Model U.N. program looks to train students in global arena
By Jacque Nguyen
Staff Reporter

As America stands on the brink of war, the TCU Model United Nations Program aims to bring knowledge and training for students just in time to help resolve international issues.

Political science professor Donald Jackson said TCU will be a first-time participant of the National Model United Nations Program starting in fall 2003 to gain a more detailed idea of international affairs and the United Nations. He said the program will include a class on international politics and send a delegation of students to the 2004 national conference in New York City.

“(The program) is a good way for students to learn about what the U.N. actually does,” Jackson said.

Twelve students will be selected for the course through an application process, eight of these students will form the delegation and four will be alternates, Jackson said.

At the national assembly in New York City, groups of delegates from schools nationwide each represent a different country and attend a simulated general assembly where mock issues and situations are raised for decisions to be made as the appointed country, Jackson said.

“The prospect of war will obviously be a focal point (in the assembly),” Jackson said.

He said problems with resource allocation were why the university has not participated in the program in the past.

“There hasn’t been enough professors to teach the classes,” Jackson said. “I’m doing this as an overload.”

Chelsea Hudson, a senior political science major, said the Model U.N. program would not have existed at TCU if Jackson hadn’t volunteered to head the program.

Senior business management major Andrea Reed said she wants to join the program because she participated in it in high school and loved the experience.

“It was a valid learning tool in international affairs and the issues with multilateral decision making and cross-cultural conflict resolution,” Reed said.

Reed said bringing a program like this to the university will bring a greater global awareness to the campus.

“It will put the name of TCU out into the global community as an institution that makes international education a priority,” Reed said.

Jackson said the Model U.N. program is co-sponsored by Student Development Services.

He said he will work on the organization and the growth of the program with Kay Higgins, director of new student programs.

“This is a critical time and the U.N. has had a lot of publicity lately,” Higgins said. “(The program) is an opportunity for students to see why the U.N. really matters.”

Higgins said the Student Development Services staff will help students with presentation skills.

Hudson said leadership is one of TCU’s strongest attributes and the program is an opportunity for students to enhance these leadership skills while gaining better understanding of the world around them. She said it was a natural step for TCU to participate.

The national program works toward further understanding the United Nations and contemporary international problems to prepare participants to be better global citizens, according to its Web site. The site also stated that more than 2,600 student delegates and faculty from around the world attend each conference.

Jacque Nguyen