February 19, 2002

Contact: Anne Merydith-Wolf, International Programs, (785) 864-4963.

Ninety-one future international military leaders to discuss First Amendment at KU

LAWRENCE -- International officers attending the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth will visit the University of Kansas Feb. 20 as part of the U.S. Army's International Officer Information Program. The daylong program begins at 8:45 a.m. in Alderson Auditorium at the Kansas Union.

This is the fifth time KU faculty have worked with military officers in this program to explore the First Amendment and the role of a free media in a democracy. Faculty from KU's William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications will lay out for the 91 officers from 79 countries the relationship of advertising to news and of a private media to government. In addition, KU faculty will conduct mock press conferences.

KU's Office of International Programs coordinates the program.

"While attending CGSC, the international officers experience many facets of American life and culture, including its people, political systems and academic institutions such as the University of Kansas," said Maj. Bill Dickey, public affairs officer at the Command and General Staff College. "The time they spend in the U.S. and visiting such places as Lawrence and the university will have a lasting impact upon on how they view and ultimately support U.S. foreign policy objectives."

George Norton, Topeka, and Dick Lipsey, Lawrence, both former military officers who now work in the private sector will brief the visiting officers. Norton, an independent public relations consultant, was the principal public affairs adviser for the U.S. Command, Berlin, and Allied Staff during the fall of the Berlin Wall and German unification. Lipsey, a reporter with the Associated Press Kansas City, Mo., bureau, was attached to the KU ROTC program at the end of his 20-year military career. Both have master's degrees from KU.

"The need for international exchange is not just for traditional students, and the U.S. Army and the State Department recognize the value to national security of future leaders meeting and learning about each other," said Anne Merydith-Wolf, project coordinator for KU's international programs and co-coordinator of the program. "The majority of these officers will go on to become some of the top military officers or heads of state of their countries. We're quite honored that the Army chose the University of Kansas to provide this briefing on the First Amendment and the interaction between military and a free media."

The International Officer Information Program is designed to introduce the officers to varied aspects of American life during their yearlong stay in the United States. Visits include academic, government, business and military facilities. International officers have attended the Army Command and General Staff College, which is the Army's senior tactical school, since 1894. Two countries are represented by officers for the first time -- Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.