FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jette Englund
Office of University Relations
(908) 527-2371
E-mail: jenglund@kean.edu
Two Kean Students
Awarded Harvard Model U.N. Awards
UNION, N.J. – Two Kean University
students won prestigious awards at the 48th
session of the Harvard National Model
United Nations (HNMUN) Conference in
Boston last month. The conference drew in
excess of 2,000 participants from across
the country. Kean political science
majors Lily Sánchez, of Newark, N.J.,
and Leonard Kopecky, of New Brunswick,
N.J., won for their outstanding
bargaining, negotiating and
consensus-building performances as mock
members of the United Nation's Social,
Humanitarian and Cultural Committee
representing the country of Ecuador.
Each October, the HNMUN assigns
participating colleges and universities a
country that students will represent at
the four-day conference in February. Kean
was assigned the Latin American country
of Ecuador and served on the Social,
Humanitarian and Cultural Committee that
comprised 150 delegates.
The committee was presented with the
issue Slavery and Forced Labor in the
21st Century.
The objective was to find ways to end the
practice. The committee met to discuss
the topic, set an agenda and developed a
position paper with other Latin American
countries. The position paper later
turned into a draft resolution that laid
the foundation for a meeting of the
General Assembly, whose 189 members
eventually voted to adopt the resolution.
“It is a great experience for our
students,” said Dr. Charles Kelly,
chair of Kean's political science
department. “We try to get new
students every year in keeping with
Kean's tradition of inclusiveness.”
It's costly, Kelly noted, and
fund-raising efforts are undertaken every
year to supplement the support provided
by the Kean administration. This year, 10
students represented Kean in Boston.
Kelly explained that as soon as a
country has been assigned in October, he
begins preparing the students. The HNMUN
provides materials on each country that
are the basis for some of the classroom
instruction. In addition, Dr. Howard
Rubin, political science professor,
coaches the students in public speaking.
Performances are videotaped and used as a
tool to measure the students'
effectiveness as communicators. Likewise,
bargaining and negotiating techniques are
practiced. Rubin also explains
parliamentary procedure, in which he is
considered an expert. “They also
have to learn the basic structure of a
draft resolution so they master the legal
style,” Kelly said.
Four or five Harvard students, who are
also the conference organizers, judge the
delegates. They walk from group to group
and observe who can form coalitions and
who are the “movers and
shakers” of a particular group. In
addition to the Social, Humanitarian and
Cultural Committee; the General Assembly;
and the Security Council, students were
also assigned as members of the Economic
and Social Council and specialized
agencies such as the Commission on World
Space Exploration. Each delegation worked
with the objective to draft a resolution
to eliminate a certain problem within the
purview of the particular agency to which
they were assigned.
Sánchez found the experience very
useful though “it was very
intense,” she said. “It was an
opportunity to apply what we have learned
in class, particularly the concepts of
conflict resolution.” She plans to
go to law school or to obtain an M.A. in
international politics upon graduation
from Kean in 2003.
Kopecky found the conference exciting.
“It was a unique experience and
enriching for us to meet so many
high-caliber students from across the
country,” he said. “The
conference has given me an insight into
the challenging issues of present world
events.” After graduation from Kean
in 2003, Kopecky, too, plans on seeking
admission to law school, specializing in
real estate law.
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