Elon MUN earned multiple awards at the conference, where students from eight different universities competed. The Elon team received the recognition of “Best Small Delegation,” Griffin Barriss won the “Best Delegate Award,” and Hunter Copeland got a Verbal Commendation.
Elon’s Model United Nations (MUN) Academic Club attended a two-day virtual intercollegiate conference hosted by the Florida State University’s World Affairs Program. The Elon MUN delegation was led by Griffin Barriss ‘21 and Hunter Copeland ’23; Eli Bier ‘24, Hannah Blackmore ‘24, Isabel Gouveia ‘24, Bethany Marzella ‘24, Solan O’Malley ‘24, and Taylor Rudtner ‘22 were also members of the delegation.
Elon MUN earned multiple awards at the conference, where students from eight different universities competed. The Elon team received the recognition of “Best Small Delegation,” Griffin Barriss won the “Best Delegate Award,” and Hunter Copeland got a Verbal Commendation.
Before the Florida State conference, Elon MUN hosted a training conference, which helps prepare new delegates for competition in intercollegiate conferences. This year’s event was organized by a MUN team led by Taylor Rudtner; the theme for the one-day virtual conference was immigration -looking into Italy, Turkey, and the African Union. Eli Bier and Hannah Blackmore were both recognized for their work at this conference.
The MUN program at Elon is a student-led organization; Associate Professor of Political Science and Policy Studies Baris Kesgin is the faculty advisor for MUN. The MUN is an academic club; there is also a one-credit course for students interested in earning academic credit while participating in the club’s activities. In weekly meetings, students get a chance to debate and practice public speaking through role-playing of their assigned country’s policies. The club and the class are open to all Elon students.
The club also competes nationally at a variety of intercollegiate conferences, where delegates travel to different campuses and compete with other schools. Each semester, in consultation with the MUN faculty advisor, the club’s executive board selects from its active members respective Elon delegations to represent Elon at these intercollegiate conferences. MUN members attend five to six different each academic year. Recently, much like Florida State’s conference, these events have moved onto a virtual platform. According to the bestdelegate.com, which ranks Model United Nations teams across North America, Elon’s MUN is one of the top 75 MUN clubs in their rankings.