The Brown & White

Global Union hosted a trip Friday to meet with the German ambassador to the United Nations at its headquarters in New York City.

Thomas Matussek, who has served as the German ambassador since 2006, addressed international subjects such as president-elect Barack Obama, the economy, environmental issues and security initiatives.

"In a global world, we need to share," Matussek said.

The trip was open to all Lehigh students; almost 40 students in attended. Among the participants were Global Union members, German language students and international exchange students from China and India.

Lehigh has been a non-governmental organization with the United Nations since August 2004 and is currently the only university in the world with a United Nations affiliation.

At the meeting Matussek also spoke about world issues affecting society.

"There are challenges that we are facing and that we will be facing," Matussek said. "And, these are new growing problems such as the food crisis, energy, disease and the financial market."

Matussek said Germany should have a seat on the U.N. Security Council which, at present, only maintains seats for the U.S., China, France, the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation. He also suggested more representation from third-world countries.

"We will be worse off if we leave the poor behind," Matussek said.

Lehigh students also had the opportunity to speak with German journalist Hannes Stein.

When the topic of the Iraq war arose, Stein said Germany is the "most peace-loving nation on Earth."

"We must not interfere; they have their own traditions, customs and values," Stein said.

Matussek spoke about the Iraq War and President-Elect Obama.

"The Obama Administration represents the enormous hopes of practically the whole world," Matussek said.

Stein also commented on Germany's reaction to the newly elected candidate.

"What I see in Obama is myself," Stein said. "Obama has a great rhetorical talent as a speaker. No politician in Europe has that talent, with the exception of Tony Blair."

Regarding the current state of the economy, Matussek recommended a "totally new globally financial constitution so that we are not working against each other but together to fix problems."

Stein added that the transition from the German currency to the Euro had a negative impact on Germany.

According to Stein, the original German currency was a symbol of "all good things that happened after the war."

Both speakers left significant imprints in the minds of the students in attendance.

"I really learned a lot about the economic crisis and its affect on other countries besides the U.S. It was very informative," Idelis Matias, '12, said.

"It's an eye-opener to hear different perspectives other than the ones we have here. It also maintains our relationship with the U.N.," said Kate Gano, '09, intern for the L.U./U.N. partnership.

Richard Brandt, director of Global Lehigh, organized the meeting as a result of the distinctive relationship that exists between the United Nations and Lehigh.

"We have been successful with building a partnership between the German U.N. and the global village. Today's interaction was an opportunity to build on that relationship," said William Hunter, Lehigh representative to the United Nations.

"These trips are co-curricular by design," Hunter said. "We support what happens in the classroom by giving students the opportunity to interact directly with global leaders."