Tuesday, February 24, 2004
CMU POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENTS REPRESENT PALESTINE AT MODEL UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE
MEDIA CONTACT: Cynthia Drake, (989) 774-7333
OTHER CONTACT:

MOUNT PLEASANT - Members of Central Michigan University's Model United Nations team recently traveled to Boston to participate in the Harvard National Model United Nations.

CMU's student team represented the nation state of Palestine alongside delegates from 300 other schools.

Members of CMU's team were Rob Harrison of Shelby, N.C.; Samantha Carter of Detroit; Lejla Pozderac of Hamtramck; Jamie McAllister of Harrison; Tara Lannen-Stanton of Mount Pleasant; Julie Fitzgerald of Lansing; and Sean Gilan of Port Huron.

"Our goal was gaining an understanding of how nation states gain consensus on issues to get their agendas forwarded on a global level," said Harrison, co-chair of the delegation. "We had to represent ourselves as being Palestinian and try to gain consensus not on our personal beliefs as Americans but what Palestinians would feel."

Harrison said taking on Palestine was a challenge for the group. They received guidance from CMU political science professor Moataz Fattah for some of the political background, and they talked to Palestinian students about their personal experiences.

"The conference allowed us to put our knowledge into practice and explore various solutions to ongoing world issues," said Gilan. "Perhaps the most fulfilling part of this experience was the months of dedicated study which our whole team, and particularly our head delegates, put into researching the Palestinian position. The more I learned about Palestine, the more informed my perspective became and the more I grew as both a scholar and as an individual citizen of the international community."

The trip was sponsored by the national honors fraternity of political science, Pi Sigma Alpha; the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences; the institutional diversity office; Mount Pleasant Agency Inc.; Dean Burger Pontiac Buick Cadillac GMC Inc.; Wal-Mart; Brad Malley Excavation; Ace of Diamonds; Dan Dedloff, CPA; Basketree; Pickard Street Citgo; Mid-State Heating and Plumbing; Clean Scene Laundromat; Seco; Heritage Auto Mall; Silverberg Finer Jewelers; Merle Norman Cosmetics Studio; Sunsations Mega Tan; Headliners; Gil-Roys Hardware; Chippewa Cabs; John Pearsall; Melinda Kreth; and Martha Logsdon.

- cjd -