Students serve in Harvard National Model United Nations
02.11.2010
From navigating complex rules and regulations to debating international concerns and developing compromises, nearly 15 Bay Path College undergraduates will experience the daily routine of the United Nations (UN) as they attend the 56th session of Harvard National Model United Nations in Boston from Feb. 11 to 14. The largest, oldest, and one of the most prestigious Model United Nations, the program provides more than 3,000 college and university delegates from around the world the opportunity to participate in a mock United Nations (UN) General Assembly and other joint organizations. Through the Model UN process, the students are responsible for maintaining peace, developing substantial relationship with other role-playing delegates, and promoting social change and human rights, among other UN-related tasks.
This year, Bay Path’s Model UN ambassadors will represent the nation of Madagascar, and Cristina Ruiz ’10 will serve as head delegate. Serving on multiple committees, the students prepared months in advance for the annual session to debate current issues on the UN’s agenda. Throughout the Model UN experience, the delegates will deliver speeches, converse and negotiate with other nations’ ambassadors, draft resolutions, settle conflicts, and channel the UN conference rules of procedure. They will sit on Model UN committees that cover a range of international concerns, including peaceful development of space, international piracy on the high seas, oppression of women, and a war crimes trial of a few Rwandan Hutus accused of genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.
The annual Harvard National Model UN is the peak of the course, allowing students to put into practice the skills they’ve learned throughout the semester. An experiential learning course typically offered to juniors, who are members of Bay Path’s Honors Program, Bay Path’s Model UN hones the students’ skills in research, writing, public speaking and negotiations, all of which are required to build international relationships to resolve significant issues.
