Whittier College to host Model United Nations of the Far West

Jessica Camp, News - By Jessica Camp on Sunday, September 26, 2010 - 02:25

The first Model United Nations of the Far West was held at Stanford University in 1951. The 61st Model United Nations of the Far West will be held the week April 8 to April 12, 2011 in San Francisco. Whittier College will be co-chairing the event with Heidelburg University.

Whittier College has participated in Model United Nations of the Far West (MUNFW) since the beginning and this will be the eighth time that Whittier College has either hosted the event or been the Secretariat.
The theme of this upcoming MUNFW conference is 'People on the Move: Urbanization, Migration, and Forced Displacement,' which focuses on subjects such as internally displaced people, environmental refugees, urban refugees and migrant civilians. The conference will consist of approximately 33 colleges and universities with around 550 to 600 students, including students from the Russian Far East and Philip-
pines.

This conference takes months
of preparation and hard work. "It's very hectic because we are trying to get all our issue books prepared and get all our background information on the bodies we are simulating," Professor and advisor Mike McBride said. McBride is both the long time advisor for MUNFW and a member of the United
Nations.

Junior Niketa Patel, who is chair- ing for the upcoming conference described McBride as the "driving force behind the conference." Whit- tier College graduate Caroline Cox will be the co-Secretary-General of the MUNFW conference along with a student from Heidelburg Uni- versity. Whittier College senior Ian Costello will be the Under Secretary General and senior Trisha Scherer will be the Chief d' Cabinet.
Something that this team has in common is that all three students have previously interned at the United Nations itself and have been looked upon as able to construct a more accurate conference than past conferences. "I think that
they will give us an advantage over other schools that have previously chaired," Patel said.

Model United Nations at Whittier has been somewhat obscure to many people on campus, but things have changed this year. "We are officially a club this year," Patel said. Students are now able to join the International Relations Club in order to get a perspective of the United Nations doings and global interactions as countries work with one another to solve international issues.

With the conference getting closer members of the MUNFW at Whit- tier College are working hard to have everything done and ready in time. "We hope the conference will be very well-run and a little bit more organized than previous years," McBride said.
Because this will be the last year that Whittier College is hosting the Model United Nations of the Far West conference both McBride and Patel expressed their hopes that this conference will be one to remember. "I think that [this conference] is go- ing to be great," Patel said.