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History

The Student Conference on National Affairs was developed by two cadets-John Jenkins and Bud Whitney-in 1955 in collaboration with the first director of the Memorial Student Center (MSC), J. Wayne Stark. As one of the first committees to be established within the MSC, it is currently the oldest committee still in existence. The founders of SCONA wanted to bring the issues of United States' national and foreign policy to the Southern tier of the country and create an environment where national and international students, faculty, government officials, and well-known public figures could discuss and examine a topic of national and international importance. At the same time, the founders of SCONA wanted to provide Texas A&M students the opportunities and tools needed to develop the leadership and professional skills necessary to prosper in their future post-graduate endeavors.

Over the years, the SCONA conference has tackled pivotal issues and questions reflected by trends in American society and politics. During the 1960s, two conferences were focused on United States involvement in Southeast Asia. The 1970s saw an eclectic mix of topics ranging from American individualism to U.S. energy concerns. It was during the 1980s that SCONA made a giant shift, focusing primarily on U.S. foreign policy with conferences about Latin America, China, the former USSR, and the Middle East. Speakers during SCONA's early years have come from both near and afar including: Senator, later Vice President, Lyndon B. Johnson, Dr. Milton Friedman, Ralph Nader, Ross Perot, Senator Hubert Humphrey, Minister Oleg Sokolov, Cong. Olin E. Teague, Thomas DeFrank, Amb. Ling Qing, Amb. Igor Khripunov, and Amb. Hideo Kagami.

In 2002, SCONA committee members chose to adopt a 10-year umbrella topic of "globalization" to provide over-arching consistency to each year's program. With this structural change, conference topics have placed heavy emphasis on examining the United States' role as a member of the global community. Since 2002, SCONA has welcomed speakers such as Benjamin Barber, who spoke about sources of conflict in today's global system, and General Barry McCaffrey, and Dr. Bernard Kouchner who enlightened delegates during SCONA 49 about the U.S.' role in developing nations.

Although a new topic is chosen each year, the goals of the conference remain the same: first, to create intelligent interest in the complexities of problems and policies, national and international, rather than simply to offer solutions or accept ready-made answers; and second, to develop enlightened, responsible leaders through free expression and meaningful exchange of ideas among students.