Conference on World Affairs collection

The Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado Boulder was founded in 1948 by Professor Howard Higman (1915-1995) of the Sociology Department, to address issues of world events as they emerge through media. The week-long combination of plenary addresses and panel discussions were free to attend and open to the public. The annual conference grew to have over 100 panels over five days, drawing attendance of over 20,000 per year.

Unlike academic conferences, the CWA did not include scholarly presentations. Instead, Higman’s original formula for conference panel discussions would consist of (1) an expert on a topic, (2) a panel member with a controversial opinion on the topic, (3) a member of a related field with interest in the topic, and (4) a panel member who know nothing about the topic. While panels were chaired by either CU professors or Colorado residents, all panel participants were required to be from outside of CU and Colorado. Participants were invited through personal contact networks of CU organizers, were housed and fed at various Boulder homes, and were not paid honoraria for participating. Early conference sessions reflected the interests of faculty and students after World War II in political, economic, and foreign affairs topics, including NATO, the Cold War, America’s post-war international role, the United Nations, atomic energy, and McCarthyism. By the 1960s, the conference began to emphasize the participation of Black, Chicano, and Indigenous people. In the 1970s, it expanded to include topics of lifestyle, culture, art, and music. Film critic Roger Ebert hosted the conference’s “Cinema Interruptus” event from 1969 to 2006. In the 1980s and 1990s, the conference had an annual series inspired by and drawing on the legacy of architect and systems theorist R. Buckminster Fuller.

By the 1990s, University faculty called for a reorganization of the Conference, arguing that the traditions of the conference and its reliance on personal contact networks led to a lack of diversity among participants and often supported out of touch, politically incorrect speakers. The 1995 Conference was postponed while the University demanded changes, and long-time director Howard Higman died on November 22, 1995.

In 1996, the Conference was revived by the University under new direction. It has since developed a more formalized leadership structure with dedicated input from students and Boulder community members on the CWA program committee.