LV Life

Almost United Nations

Members of this year’s Model United Nations club include (left to right): Kenneth Lee, Larry Gillen, Joshua Heydorff, Stephanie Beck, Dr. John Jang (adviser), Cherryl Cercado, and Mei Chen. / photo by Brian Murphy
Members of this year’s Model United Nations club include (left to right): Kenneth Lee, Larry Gillen, Joshua Heydorff, Stephanie Beck, Dr. John Jang (adviser), Cherryl Cercado, and Mei Chen. / photo by Brian Murphy

by Jennifer Gross
Staff Writer

Model United Nations (MUN) is a school-wide organization that acts and functions like the real United Nations. The purpose of the organization is to bring about cultural awareness of global issues affecting the world today.

Members of the group attend conferences where they take on the roles of leaders of UN countries. They make proposals, recommendations to support countries, give speeches and present working papers. Awards are presented to those who best represent their countries.

There is a forum consisting of a generic assembly and a security council. The countries present their issues to the judge and the issues are decided upon.

“This is meant to run like the real United Nations,” said senior Stephanie Beck, president. “It is really formal and has guidelines and a Constitution.”

Members of MUN get to choose a country or a political organization to focus their efforts on. Last year’s topic was Palestine and the P.L.O. (Palestinian Liberation Organization). This year, the topic will be Israel where issues facing that country will be discussed.

Conferences are held at schools throughout the country and many schools participate, including USC, UCLA, UC Irvine, Harvard, Stanford and some community colleges. Some high schools have participated in the MUN program.

Past conferences have been held in Los Angeles, Seattle and at Harvard in Boston, Mass. This February, the conference will be held in San Fran­cisco.

“The conferences are a lot of fun. I would have liked to have attended the Harvard conference,” said Beck.

Although MUN is very well known, there are few members from ULV. This year there are 12 students involved, mostly seniors. Two of them are Vice-President Larry Gillen, Secretary Mei Chen and Dr. John Jang, professor of History and Government, serves as the adviser.

“MUN has been a part of ULV for many years,” said Beck. “I found out about the program through a LEAD (Leadership, Education, and Develop­ment) conference.”

In the past, MUN has participated in Homecoming activities and has held fundraisers in order to raise money to attend the conferences. Other funding is provided through ASF (Associated Student Federation), donor contributions and the Political Science Department.

MUN is an extra-curricular activity, but through participation, students can earn one unit of credit per semester.

Jennifer Gross
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Brian Murphy
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