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SU Welcomes Model United Nations Club

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SU Welcomes Model United Nations Club

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By: Natalie DeCesare

Model United Nations (MUN), a new student organization, brings to Southwestern an academically relevant interdisciplinary opportunity to research and represent countries throughout state and national conferences. The team’s first conference is March 31 at Texas A&M Commerce as delegates for Libya.

Southwestern’s MUN joins an international dialogue addressing real-world conflicts with other student delegates. President of MUN Aresha Davwa believes the team complements a variety of academic interests.

“Issues that one country faces can be analyzed through many different lenses and disciplines such as economics, political science, history, sociology, and evidently international relations,” Davwa said. “MUN is inherently interdisciplinary, because no one case can entirely be understood through one perspective.”

Multiple incentives exist for participating students. Students will have a professional setting to display research, writing, and speaking skills. Team members will develop a kind of academic portfolio of applicable credentials employers look for in students.

“MUN will provide students an opportunity to attend conferences for which they can further develop their public speaking and analytical skills, as well as research, writing, and editing skills in preparation for the conferences,” Davwa said.

Students will receive funding from SU to travel across the state, as well as excused absences for missed classes.

Since MUN acts as an umbrella organization for more specific conferences like Model Arab League, students will find multiple conferences throughout the year to participate.

Diversity also serves as an underlying element of all the work necessary for successful imitation of the United Nations. For example, Southwestern’s Model UN delegates are preparing to represent Libya, but every conference provides a chance to represent a new country and become ‘experts’ in regards to the selection made.

“In the process, students come to realize how different these realities of international relations are in comparison to what they previously thought and wrongly assumed to be true. Students will learn to respect and understand the policies and ideologies of nations which they had previously been unfamiliar with,” Davwa said.

Those interested in MUN can contact Davwa (davwaa@southwestern.edu). Meetings are Wednesdays at 8 p.m. in Prothro 147.

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