The next generation of the United Nations

Peace and security, development, human rights, humanitarian affairs and international law are common categories for issues the general public face every day. The United Nations has brought together delegates from its member countries since 1945, but what happens when the generation that’s in charge isn’t able to stay in their positions?

NSU’s Model United Nations Team, the Nova International Relations Association, is an academic simulation of the UN in which students act as delegates of a country and conduct research on global issues and write position papers that explain their country’s standpoint on a particular issue, how they would address it as delegates of that country, and what other countries they would want to work with to resolve the issue.

Assistant Professor in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences George Bass, faculty adviser for NIRA, brought the idea for a model UN team to Rehan Sherali, junior political science major and NIRA president, around 18 months ago. Bass was in a model UN team in college and it was a great experience. He developed friendships that he still has today.

“College is important for academics, but you should also have fun and meet people that will become your lifelong friends,” he said.

NIRA is student-run and accepts students from all academic majors. The students compete in conferences where they act as delegates in the UN representing a nation and debate issues about war, poverty, development and social and political problems. Students are judged on how well they stay in character and use diplomacy to develop solutions to the problems presented.

“They just focus on having a good time and doing a good job. They don’t talk about [winning awards],” Bass said. “They talk about doing the best job they can and I think that’s why they’re so successful.”

From April 10 to April 12, eight students from NIRA traveled to Charlotte, N.C. to compete against 32 other schools in the Southern Regional Model United Nations Conference. This was NIRA’s third conference, and they won three awards. Sherali and Linea Cutter, junior history and political science major, won the Outstanding Delegation in United Nations Population Fund award. Desiree Kennedy, senior legal studies and political science major, won the Counter Memorial International Court of Justice award, and NIRA as a whole won Honorable Delegation.

Rehan said the conference was amazing and that it was a great learning experience.

“Everyone has different talents that just mesh together perfectly and it’s taking us to the top,” he said.

Bass said that NIRA was “unfreakingbelievable” at the conference. The other schools had between 20 and 30 members and have had Model UN teams for years. The majority of the schools didn’t win any awards.

“We are a new school, a new program…and we won honorable mention,” Bass said, clearly proud of the team.

To get involved with NIRA or learn more about the group, email Linea Cutter at lc1219@nova.edu.

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