For four days, Allison Perlin had a new identity. She was Pierre Nkurunziza — the president of Burundi, a small, impoverished country in the middle of Africa. And she had work to do.
In a matter of 48 hours, she needed to collaborate with colleagues in the African Union to address key issues such as environmentally-friendly economic development, refugee rights and colonial reparations. Then it was on to the next challenge: presenting the resulting resolutions to the European Union to secure assistance — not only financial support, but grass-roots programs — while still protecting African independence.
"We had to really dig our heels in and negotiate on a lot of different clauses," Perlin recalls. "We needed to remain Afro-centric in the perspective that we're not willing to be neo-colonized."
Perlin
Perlin, a senior majoring in political science and international human rights (a self-designed major), is the president of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Model United Nations club, and her Burundi experience at January's McGill Model United Nations Assembly in Montreal was one of many long weekends in one of UW-Madison's busiest student organizations.
Model UN challenges students from across campus to apply their studies to real world events, to wrestle with issues of social justice, to learn parliamentary procedure, to practice public speaking, and to develop leadership skills.
"It is remarkable preparation for the life in politics, business, law, and so forth that many of our students will lead once graduating from UW," says Professor of Political Science Scott Gehlbach, the club's faculty advisor.
Model UN participants put their skills to the test — and connect with students from across the country — at conferences like the McGill one throughout the year, thanks in part to financial assistance from the L&S Annual Fund, the Department of Political Science's Board of Visitors and other supporters. Some events are particularly pressure-packed: an upcoming conference at Atlanta's Emory University will focus exclusively on crises — a train carrying a country's president exploding, for example — so students will need to adjust to developing situations and think quickly.
As president, Perlin has worked to create opportunities for students who don't have the financial means to fly to conferences.
— Scott Gehlbach, Professor of Political Science
During the club's weekly Sunday afternoon meetings, students work on outreach efforts, discuss world affairs, learn how to chair committees and hear from guest speakers. There's still plenty of conference preparation, too, but the club also sometimes holds its own mini-events to provide all members with the authentic Model UN experience — "to get at what Model UN is really about, rather than just putting on a suit and talking in parliamentary procedure," Perlin says.
UW-Madison students also work with their counterparts at UW-Milwaukee each year to run Wisconsin High School Model United Nations, a two-day conference for students from around the state. Not only does the event expose high school students to global dilemmas, but it affords UW-Madison Model UN members opportunities to fill leadership roles.
"We're setting them up to be leaders, how to manage a large group of very anxious individuals, which is definitely applicable in a lot of circumstances," Perlin says.
Perlin says she's known she wanted to work for the UN since she was in high school. She hopes the Model UN experience inspires similar revelations for her fellow students — even if their career goals lie outside of world politics.
"You learn about yourself as a speaker, about where you want to go in your career, and also about being part of a student organization that travels together," she says. "It's formal, very intense, but a very fulfilling experience."