Political science students participate in Model United Nations in New York
Ten University of New England political science students participated along with more than 5,000 peers from 340 schools on five continents in the April 2-7, 2012 National Model United Nations-New York conference, hosted by the National Collegiate Conference Association.
The Model United Nations-NY was offered by the Political Science Department as an advanced course for the spring semester. This is the third time this course has been offered by Assistant Professor Julie Mueller, Ph.D., Department of Political Science.
NMUN is a unique opportunity for college students to participate in a simulation of the mechanics and issues that the United Nations deals with on a daily basis.
UNE students partnered with Bowling Green State University in Ohio to represent the Arab Republic of Egypt on various UN committees.
The Students
The 10 UNE students were Bailey Booras '14, Kevin Connell '13, Matthew Desgrosseilliers '13, Daniel Featherstone '13, Roman Khromushkin '12, Colin Longhurst '13, Chloé Maiers '13, Timothy Stetson '13, Erika Streim '13, and Piaoyang Wang '14.
Students were paired with partners from Bowling Green to represent Egypt on a variety of committees, including the UN General Assembly committees, the Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty, the African Union, UNESCO and the Economic and Social Council. These students spent several months learning about the history of the UN, the politics of Egypt, and the details of their committees issues.
Some of the issues they debated at the conference included the illicit trade in small arms in Africa, transnational organized crime, environmental migration, sustainable development, and famine in Somalia.
Trip Highlights
Highlights of the trip included opening remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdallah Y. Al-Mouallimi, permanent representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations, and a briefing for the students by the Permanent Mission of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United Nations.
There are many benefits to participating in NMUN for UNE students. In addition to learning a great deal about how the UN operates and about their roles as global citizens, students also learn many practical skills that they will retain long after the program is over.
They must work very independently and meet strict deadlines, they learn negotiating skills, and they learn to interact with a wide variety of people. The students also had to coordinate work with their committee partner at a distance, which was sometimes a challenge, but a necessary skill in today's world.