AU Students Win Two Awards At The Model Arab League

Last week, ten students from Ashland University, mostly from our department, participated in the three-day Regional Model Arab League competition held at Miami University, OH. More than a dozen universities attended. As far as anyone can remember, this was the first time AU participated in this simulation of an Arab League summit meeting.

AU's Model Arab League Team (except for Danielle Sunnucks)

The students were first assigned a country, in our case Yemen and Morocco, and then chose one of five councils, ranging from the political council to the environmental council. Each council had a number of discussion topics on which the council was asked to pass a resolution. In turn, every delegate tried to influence the resolution in order to best reflect their country's interests.

Prior to attending the conference, the students had researched Yemen's and Morocco's history and the current political state in order to represent their country most realistically and effectively. After our arrival, everyone needed to quickly master the parliamentary procedures and language of an international diplomatic conference. Over the course of the conference, all students became deeply involved in the politics of their councils and the discussions did not end with the last council session.

Ross Wilmot and Lindsey Richey with their awards.

At the end of the conference, two students from AU, Lindsey Richey and Ross Wilmot, received honorable mention awards for their representation of Morocco on the political and environmental councils. Everyone who attended agreed that their understanding of Arab politics and diplomatic etiquette was much more concrete. Also, everyone, except for the seniors, is looking forward to another round next year.