Features
Model U.N.promotesidea shar
By James Kushlan
Walt Disney’s people tell us
“It’s a small world after all.”
That’s true. With huge ad
vances in travel and com
munication, we share more of
the humanity of our fellow
earthlings.
The Model United Nations set
for February 24 to 26 here at
Capitol Campus will reflect this
smallness of our world com
munity. High school students
will debate and discuss impor
tant issues from every region of
the globe.
Students participating in the
Model U.N. will go beyond the
level of appreciating a good
Disney song, though. “Rather
than just saying how small the
world is becoming, I think the
delegates get an awareness that
issues which affect other coun
tries also affect the
United States, says Clem E.
“Our purpose is to educate
ourselves as well as our
delegates in international af
fairs.”
Gilpin, Capitol Campus instruc
tor, Afro-American Studies,
who began the Model U.N.' pro
gram here in 1973.
Chris Barrett
President, I.A.A.
The program is sponsored by
the International Affairs
Association (lAA) of Capitol
Campus, a student group
dedicated to fostering
understanding of world
concerns.
Chris Barrett, President of
the lAA, says in sponsoring the
Model U.N., “our purpose is to
educate ourselves as well as
our delegates in international
affairs.”
The Model U.N. brings
students together from about 30
South Central Pennsylvania
high schools for a weekend at
Capitol. Students, chosen by
methods varying with each
school, come prepared to repre
sent specific nations par
ticipating in sessions similar to
those of the real U.N.
Issues, chosen beforehand by
the staff, are both regional and
global, such as the Iran-Iraq
war, and world hunger and
population growth. “Basically,
we look at what’s discusse din
the real U.N. when choosing the
issues, says Barrett.
In sessions of the four com
mittees comprising the Model
U.N. delegates representing
various nations address the
issues according to established
rules of procedure. Staff
members moderate the discus
sion in each of the committees.
Student delegates must
prepare themselves for discus
sion by studying the issues. A
brochure on this year’s pro
gram encourages the delegates
to select a country early, and to
contact either the embassy in
Washington, D.C., or the coun
try’s U.N. mission in New York
for information. Students are
also encouraged to use the U.N.
Monthly Chronicle.
The staff for the program
must be thoroughly prepared,
Barrett says, because they
moderate discussion of the
“My major concern is that the delegates become interested in in
ternational issues, not only as American citizens, but also from the
perspective of world citizens.”
issues, and uphold proper pro
cedures. Members of the staff,
not all belonging to the lAA,
research periodicals and hold
mock sessions. Five members
of the staff participated in a
college-level Model U.N. pro
gram at the university of Penn
sylvania, in Philadelphia, to
familiarize them with the issues
and procedure. A visit to the
Nigerian embassy in
Washington, D.C., and to the
embassy’s information office
also aided staff preparation.
“There is a lot of work involv
ed getting ready to host the pro
gram,” Barrett says, “for ex
ample, one night a group met to
make namecards for each
delegate.”
When the student delegates
arrive, they will stay in Meade
Heights and in the dorms,
through the cooperation of some
of the residents. Meals will be
offered at the dining halls. The
delegates will even have a
dance on Friday evening, with
music provided by WNDR, the
campus radio station.
But this is not a weekend of
partying, Gilpin stresses. “It’s a
Clem E. Gilpin
Afro-American Studies Instructor
tremendous sacrifice for the
student delegates to give up an
entire weekend for the Model
U.N., and to be in conferences
for a very long time.” The pro
gram has its benefits, though.
Paul Sharpe, a senior at
Bishop McDevitt High School,
Harrisburg, attended last
year’s program, and will return
this year. He sees the Model
U.N. as both a learning ex
perience and a “chance to meet
people from other high schools,
other areas.”
Sharpe found it interesting
“to see the bureaucracy” even
in a small group he participated
in.
Andy Arce, a former presi
dent of the lAA, is also the
father of one of this year’s
delegates. The participants
“get a sense of how issues are
interrelated and affect other
countries,” he says, adding: “If
they come away with anything,
it’s a world cultural overview, a
less ethnocentric point of
view.”
This is consistent with
Gilpin’s hopes for the Model
U.N. “My major concern is that
the delegtes become interested
in international issues not only
as American citizens, but also
from the perspective of world
citizens,” says Gilpin.
Along with meeting people
and participating, students
have the opportunity to earn
certificates of merit. These
awards are given by the staff to
“students who represent their
countries well and make con
tributions to the conference,”
says Gilpin. All participants
receive certificates recognizing
their attendance at the Model
U.N.
What does the staff get out of
the Model U.N.? They are ex
hausted when the conference is
over. “They probably don’t
want to hear the words ‘Model
U.N.’ mentioned for the next
few weeks, but, they will have a
sense of major accomplish
ment,” says Gilpin.
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