The conference was held in Peru for the first time. While there, 26 schools and approximately 500 participants, known as delegates, debated and voted on mock international issues. Harvard co-hosted with La Universidad del Pacífico.
“That’s one of the coolest things about this conference, is schools from all around the world come,” said Brett Spicer, a senior majoring in economics and history and president of the UA International Relations Club. “And so you get to hear a lot of diverse perspectives and backgrounds on global issues because when you’re talking about disarmament in Latin America [with] someone who’s actually from Venezuela, it’s interesting to hear their perspective as they have a totally different political system there than we do here. It really enhances the debate.”
In Model United Nations, delegates each represent a different country and use parliamentary procedure to create a mock version of real United Nations assemblies. At the close of the conference, individual and group awards are announced.
The University’s International Relations Club received the award for Most Outstanding Large Delegation, honoring the significant contributions of an institution with 10 or more delegates. Spicer said it was the most prestigious award given to any school in North America and the biggest award in the club’s seven- year history.
In addition to the club’s success, UA delegate Anjana Venkatesan, a graduate student studying ecological studies, received the Best Delegate award, the tio award of Model UN conferences. Her committee members also appointed her Rapporteur to report on the proceedings of the meeting.
“Being Rapporteur was an especially meaningful award as it goes to the person the other delegates voted as the best to represent their committee at closing ceremonies,” she said. “I was honored to be named Rapporteur because it meant that my fellow committee members believed in not only my speaking ability, but also my involvement and understanding of the committee as a whole.”
UA delegate Brandon Hooks, a junior majoring in economics and international studies, was named Outstanding Delegate, the second highest individual award.
“While winning an individual award was an exciting accomplishment, my contributions to the team as a whole enabled me to represent The University of Alabama on an international level and prove to other schools that we are a force to reckon with,” he said.
Spicer said he hopes to use the new international recognition to grow the club larger than its current 60 members. He said he hopes to allow more UA delegates to attend conferences. The group currently participates in five conferences each year – four domestically and one internationally – in places like Chicago; Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles.
“Some conferences are perfect for people with no Model UN experience,” Spicer said. “And we take people who’ve never done Model UN before to allow them to kind of get the feel of it to some of our conferences.”
Throughout the rest of the year, the UA International Relations Club helps to facilitate high school conferences, tutors foreign languages to local middle schools and teaches Model United Nations two afternoons a week to high school students in the Black Belt. They meet weekly on Thursday at 6:30 in Bidgood Hall 340.
To learn more, visit alabamairc.com, Facebook “Alabama International Relations Club” or Twitter @AlabamaIRC.
