Student Spotlight: Rashid Attends NAFAC
Ibrahim Rashid (Pardee ’19) represented the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies as an undergraduate delegate at the 58th Annual Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference held from April 10-12, 2018.
Each year since 1960, the U.S. Naval Academy has hosted a gathering of undergraduates from around the United States and the world who come together in the spring to discuss a theme from current global affairs. This year’s conference focused on the topic “Guarding Liberty in a World of Democratic Undoing.”
“I was privileged to represent the Pardee School at the Naval Academy’s Foreign Affairs conference and highlight the centrality of protecting refugees and those displaced by conflict in upholding our democratic system and values,” Rashid said.
The Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference (NAFAC) has grown to be the leading undergraduate conference in the country. It has welcomed delegates from thirty countries in each of the last five years and it has heard speakers as notable as President George Bush and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
“My three takeaways are: 1) Democracy is in recession world wide. We must fight for it. 2) Authoritarians thrive in polarized societies. We must set an example through our active citizenship and compassion for others and 3) Civilian policy makers must understand the motives and processes that guide our military counterparts if we are to effectively work together,” Rashid said.