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Student Planning Meeting & Discussion Group #2

Saturday, September 15, 2001

1.                  Outline for the morning including discussion of last Tuesday’s events..

2.                  Thanks to the faculty advisors who were in attendance last week.

a.       Paul April (Soldan International Studies)

b.      Tami Bopp (Kirkwood)

c.       Tom Keay (Soldan International Studies)

d.      Judith Kemner (Nerinx Hall)

e.       Don Pippin (Crystal City)

f.        Terri Harris Pruitt (Riverview Gardens)

g.       Margaret Williams (University City)

3.      Students interested in being interviewed about Gateway Model U.N. on internet radio on www.newblackcity.com.

4.      Our accommodations at Forest Park Community College are going to be different this year.  Instead of having three large rooms and one small room in which to work, we will have only two large rooms but five small rooms.  This diminishes our ability to have three large committees, but improves our chances of having more small committees.  These might be (a) Mid-East Summit; (b) Organization of American States; (c) War Tribunals Court, (d) U. S. National Security Council, (e) Russian Politburo, (f) etc.  What are your thoughts on this?

5.      On Saturday, September 29, we will have our country draft.  In order to prepare for it, you may want to check out the following items from our web site:

a.       List of 189 countries in the General Assembly.

b.      List of 15 current members of the Security Council (we will expand our list to more numbers to accommodate all schools).

c.       Explanation of how the country draft works.

6.      Preparation for ALMUN:

a.       The first hour will be the video, “Kennedy vs. Wallace” (about two cultures clashing, as will our discussion of Tuesday’s events be).

b.      The second hour will be further ALMUN preparation including:

1.      Updated roster of students who are going.

2.      Review of 10-point letter on ALMUN.

3.      Selection of countries and committees.

4.      Research hints.

7.      DISCUSSION: We talk about these things happening, occasionally in regular Model U.N. sessions, more likely in crisis simulations.  As many have said, it is like life imitating fiction.  The actions that took place Tuesday morning essentially changed the rules of international relations.  How do we deal with our feelings of anger, distress, and justice?  Yet there are others on this planet who applaud what happened.  How can we as Americans live together with people whose beliefs are so foreign to our own?  This question, along with hundreds more, are ones that we along with everyone must address.  We are fortunate that the Gateway Model U.N. and many other Model U.N.s afford individuals the opportunity to discuss these issues.