Every other Thursday night, the Wesleyan chapter of John Quincy Adams Society (JQAS) gathers around the wooden tables in Usdan 110 to discuss non-United Nations International Organizations and foreign policy.
The club was founded this year by Connor Matteson ’23, who was inspired to create a space for foreign policy discussion on campus after taking a gap year.
“So, I took the year off from Wesleyan last year because of COVID-19, and had a lot of time to figure out ‘what am I going to do with myself once I leave school?’” Matteson said. “For me, foriegn policy and international relations was that thing.”
Matteson was quickly able to recruit other members, such as Gabby Roberts ’22.
“Connor was honestly kind of the mastermind behind it all,” Roberts said. “He was home during COVID and started reaching out to people. He realized there wasn’t a space really on campus where people were talking about international affairs.”
The JQAS is a national network of student groups aimed at discussing foreign policy. The key reason Matteson chose to start a chapter of the organization was their non-interventionist views.
“Ideologically, at least they seemed to promote what, in my heart of hearts, I thought that Wesleyan students probably already believed without necessarily even knowing it,” Matteson said. “As in a less militaristic…approach to the world, which obviously has been a complete failure for the past twenty years and that there’s a better way and there should be a better way.”
Each meeting starts with a brief presentation given by a different member of the JQAS. After the presentation, the discussion opens up to the wider group.
“We only talk about things that students bring up,” Roberts said. “[Most of] the conversation is very grounded in what everyone in the club is interested in thinking about right now.”
Sometimes, members ask questions about specific facts, such as the difference between an Intergovernmental Organization (IGO) and a Nongovernmental Organization (NGO). No one member is expected to know all of the answers, so a question will often circulate around the room. Everybody seems to know something, but nobody knows everything.
“I think that everyone’s coming into this conversation with a different amount of knowledge,” Roberts said.
The chapter meetings are intended to be a space where people can evolve in their thinking with people’s different levels of knowledge, further creating a learning environment.
“We want people to walk away from every discussion with something new that they learned, something that they’ll share, and something that will influence them in whatever next step they take in their careers,” Chapter Vice President Nimra Karamat ’23 said.
The JQAS also aims to bring levity to discussions about complex topics.
“I also think that it’s just fun,” Karamat said. “Because usually, in traditional [government] classes, we don’t really have fun conversations or it’s not really lighthearted.”
Another goal of the club is to bring speakers to campus. Earlier in the year, for example, Professor of History at Yale University Samuel Moyn spoke about the history of American imperialism and human rights.
“[Moyn has] done a lot of work on the history of American imperialism in the context of the global human rights movement,” Matteson said.
At 5 pm on Monday, Dec. 6, Jesse Young ’06, a senior advisor to John Kerry, will be speaking on his experience at the COP26 climate summit and his work in the field of climate diplomacy generally. All students are invited to join both speaker events and chapter meetings.
Chapter Member Ethan Sands ’23 noted that the JQAS welcomes people who haven’t thought much about foreign policy before, and hopes to cultivate a space where debate and learning are encouraged.
“It’s kind of nice when you think you have your opinion on something locked down, and then someone here challenges it,” Sands said.
Jacob Silberman-Baron can be reached at jsilbermanba@wesleyan.edu.