New Mexico State University’s Model United Nations team won the Outstanding Delegation award at the 2018 National UN Conference in New York City March 24-29.
Four of the members, in teams of two, also won Outstanding Position Papers as delegates to the model International Organization for Migration and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs committees.
Though the conference’s title is “National UN Conference,” it’s actually international and featured teams from Europe and Asia.
“Winning Outstanding Delegation puts the NMSU team in the top 10 percent of the participating model UN teams from around the world during this conference,” said Sabine Hirschauer, assistant professor in the Department of Government at NMSU and the Model UN adviser, her first year in the role. “It has nothing to do with me, it has everything to do with the team.”
NMSU’s Model UN team previously won Outstanding Delegation in 2012. Last year, the team earned the title Distinguished Delegation, placing the team in the top 15 percent of the 5,000 college and university students who participate in the annual conference to discuss current global issues. NMSU’s team has consistently earned top honors over the last 12 years.
For this conference, NMSU was assigned to act the part of the UN delegation of Israel. The NMSU team studied Israel’s governmental policies and acted in accordance with those policies in committee discussions. The two-person teams that received Outstanding Position Paper awards also argued for Israel’s policies on migration and narcotics.
“The idea is that the delegates on these committees write position papers that are then merged so hopefully the committee as a whole can come to one position on a particular issue,” Hirschauer said.
The NMSU team has 16 members, one of the larger delegations, and Model UN is a class at NMSU during the spring.
Until next year’s conference, the team is looking to recruit new members to replace its graduating members and to fundraise for travel costs.
“Model UN is a great résumé builder,” Hirschauer said. “You learn leadership skills and how to speak publicly and confidently.”
The team will hold a membership drive this August. More information can be found at https://mun.nmsu.edu/.
Information from NMSU