Fredonia students attended Model European Union Simulation in the United Kingdom

12 Fredonia Model European Union Simulation members, accompanying with three faculty advisors, participated in the annual SUNY Model European Union Simulation in Exeter, United Kingdom from Thursday, Jan. 5 to Saturday, Jan. 7. 

The annual event gathered 110 students and 15 advisers from schools in the SUNY system, United Kingdom, Ireland, Romania, France, Germany, Malta and Turkey. Participants were divided into a group of four to represent 27 European Union countries for issue negotiations and resolutions.

Fredonia student representatives are Amra Cuhel, Michael Dean, Patrick Depuy, Laura Imm, Daniel Palm, Carolina Pickens, John Plevel, Maxwell Radley, Richard Rogers, Alexander Stone, and Rebecca Thompson, Myava Cuhel and Timothy Kennedy.  Professors Alexander Caviedes and Ray Rushboldt from Political Science Department as well as Professor Elmer Ploetz from Department of Communication led the team as faculty advisors.

While Cuhel and Kennedy were assigned the conference press corps duties, the rest of Fredonia squad role-played as officials from Cyprus, Germany and Hungary.

In addition to the students’ involvement in this simulation, Caviedes presented his research on immigration in the United Kingdom and Italy with language assistance by two of his students.

Stone, president for Fredonia’s EU Simulation club, was still enthusiastic about the experience weeks later. “It is incredible being able to get to know people from Europe and knowing them personally and then going into a legislative setting and seeing their political and professional opinions and beliefs.”

“Being on the far western reaches of the SUNY system, this program allows our student s to meet with other SUNY student and, more interestingly, international students,” Caviedes said. “Beyond the academic experience of researching one's country on specific issues, there is the social component of being exposed to new cultures through personal encounters and actual visits to other countries. It is particularly pertinent to the political science department since the issues dealt with are political, so this provides a chance for our students to put what they learn in class into practice.”

The SUNY Model European Union is a student organization that involves the collaboration of SUNY students, as well as students of European Universities, during an annual European Union Simulation. It is organized by the Institute for European Union Studies at SUNY, the SUNYMEU Council and various European partner universities. Location of the event alternates between a SUNY campus or a selected European university. The simulation program has been taken place annually since 1988, while Fredonia’s involvement started in the early 1990s.

redonia’s Model European Union Club is a student-run organization with a purpose of preparing candidates for the annual SUNY Model European Union Simulation by exploring and discussing world issues as well as improving negotiation skills. Students with special interests in world issues from all majors are eligible to join.

To learn more, contact Alexander Stone, president of the Model EU club, at ston8586@fredonia.edu or Alexander Caviedes, adviser of the Model EU club, at alexander.caviedes@fredonia.edu.