Globally minded Portland State students take part in the changing global perspective by participating as PSU delegates in the collegiate Model United Nations. Together, they examine world issues, and meet with students from other universities at MUN summits to debate issues.
Globally minded Portland State students take part in the changing global perspective by participating as PSU delegates in the collegiate Model United Nations. Together, they examine world issues, and meet with students from other universities at MUN summits to debate issues.
Because of its success at these national events, the PSU club has been making a name for itself. Recently, Delegate Cole Simko won the Best Delegate Award at the Harvard MUN Summit, and according to senior African Studies and political science major Emily Kunkel, summits like the one at Harvard University give PSU students the opportunity to debate students from various universities. “Here are kids taking what they have learned about politics and international relations at PSU and applying it in competition to win and beat out schools like Harvard, Yale, Cambridge, etc,” Kunkel said.
Model U.N. is both an educating vessel in the context of international relations and a way for students to get involved and develop their leadership skills. As stated on its website, “The Model United Nations program at Portland State University strives to help students develop the skills and awareness necessary to be an effective diplomat, student and global citizen.”
These students act as delegates, representing nations from around the world. Each student is part of a committee that deals with various international issues such as nuclear energy, refugees and security issues. According to political science junior Anna Ceniceros: “Members attend Model United Nations conferences around the country as delegates from an assigned country. In those conferences, delegates simulate a summit of the United Nations, in whichever committee they are placed in.”
Psychology senior and club member Jenna Burke summed up the role of a PSU delegate. “A delegate will research the topics in that committee in relation to the country that they are representing,” Burke wrote in an email, “and while at the conference will advocate for resolutions that promote their representing country’s ideals and values; just like a real U.N. committee.”
PSU delegates, along with students from other MUN clubs, gather for summits and conferences across the nation. “This past academic year, we have gone to Northwest MUN in Seattle and Harvard National MUN in Boston,” wrote Ceniceros in an email. There is also a MUN conference in the near future that the PSU delegates will be attending, according to Kunkel.
Delegates enjoy the community involved with collegiate MUN. “My favorite aspect of this student group is the community that is fostered when we attend conferences,” Ceniceros said.
Kunkel agrees. “We met with other students from all over the U.S. and the world, and some friends I now have are from the Netherlands, Venezuela, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Kenya and elsewhere,” she said.
The involvement of the PSU delegates also serves to promote and represent PSU both on a national and international level. According to Kunkel, “because we are meeting with people from all over, when we do well in conference, it reflects on PSU and our international programs. Our school is now known in these countries, and we slowly gain standing in the international studies community for how well we do.”
As well as participating in conferences, the club organizes local events and partners with organizations whose areas range from international development to coffee production. Some of the club’s partner organizations include Mercy Corps, Bread for the World and Portland Area Global AIDS Coalition. “In addition to attending conferences, we try to host at least one or two events on campus per year which focus on international issues,” Kunkel wrote in an email. “This past year, we brought Will Davis, from the U.N. Information Center in Washington D.C., to campus to talk specifically with students about the U.N.”
“In the past we have worked with the World Affairs Council of Oregon to organize human trafficking awareness events,” Burke said. “We are currently trying to work with the PSU debate team on an event we hope to coordinate on this spring.”
SO PROUD OF THE PSU MODEL UNITED NATIONS TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO PSUMUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations to you all and to those in the past who had helped to build up PSU MUN. Go on, its a prokect worth while!