BOULDER — The Conference on World Affairs (CWA) is an annual conference hosted by CU Boulder since 1948. The conference seeks to shed light on important world affairs, and connect and educate all who care to listen. And you should care to listen.

Nederland students, freshmen through seniors, were given the opportunity to attend the Conference on World Affairs at CU Boulder.

Photo courtesy of Mike Epke

The events, topics, and elements the conference covers are applicable to anyone reading this. Topics expose all, from relatively minor problems all the way to burning hot and pressing topics affecting the entire world, like the future of intergovernmental organizations. 

The conference is an exciting place to be: a gathering of important, opinionated, and passionate people who all have something to contribute. There is so much to be learned from the conference, especially for a student like myself.

As soon as you walk into a room at the Conference on World Affairs, you can feel how important the topics are, and how special it is that you get to be present. This is history in the making and it feels as though you are part of something bigger than yourself.

It has always been important to be involved in world affairs, but it's especially important now, as we live in a time of extreme political division, uncertainty, and confusion. When you are educated in world affairs, you can begin to understand the world—the bigger picture.

Forming fact-based opinions that you truly believe in can take you far. Everyone has a voice and should remember that they have that voice.

Over the years, the conference has seen hundreds of the world's most influential and intelligent minds, some of the most notable being President Joe Biden, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and most recently, Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai. 

Yousafzai spoke at Macky Auditorium on the CU Boulder campus on Thursday, April 16, 2026.

The Conference on World Affairs is directed by author, professor, and well-known Nederland local Ben Teitelbaum. 

The most crucial part about hosting a conference like this, Teitelbaum said, was living up to the name of “world affairs.” 

“We constantly ask ourselves whether we are failing to cover a major world event, or whether a political cause of global consequences is being adequately represented in our program.”

“I frankly still think we have a lot of work to do to live up to our name.” added Teitelbaum.

The presence of students was strongly acknowledged at the conference, since young people should never forget that they are the future of world affairs. Young people have the opportunity to become educated and inspire change. 

As Yousafzai said in 2013, on her 16th birthday, “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.” 

My personal favorite part of the conference was the extensive range of different people and perspectives that all came together to debate and discuss with each other. This brought an element of debate that I, as a student, have never personally witnessed before. 

Opinions and statements felt raw, real, and expository. It was particularly interesting to witness the ways that people with different political opinions can come together and realize their similarities while both listening to and educating each other.

This seemed to be a theme and major takeaway of the conference. It is important to know two sides of the same story, even if it's the side you disagree with, in order to truly be fully informed. At the end of the day, people are more alike than different.

In “If Not Roe then Joe: Control, Accountability and Equity in Reproductive Policy V Joe,” Democratic-leaning feminists Lisa Graves and Kate Schatz spoke with Republican Parker Hamilton Poling. Although the three disagreed on many fronts, they were able to come together to hold an intelligent conversation, which is beautiful. 

If Teitelbaum wanted students to take away one thing from the conference, it would be that “the people at the forefront of creating and interpreting our world are…people… [j]ust like themselves, who you can speak with, relate to, and whose positions you can aspire to as well. I hope the conference leaves student visitors motivated and empowered.”

A conference like CWA takes a lot of planning, preparing, and good old hard work. So what really goes on behind the scenes of planning a conference like this? The answer is “many, many volunteers and staff,” said Teitelbaum.

It involves lots of networking, as bringing multiple people together from all across the world for one conference takes a lot of preparation, communication, and planning. It is important that the event can offer a mixed bag of speakers with different opinions, occupations, and experiences to share. 

I learned a lot from visiting the CWA. It is really something special that cannot be taken for granted. It blows my mind that this huge space of shared knowledge and empowerment takes place just a short drive away from my home. That changes are being made, that people really do care, and the world, whether for better or worse, is changing every day.