International Publicity In Students’ Congress

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30452, 28 May 1964, Page 16

International Publicity In Students’ Congress

Christchurch and New Zealand are beginning to receive free publicity 7 among millions of students in 80 countries through the choice of the University of Canterbury for the eleventh International Student Conference from June 22 to July 1.

So far 200 overseas delegates from 60 countries have accepted the invitation and, although this venue was chosen only a month ago, posters, pamphlets, and other publicity are pouring from the co-ordinating secretariat in Holland.

North Americans will stop In Tahiti to enjoy a few days of South Pacific sunshine, some East Africans may travel by way of Mauritius or the Cocos Islands, and Latin Americans could get here faster by flying across the icecaps of Antarctica (if there was an air service), says the first bulletin which identifies the whereabouts of Christchurch.

“The peaceful setting of the New Zealand university town of Christchurch will provide an ideal atmosphere for the evaluation of past accom-

plishments, the establishment of an ever more meaningful programme to meet the varied needs of students of all continents, and a reassertion of the conference’s leadership in the promotion of students’ rights everywhere,” the bulletin says. “A free university in a free society” will be the theme of the Christchurch conference. This objective is elaborated as a university free from external interference; autonomous in its task of imparting knowledge, wisdom, and truth to the society; democratic in character; open to all sectors of the community, and oriented towards the development of the society -of which it is an integral part. Advance notices warn students’ organisations and their delegates “that oppression survives and injustice persists.” They are told that the conference will include national unions of students fighting racialist, totalitarian, and colonialist regimes who are likely to seek international support for their stand. The 1962 conference in

Canada condemned “dictatorships of the Right and of the Left.” While these international problems are being canvassed, the organisers in Christchurch have their own: running the conference in English, French, and Spanish; meeting the different national needs of 200 visitors; staffing 16 typewriters in three languages; running off reams of reports; arranging simultaneous of speeches into an individual earphone system; and installing a telephone exchange with 10 outside lines.

But everything is slipping swiftly into place through a committee headed by the conference co-ordinator (Mr N. D. Thomson, former president of the Canterbury University Students’ Association).

A civic reception will be held at Christchurch Airport on June 22; the University of Canterbury will hold one on June 24; and the University International Club will hold an international week for the conference.