International Student Relations Seminar (10th)

The International Union of Students was established for the purpose of securing the most effective means of protecting student rights and of serving student needs. However, some of the National Student Unions throughout the world objected to the compromise charter that was established by the International Union of Students and their failure to protest developments within Czechoslovakia during the coup d'etat of February 1948. The International Union of Students was accused by some national student unions of violating the principles necessary for true cooperation which is nonpartisan and which does not prejudice the rights of any organization. Consequently, the International Student Conference convened in 1950 as an alternative to the International Union of Students. The two organizations co-existed, with the IUS operating primarily in Communist Eastern Europe, and the ISC operating in the west. The Tenth International Student Relations Seminar was a forum for numerous research papers that studied the history, the structure, the purpose, and the functions of the International Union of Students, the International Student Conference, and other national unions throughout the world. After an initial study of the background of these unions, the seminar then proceeded to focus its attention on the issue of unity and cooperation in international student organizations.