On Saturday, March 15, 2008 Ferrum College students will participate in The Model United Nations Security Council, a role-playing simulation exercise designed to convey the full richness, complexity, drama, and importance of international affairs. The Model UN will be held in the Founder’s Room beginning at 10 a.m. and will continue until 3:30 p.m.

Over the last thirty years, Ferrum College students have been invited by the History, Political Science and International Studies programs to participate in this program each spring semester. It is a full-day activity that provides the student participants with the opportunity to act as international policymakers seeking to resolve serious and sometimes protracted crises. The students are encouraged by the very nature of the decision-making practices in the United Nations to interact and cooperate with other students in manageable group settings that puts a strong emphasis on good research, persuasive reasoning, the art of negotiating and civility. Equally important, the Model United Nations promotes active learning, and allows students to venture into alternative avenues of learning and achievement. The students experience first-hand the concepts covered in the classroom, from theoretical ideas such as realism and statehood, to the challenges of international bargaining and negotiation, to the nuance and detail-oriented character of diplomacy.
Ms. Lesley Wilkinson (a now retired senior civil servant with the United Nations) is scheduled to make another appearance as the honored guest of this year’s Model UN. She served as a senior political analyst for the United Nations and she is not a stranger to Ferrum College. In years past Ms. Wilkinson has visited Ferrum a number of times to participate as speaker and advisor to past Ferrum’s Model United Nations sessions, bringing with her to Ferrum such friends from the U.N. diplomatic community as former United States Ambassador to the U.N., Donald McHenry, and a member of the mission from Zimbabwe, Mr. Leonard Kapunga.