DCC and Vassar Students Win Awards As “Tough Americans” at National Model UN

Release Date April 23, 2007

New York City/Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: Students from Dutchess Community College and Vassar College, who collaborated through an intercollegiate class to form the joint Hudson River Group delegation to the National Model United Nations, walked away from the conference as winners of the Outstanding Position Papers, Distinguished Delegation, and Outstanding Delegate awards. They also won a reputation as the “tough Americans” among more than 2,000 student delegates who participated in the Model UN session held March 20-24 at the New York Marriott Marquis.

This was the first year that the National Model UN Conference split into two sessions – one held March 18 through 22 at the Sheraton New York, and the one the Hudson River Group attended at the Marriott Marquis. Total conference participation was 4,051 delegates from 266 schools from five continents.

DCC students have been going to the National Model UN simulation for more than 35 years under the leadership of DCC Professor Richard Reitano, who teaches the intercollegiate Model UN course between DCC and Vassar College. In that time, the student delegates have represented the countries assigned to them, including countries difficult to defend on some issues. “We have represented Cuba, and we’ve represented China and North Korea,” said Reitano.

This year, the Hudson River Group’s 13 DCC and 15 Vassar students represented the United States of America. “We had to be tough and faithfully represent the U.S. position on difficult, complex, and controversial issues,” said Reitano. “It was much more difficult because of the war in Iraq and the erosion of American credibility in the world.”

According to New York Observer Reporter Gillian Reagan, who shadowed the Hudson River Group delegation and wrote an article for that publication, “the American delegation fairly hijacked the proceedings, seizing control of the individual commissions and of the conference agenda.”

Michael Eaton, executive director of the National Model UN, said the awards The Hudson River Group garnered really reflect the students’ role at conference, as well as their advance preparation. Rarely does a delegation actually represent its own country, and in fact, a German delegation represented the United States in the first session of the conference. “It is hard to represent the United States, because the U.S. is in news all the time,” said Eaton. “These students understood the subtle distinction of representing not what was in the news or their opinion, but the policy.”

Students must also put personal politics and convictions aside. “The United Nations is an organization of member countries,” said Eaton. “Diplomats have their own opinions, but they represent the administration’s policy.” And if students don’t like that policy, the Model UN experiences teach them they can do something about it. “These are all bright people who can be the future ambassadors and decision makers.”

The National Model UN, the world’s largest university-level simulation of the United Nations, is held under the auspices of the National Collegiate Conference Association. DCC was one of the first community colleges to participate in the Model UN when Professor Reitano launched the course more than 35 years ago. “We were the first community college to be recognized with a major award in the late 1980s,” said Reitano. He began teaching the course jointly with Vassar College, forming the Hudson River Group, in 1995.

The course met at the Vassar campus for a four-hour class every Thursday evening, plus special sessions on Sunday afternoons. “This course attracts students who obviously have an interest in politics,” said Reitano, “but it also attracts people who have an interest in societal issues, issues that affect women, children, and poor people, issues on how to make a better life for people throughout the world.” Both college-age students and nontraditional students who have come back to school after an absence take the course. This year’s delegation also included three of DCC’s high school bridge students.

In 2002, Professor Reitano and the DCC/Vassar Model UN Course were chosen to participate in The Political Engagement Project, a three-year study by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The Model United Nations course was one of 21 exemplary academic programs chosen for this study which addressed the growing disengagement of young people from politics.

For more on the National Model United Nations, visit www.nmun.org, or read Gillian Reagan’s New York Observer article at http://www.observer.com/20070402/20070402_Gillian_Reagan_pageone_newsstory6.asp.

Photos: The Hudson River Delegation in UN General Assembly Hall;

DCC Graduate Eric Kardas, a teaching assistant for this year’s Hudson River Delegation, with Professor Richard Reitano. (Both photos by Vassar Student Michael Donnelly)

NEWS & EVENTS | Dutchess Community College HOME

Comments and questions about this page can be directed to the Office of Community Relations.

Copyright © 2007