Seventeen Mississippi State University students will “think globally” when they participate in the 14th Annual Southern Regional Model United Nations conference in Atlanta, Ga., Nov. 20 to Nov. 22.
According to Rick Travis, political science professor, the conference is a three-day simulation with students participating in a variety of U.N. agencies and committees.
MSU students will represent Kuwait or Guinea in several U.N. organizations, including the Security Council, International Court of Justice, World Health Organization, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the General Assembly Plenary, the U.N. Commission on trade and development and the status of women.
The conference provides an opportunity for students to better understand the full range of issues that the United Nations tries to resolve and to understand many of the problems of the United Nations.
MSU began participating in 1996, stemming from students’ desires to become involved in a more comprehensive, student-focused U.N. simulation, Travis said.
Tonya Thornton, a head delegate, said: “Many of the U.N. bodies are taken for granted because their efforts and achievements go unrecognized due to the lack of publicity; however, all entities of the United Nations are extremely important though their aspects and goals vary.”
“I feel that students attending SRMUN become more conscious of how the United Nations really works with all of its functioning parts. This knowledge will enlighten students to understand or at least identify issues in all parts of the world,” Thornton added.
Head delegate Nicholas Wilson said: “Participating in SRMUN gives students at Mississippi State a chance to see how the United Nations works while debating real issues.
“By representing another country, it allows students to look at issues from other countries’ perspectives, without a U.S.-centric view,” Wilson said.
“SRMUN also gives students a chance to make contacts, which once in the real world can be useful in their careers, and gives them a chance to learn the skills they will need to form alliances and make compromises in any job,” Wilson added.
MSU’s Kuwait team received an Honorable Mention overall at the 2002 conference, students are hoping to bring home another honorable mention or better this year, Wilson said.
Two seniors in political science, Smith Lilley and Jennifer Phillips, were appointed to important positions within SRMUN.
Lilley is serving as assistant director of NATO, while Phillips was appointed as a delegate for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Thornton said the two students had to go through an extensive application process in order to become selected.
In addition to achieving success for the university, Travis said three other benefits existed from student participation in the conference.
Students obtain a better understanding of the strengths and the weaknesses of the United Nations, gain in-depth knowledge about other countries and learn to deal with unusual conflicts, he said.
“Making a speech in front of 50-75 students, many of whom are waiting to vocally disagree with you, puts into practice the skills our students have learned in the communications department,” Travis said.
Despite the effort and difficulties some of the students have faced in preparing for the conference, some team members are already looking toward competing in next year’s conference.
“I have chosen to continually participate in SRMUN because attending the program has definitely helped me to become more aware of current situations facing foreign countries as well as my own,” Thornton said. “This knowledge will follow me into my area of interest upon graduation.”
Sponsors of the program include the University Honors Program, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of the Provost and the Student Association.
Students wanting to expand their world views and learn about other countries can sign up for the Mississippi Model Security Council class offered by the department of political science or by visiting the program’s Web site www.msstate.edu/org/mmsc. For more information on the conference, visit www.srmun.org.