Thursday afternoon I attended a special event at Webster University in St. Louis, MO. U.S. Senator Kit Bond spoke on campus about smart power and his recent book The Next Front: Southeast Asia and the Road to Global Peace with Islam. Senator Bond accepted the invitation to speak from the students of ONE Webster, who have had many meetings and interactions with the Senator and his office in the past around foreign affairs.
At the event, Senator Bond spoke about the importance of getting more sandals and sneakers on the ground now, in order to prevent having to put boots on the ground later. He is right and many will agree including the U.S. Sec. Robert Gates that Smart power, investing money in development and diplomacy, is a key part of our national security strategy.
The event was not only well attended but it was also streaming live online where viewers from around the world submitted questions.
I got the opportunity to ask a question during the event and took the opportunity to thank the Senator for being a champion on the issues by co-sponsoring past legislation like The Water for the World Act and Aid Reform. I also asked the Senator why he didn’t sign on to the Kerry-Lugar letter to Sen. Conrad in support of full funding for the International Affairs Budget. To my surprise, he said he actually had signed just that morning! His reaction was pretty funny, he said, “now that’s what you call shooting from the hip” and “we’ve got a ringer in the crowd!” check out this video:
After the event the ONE Webster students thanked the Senator for coming and speaking as well as his ongoing support including signing the Kerry-Lugar letter in support of $58.5 Billion for the International Affairs Budget. The Senator gladly took a ONE band, snapped a few photos and even signed a book for the school’s library.
What a great event, I am so glad I could be there! It was also a fantastic way for ONE Webster to wrap up their year, congrats to all the students who worked so hard this year!
In just a few minutes, Senator Kit Bond of Missouri will address students at Webster University to discuss ‘smart power’, particularly in southeast Asia. Webster University’s ONE chapter is co-sponsoring the event which will touch on international development and extreme poverty.
You can watch a live stream of the event, which begins at 4 PM EST (3 PM CST) here. We’ll post relevant video when it becomes available.
ONE Webster – Webster University’s ONE Campus Challenge group – put together quite the event for “Stand Up and Take Action” on October 16 by getting 107 petition signatures to Missouri Senator Christopher Bond. The petition asked the senator to stand up for the world’s poor by co-sponsoring the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act (S. 1524). Today, we delivered it.
ONE Webster President Kritter Keirnan, Secretary Ellie Curran and I met with Senator Bond’s Foreign Policy Legislative Assistant, Michael DuBois, and Community Liaison Peggy Barnhart. We began by thanking the senator for co-sponsoring the Water for the World Act (S. 624), legislation that will provide 100 million more people with clean drinking water by 2015. When we presented the petitions, Mike DuBois informed us that he had already been reading the S. 1524 legislation and was optimistic that the senator would sign on very soon. He explained that the bill is congruent with the senator’s beliefs regarding smart power and was a complement to the America’s Global Development Capacity Act (S. 355) that he co-sponsored earlier this year.
Senator Bond has been a champion for the extreme poor in the Senate as of late and he recently co-authored a book that discusses smart power and the importance of US foreign aid to developing countries in southeast Asia. We presented his staffers with an invitation from Webster University President Elizabeth Stoble to speak about these ideas on our campus. They were very open to the idea and promised to pass the invitation along to the senator.
ONE Webster is very excited about the outcome of today’s meeting and we hope we will soon be planning an event for Senator Bond to speak at!
-Nick Stevens, Founder and Online Communications Director for ONE Webster
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
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