 "Photo: un.org")
Suffolk's Model United Nations (SUMUN) will be heading to New York next month to attend the National Model United Nations Conference. SUMUN is a club on campus that focuses on international relations issues. They provide a place and time in the Suffolk Campus where students can get together and discuss global concerns with others who are interested. Some of the topics they discuss include the conflicts in Darfur, the drug war in Mexico, and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. SUMUN also hosts events like movies nights. Their movie nights usually feature a movie that holds a somewhat controversial topic so that there can be a good discussion afterwards.
SUMUN gets to participate in different conferences as well. The conferences act as the real United Nations and the students take part as if they were part of it as well. Each school gets assigned to a country for them to represent. They then divide into committees such as: Social Cultural Humanitarian Committee, Disarmament and Security Committee, or Legal committee. The participants then focus on the issue within their own committee and try to find a solution to it.
On Valentine's Day weekend Suffolk's MUN participated in the Harvard Conference. The Harvard Model United Nations is the largest, most prestigious and oldest conference. About 3,000 different college students and staff from 35 different countries got together to discuss and debate current issues.
Suffolk University was assigned to represent the country of Luxembourg. The members of SUMUN that were attending the conference picked their committees and began their research. They all prepared for the conference by finding out everything they could on Luxemburg. After the early opening ceremony, the students participated in multiple committee meetings while they discussed, debated, and came up with a resolution for their country's dilemma.
This four day conference required the students to stay at the Boston Park Plaza and interact with students from visiting colleges. The Harvard Conference also featured a guest speaker from the International Monetary Fund.
Although the conference began at 6p.m. on Thursday and took up most of Valentine's Day, the members had a great time and said it was well worth it. "We got to meet kids from all over," said a member, commenting on his experience. "We did well, it was my first conference."
Tim Webber, a Suffolk freshman and Global Business and Management Minor who joined SUMUN, spoke about the conferences: "It gives students a better global perspective because you meet students from all over the world" Webber participated in the Harvard conference and will be heading to New York for his second conference.
The New York National conference is coming up soon. Different school's applied in order to be able to participate, and Suffolk was one of the chosen ones. Ten Suffolk students will be heading to the city to represent the university, and Panama. From now until the 28th of March Suffolk's MUN will be preparing for the New York Conference.
At the New York Conference, not only will SUMUN be representing the country of Panama, but also putting Suffolk University on the MUN map. "Our goal as a club for Suffolk is to make a name for ourselves at these conferences,' said Deborah Searfoss, the SUMUN Conference Coordinator, "We want to be able to attend a conference and colleges already recognize our name and say, wow these students are a force to be reckoned with!"
SUMUN wants to encourage the Suffolk community to get involved. "Even if you aren't interested in the conferences it's a great way to be informed on global issues and what people can do about it," said Searfoss. "There is nothing more important than knowing the facts and being well versed in these issues especially during our college years." Their meetings are held during activities period on Tuesdays in Archer room 365B.
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