Political
Science 298AC
Special
Projects: Model United Nations
Spring
2002 Syllabus
Meeting: 7:30 - 9:00 Tuesday, Kiva Room, Kirk
Center
Instructor: Brian Dille
Office: SCO
74
Office Phone: 461-7065
Email: bdille@mail.mc.maricopa.edu
Office
Hours: MWF 1:00 - 2:00; Thursday
2:00-3:00; or by appointment
Course Description
This course will prepare you to
participate in the collegiate Far West Model United Nations conference. Your experience at this conference will help
you develop skills that will help your success in future endeavors, including
being able to write clearly and concisely, conduct detailed research, speak
persuasively in public, and build consensus between differing views. Past participants have gone on to use these
skills in upper division college courses, student government, governmental
internships, graduate studies, law school, and private business. Because of their universal benefit, these
skills are well-worth pursuing. But
they come only with effort on your part; all I can do is provide you the
opportunity to acquire them. You will
get out of this course what you put into it.
Course Requirements
Mesa
Community College has a dignified reputation at this conference as a leader
with a history of prepared, respectful delegates. Additionally, MCC as an institution has made a tremendous
investment in this program, and expects you to act as its representatives. Accordingly, any student who is not prepared
to go (as indicated by failure to submit quality work by the appropriate
deadlines) or is incapable of being respectful at conference (as indicated by
poor behavior or low participation at the weekly meetings) will not be invited
to attend. This is not usually a problem, as most students enjoy the scholarly
preparation and their experience at the meetings. But to be clear, failure to meet the requirements of the course
will result in your being dropped from the class.
Attendance
We rely on your active participation in the discussions and simulations at the weekly meetings. This means speaking frequently and showing through your behavior a desire to learn the material and procedures of conference. To encourage this, you will earn 20 points for each meeting based on participation. There will be another 20 points for attending and helping at the final revision meeting prior to sending in the delegate packet. If everyone’s preparation makes this meeting unnecessary, these 20 points are free!
To help in your preparation, you will help administer MCC’s High School Model UN Conference, to be held February 9th and 10th. Those with experience will act as Secretariat staff, while those who are new to Model UN will help judge performance or work as DPI staff (which helps the conference run smoothly). By doing this, you will better understand how to succeed at the collegiate conference. Participation in this conference is mandatory, and failure to do so will result in your being dropped from the course. This is worth 100 points. Concurrently enrolled students earn these points through participating in the conference as delegates.
To obtain credentials to attend the conference, each country team must submit a country profile and a policy statement for each agenda item being discussed in the conference committees, and one resolution per committee. This means that each team member must submit two to three policy statements, a resolution, and a profile paragraph. These will be worth 100 points each, with the profile paragraph worth 50 points.
MUNFW Conference Participation
This is the primary purpose behind the course, and if you have prepared well you will have a great time. It is fun and exciting to interact with other college students and even graduate students from excellent schools and realize you can interact on their level. MCC has a history of performing as well or better than our peers, and that is a reward in itself. You will earn 100 points each day of conference. Note that these points will reflect the level of your participation, not the results of whatever committee you are engaged in. Your grade is not dependent on whether or not your resolution gets passed, but rather on your ability to function as a diplomat at conference. As this conference is central to the course, attendance is mandatory, so failure to attend will result in being dropped from the course.
After the conference, you will write
a short essay reflecting on your experience.
This is to be an academic assessment, not a personal essay. It is to be five pages, double spaced. In the essay, answer the following
questions. First, what did you learn
about the policy issues in conference that you didn’t know before you
went? Second, in what way did the
conference not match your
expectations? Third, identify the most
important thing you learned from the entire experience, including the
preparation stage. You can submit this
essay to me personally, to the social/cultural office staff, or to my email
address. This assignment is worth 100
points and can be turned in at any point after the conference, up until
Tuesday, April 30th.
If
you have a disability, including a learning disability, contact me as soon as
possible and I will make any needed accommodations.
Class
Participation (10 @ 20 points) 200 pts
Policy
Statements (3 @ 100 pts) 300 pts
Country Profile 50 pts
Resolution 100 pts
High School
Conference 100 pts
MUNFW
Conference 500 pts
Jan
15 Concurrently Enrolled students
meet. Review Syllabus and resolve
registration issues.
Jan
22 Introduce new people, find committee
preferences, discuss formatting of policy statements, commit to help or attend
HS conference. Present synopses of country positions researched over holiday
break. Deadline for HS conference
policy statements is the 25th.
Jan 29 Research
Instruction, discuss HS conference assignments.
Feb 5 Due:
policy statement 1. Go over short rules
w/ basic strategies.
Committee
assignments made this week based on Policy 1 work
Judge HS policy
statements and meet with HS secretariat for training/concerns
Feb
9 – 10 Attend HS Conference
Friday noon to 10 p.m.
Opening
Plenary Session – then breakout to Committees
Dinner
Committee
mtgs.
Saturday
7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Committee
mtgs.
Lunch
Closing
Plenary Session – give awards
Feb 12 Due: policy statement 2, revision of 1,
simulate short rules, debrief learning from HS conf.
Feb 19 Due:
policy statement 3, revisions of 1 & 2, discuss formatting of resolutions,
simulate General Debate
Feb 26 Due: resolution, revisions of 3 policy
statements, discuss country profile format, simulate Substantive Debate,
March 5 Due: country paragraph and final
revisions of 3 policy statements and resolution Simulate voting bloc
Hold
final revision meeting during week or weekend as needed. Team permanent
Representatives are responsible for submitting completed packet to Dr. Dille.
March
12 SPRING BREAK, no class. Packets are mailed to arrive by 15th.
March 19 Country packet is distributed to all
participants, get release forms and emergency contact slips, go over strategies
and tactics, simulate P-25s
March 27 Go over itinerary and conference
schedule, simulate P-25s
April 2 Simulate
P-25s, review strategies, review itinerary
April 9 Deadline to return release forms and
permission slips, disperse plane tickets, review itinerary and conference
schedule
April 12 – 16 Attend Conference (Fri – Tues)
Fri
- fly out, register at hotel
Plenary Session, evening
– break out to committee mtgs.
Sat – committee meetings morning
Free evening
Sun – committee meetings all day
Dr. Dille will conduct
a devotional meeting prior to the morning session, please RSVP if interested.
Banquet – evening
Tues – closing Plenary Session,
morning
Check out of hotel, fly
back