Special correspondent

[unclear: Am][unclear: rican] students study the UN

"Once a year [unclear: a] strange transforma [unclear: tion] comes over [unclear: out] campus," says [unclear: The] Oklahoma [unclear: Daily] [unclear: student] newspaper [unclear: o] the University of [unclear: Okla] homa. "Students [unclear: leav] their various [unclear: habitat] and converge on [unclear: th] Centre for [unclear: Continuin] Education. As [unclear: they] pass through [unclear: th] portals the change [unclear: i] remarkable.

"Wide-Eyed co-eds [unclear: beco] Burmese diplomats. [unclear: Freshm] become Bulgarians. [unclear: A] urbane government [unclear: majo] become passionate [unclear: Pa] [unclear: mericans]. Well, not quite. [unclear: t] they try and often come [unclear: se] and the result is the [unclear: ahoma] Model United [unclear: tions].

"What accounts for this [unclear: nsformation?]

"The obvious answer is the [unclear: igent] and imaginative work the students who set up the [unclear: ogramme] and the enthusi-[unclear: m] of much of the student [unclear: dy] in supporting it.

[unclear: The] game of international [unclear: itics] is played in deadly [unclear: nest]. Delegates work in [unclear: d] out of formal meetings find and foil solutions to [unclear: plex] and volatile world [unclear: oblems]. it is in reproducing sense of drama so inherent the real United Nations [unclear: t] the Model UN best suc-[unclear: ds] in its goal of creating a better understanding of that body.

"It is an act of learning by experience. The delegates work within a framework as closely approximating the real counterpart as possible. As a result, the delegate, to his frustration, is as likely to encounter the weaknesses and shortcomings of the United Nations as its strengths. He may have an opportunity to broaden his perspective by viewing the world through the eyes of a policy-maker of an ideologically oriented government, or of a statesman of a newly-emergent nation.

"As a representative of say, Nigeria, he may find yesterday's friend and fellow classmate slow to agree that the interest of Norway would best be served by ' supporting Kenya on the Apartheid question.

"Each year the format of the meetings was modified on a basis of trial and error. In 1965 it was decided that it was not enough to hold meetings with the hope that the student delegations would vote in a manner reflective of the policies of their respective countries. The student delegates must draft the resolutions voted upon. Furthermore, they must decide In committees, scaled after real committees in the UN, whether to vote at all on the issue in the General Assembly.

"To expect students with little or no introduction to the UN to accurately identify world issues and draft them in workable form and then. through a process of debate and amendment, to get them to the floor of the General Assembly was enough to make Secretary-General Paul Fox and Co. quaver a bit. Functionaries from other Model United Nations flatly said it wouldn't work. The fact is that it did work. It worked so well that this year's session was probably the most exciting and authentic in our short history."

Among the resolutions passed by the 1966 session. The Oklahoma Daily reports, was one proposed by Dahomey which noted that "racial discrimination can lead only to International disunity," and called for a halt to economic cultural and military aid to the Republic of South Africa because of its policy of Apartheid. Another resolution urged that "the United Kingdom should put an end to the situation resulting from the proclamation of independence by the illegal authorities in Southern Rhodesia."

Concerning the Palestine question, the Political Committee called tor an increase in fund support to Arab refugees under the United Nations Relief Works Agency. Proposed by Bolivia, it passed 88 to four with three abstentions. A Disarmament and Arms Control resolution declared Africa, the Middle East and South-east Asia to be "denuclearised zones" and called for the countries involved to agree not to manufacture nuclear weapons.

A truly international flavour was achieved at the annual Model UN held at Iowa Stale University, according to the Iowa State Daily:

"In his capacity as Secretary-General, graduate student Amir Alkhafaji said 90 countries have each been assigned a five member delegation. He said each delegation will consist of American and foreign students. 'With this procedure,' said Alkhafaji. the foreign students can provide other members of the delegation with knowledge about their country's problems."

"A-khafaji stated the Model UN is designed as an educational programme and gives the participants a chance to face critical issues and know the viewpoints of different nations. It is his hope that by getting together, these students can strengthen the ties of brotherhood and friendship throughout the world. 'I feel this Model UN can serve to create an awareness among the participants and the people of this community of the potentials and activities of the UN'."

Model UNs are conducted on 60 campuses throughout the United States and on a larger scale there is also the National Model UN General Assembly with 100 colleges and universities participating. The Daily Universe student newspaper at Brigham Young University. Provo, Utah, reports that five Brigham Young students were sent to act as a delegation from El Salvador. They joined approximately 800 students who participated this year in New York. The tour-day meeting opened at the United Nations building and there the students were briefed the delegates of the countries they represented. The remaining .sessions were held at New York's Fordham University. A typical reaction was pressed by one student who felt it improved bis understanding of international relations and provided "an excellent opportunity to become acquainted with the United Nations and parliamentary procedure."