights.
While U.N. Week is always a highlight of the academic year, the Los Angeles-based support the Kahane U.N. Program offers our students extends beyond this. This year, for example, the program provided funding for 17 students from DWA’s Model U.N. course and the Oxy Model U.N. student club to participate in the spring Model U.N. Conference at UCLA. This marked a record number of participants from Oxy and is another illustration of robust student interest in U.N. affairs at the college.
We are grateful for the Kahane family’s support of Oxy’s Kahane United Nations Program, both in New York and Los Angeles. The William and Elizabeth Kahane United Nations Program Endowment makes it possible for Oxy to create unparalleled opportunities for intellectual and experiential learning that deepen student knowledge of global affairs, encourage critical thinking and respectful discourse, and inspire our students to become changemakers committed to advancing the public good.