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Over three thousand students descended on New York for the National Model United Nations Conference (NMUN) last month, including eight politically-minded Wesleyan students.

The conference drew from colleges across the United States as well as from 24 other countries including Germany, the Phillipines, Japan and Canada. No delegation at the conference was allowed to represent its own country.

"You try and solve the problems of the world in four days," explained Heather Lambert ’01, one of the delegates.

Delegations sent members to various committees corresponding to actual UN organs such as the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. Committees dealt with issues such as social development, nuclear disarmament, gender politics and trade and development.

The eight delegates from Wesleyan represented Trinidad and Tobago, a binary island nation 10 miles north of Venezuela. Although students are asked to remain in a character befitting their country, according to some Wesleyan delegates this was not always possible.

"I think it wasn’t about playing your role so much as coming up with great ideas. You don’t judge someone by their nation there, you judge them by their ideas, how people can talk about the world’s difficulties," said Andy McIntosh ’00.

According to McIntosh, the representatives of Cuba acted mean spirited and dour.

"It was pretty funny, but it didn’t get their sanctions lifted," McIntosh said.

Patrick Lao ’03 cited an example of an ethnically Indian student representing Cyprus who became frustrated that the Indian delegation was not representing his home country accurately.

"‘I’m Cyrprus, I’m Cyprus, I’m Cyprus,’ the guy kept repeating, to help him calm himself down," Lao said. "A lot of people are politically minded in a certain way and they have to take on roles they wouldn’t normally take."

The conference lasted four days and followed the same parliamentary procedure as the actual UN. Delegates drafted and amended resolutions, debated, caucused, negotiated, formed alliances and voted.

The conference culminated in a visit to the real UN building, where a General Assembly plenary of 189 student delegations voted on the multitude of reports and resolutions passed by the individual committees.

According to Matthew Seidner ’02, every NMUN delegate is expected to have a decent background in the politics of the country they are assigned to represent.

"I was really impressed," Seidner said. "People actually did a lot of homework and really got involved... you know, standard Wesleyan procedure."

Other topics discussed at the conference included international debt relief for third world countries, health care, and education. Delegations were broken up into sub-committees for detailed inquiry into specific topics.

"It was difficult because each country wanted to focus on a different thing," said Lambert, who was part of the Women 2000 Committee. "We discussed issues of women’s roles in technology."

"You not only have to deal with your own resolutions," said Frank Chan ’03. "Delegates were even debating things outside the conference."

Some delegations were more serious than others. According to Dan Tobin ’00, the Rider University group brought their own personal T-shirts emblazoned with the UN logo, while a
Japanese school posted individual member profiles posted on the Internet.

According to Seidner, Wesleyan plans to make an even stronger showing at next year’s conference.

"We’re hoping next year to send at least two delegations," Seidner said. "We’re also hoping from 2000-2001 to host a high school conference here at Wesleyan. The current delegates are in training to be directors." 

Interested students were excited to learn more about the NMUN at an informational meeting held in PAC 001 on Thursday.

"I’m taking international politics and I want to work with international relations in the future, ... maybe with UNICEF," said Amra Turalic ’03. "This would be a good start."

"I want to know more about the UN and how it works, how it deals with worldwide issues," said Shenyi Wu ’03. 

Whether the appeal be personal improvement or just plain fun, Wesleyan’s delegates promise future NMUN conferences will be exhilarating experiences, dealing boldly with the complexities and subtleties of international relations. 

"Wesleyan did pretty well for our first year," Seidner said. "We hope to do even better next year.