On Saturday, April 14, Hood College hosted the 7th annual Frederick and Montgomery County Model United Nations (UN) Conference, sponsored by the Frederick UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) Center for Peace. Approximately 70 students participated, ranging from intensely driven to casually interested, to work out solutions for some of the world’s greatest problems.
Participants began preparing last fall by choosing the countries they wanted to represent at the conference, and they were assigned on a “first come, first serve” basis. Then there was an orientation, where students learned about the history of the UN, the Model UN process, and how to write a position paper. The position papers included describing the position of the chosen country on the given issue—in this case, the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol. These position papers were due on March 15, so Dr. Paige Eager, an international relations teacher at Hood College, could review them before the actual event.
In addition to Eager, Guy Djoken, president of the local United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) branch is also involved, as well as Michael Bunitsky, FCPS Curriculum Specialist. Guest speakers at the conference included President of the Board of County Commissioners Blaine Young and Board of Education member Katie Groth, who was acting as Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the UN.
After opening remarks, the group of students was divided: most, about sixty, were put into the General Assembly (GA), the only organization of the actual UN in which all countries have equal representation. The mock group debated the impending expiration of the Kyoto Protocol, which was a failed attempt to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions, signed in 1997 and enforced beginning in 2005.
The remaining students were veterans of the program and had volunteered to represent their school in the Security Council (SC). In the real UN, the SC has five permanent members (United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China) with veto power, and ten more members who are rotated every two years. The simulated SC was in a separate room for most of the day, debating Palestinian statehood.
The GA and SC were both run by undergraduate students at Hood College: Maria Smith and Aubrey Shannon ran the SC, and Miriam Fitzelle-Jones and Danielle Samsingh were in charge of the GA. Imitating the real UN, roll call began the day—each country is called to make sure everyone is present.
“My favorite part the day is always the beginning when we do the roll call to see all the students in their seats holding their country's placards. It is the beginning of the simulation for the students, but for me, the teachers, and all the other people who help to make the event a reality, it feels like we have done all we can do to make the day a success for the students,” said Dr. Eager.
Mr. Bunitsky agrees. “My favorite part of the day is when we begin. Everything is done and students are all equal and fresh. We never know how the day will turn out and we don’t know who will be a dominate ambassador or even if we will have one. There are great expectations at that point and there is nothing else I can do to change anything so I actually relax.”
At first, the representatives of individual countries stood up before the GA during a formal “speaker’s list” to express their nations’ positions on the subject.
“I really enjoyed hearing everyone's enthusiasm in formal session during the speeches!” Fitzelle-Jones said.
After everyone was heard, a motion was made for an “unmoderated caucus,” during which students met in regional groups (the African group, the Western European group, the South American group, etc.), determined a general consensus, and then branched out to meet with other groups in order to make a plan of action. After additional speakers, the rest of the day was a mix of moderated (in which there was an informal debate in the auditorium) and unmoderated caucuses, during which the students tried to figure out a plan of action.
Linganore participant and junior Emily Butcher, representing Kiribati, said, “I loved being able to hash out any concerns with whomever would listen, without the dais's guidelines. It really felt like legitimate problem-solving.”
After lunch, which was offered in the dining hall at Hood, groups of students who had formed alliances over the day worked together to make resolutions. Only four resolutions were accepted, all of which were titled with flower names, and these were debated and amended before the GA voted. In the end, all four resolutions failed—the GA was divided between oil, poor, and developed countries, and this division meant no majority could be happy.
“I was disappointed when all the resolutions failed. After everyone being so invested in writing our drafts, it was sad to not see any of them work out. I feel like all the resolution options failed just by the nature of compromise, where the ultimate solution is one with which nobody's one-hundred percent happy,” said Butcher.
Fitzelle-Jones was disappointed as well. “I just think that there wasn't enough time for the delegates to satisfactorily read and discuss the draft resolutions, so they just voted against unfamiliar draft resolutions... I would have liked to see more mergers, and more cooperation among the working groups. It's too bad we didn't have more time,” she said.
The SC’s day was similar in a lot of ways. Their debate on Palestinian statehood produced two draft resolutions, and they both failed as well.
“We did not have enough time in the day for more debate and amendments, and so when we went into voting procedure both draft resolutions failed. I saw this as positive, however, because the group was not willing to pass a draft resolution that they felt was not in its final form,” said Smith.
After the primary debate, the SC is given a crisis situation, and the students have an hour to work together to create a plan of action.
“It was great to see the students quickly work with the little time they had left to produce a document. Also, Dr. Eager was able to come in as a representative from Iran for questioning for the group, which was a lot of fun,” said Smith.
While awards were being decided, participants were offered a half-hour workshop designed to help explore themes. Students teamed up to practice “saying yes,” by handing each other invisible presents and feigning excitement, and then worked together to create “human statues” that represented a word. It was an interesting interlude in a day full of thinking and opposition.
At the very end of the day, awards were handed out. There was an award for “Best Position Paper” and “Best Representative” in both the GA and the SC; the winners won a full scholarship to a Model UN camp held in Hagerstown in July, and the runner-ups won a half scholarship. Mr. Bunitsky closed the day with a few inspiring words about the world.
Butcher was very pleased with what she gained from the day. “I learned a ton! Decorum, cooperation, compromise; it's the lessons from kindergarten, all grown up.”
Four Linganore students attended the simulation: Emily Butcher, Wendy Owens, Lindsay McDonald, and Julia Reifman. The Model UN at Linganore is sponsored by Michelle Richardson.