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"Rebels" attempt takeover at UT model United Nations
By CHARLES SZALKOWSKI
Sixteen Rice students found
themselves in the midst of
realistic international diplomacy
last weekend at the Seventh
Annual Model United Nations
at the University of Texas in
Austin.
The Riee delegates, along
with more than 600 other delegates
from 22 universities and
colleges, witnessed an attempted
takeover of the United States
mission by a "revolutionary"
group, passage of several significant
resolutions, and a pair
of addresses by Boris P. Krasulin,
first secretary of the USSR
delegation to the United Nations
in New York.
The "rebels" livened up the
final session of the Model General
Assembly, but were cut
short when the chair turned
off their microphone and the
Assembly revoked the credentials
of the Nigerian delegation
which had surrendered the
floor to them.
In the General Assembly,
procedural rulings and the in-
voking of a charter rule prohibiting
simultaneous debate of
the same topic in both the
General Assembly ahd the Security
Council kept the delegates
busy on the floor for
three sessions.
Meanwhile, in the Security
Council, a battle of wits and
procedural rules was being
waged between the Western and
Soviet bloc nations.
Eventual use of a procedural
rule allowed a last-minute stall
by the atomic powers to prevent
an exuberant clique of
emerging nations from passing
a rule outlawing nuclear Weapons
among UN member nations,
but failing to provide for Red
Chinese participation.
Anticipated debates on substantive
measures concerning
the Vietnam war and the admission
of, Red China never
materialized. Again, procedural
rulings and a successful tabling
motion effectively killed the discussion.
Debate on the questions of
Arabia and Yemen, Israel and
Syria, international arms con-
trol, multilateral assistance to
underdeveloped nations, and UNprovided
birth control information
and aid filled the committee
sessions which preceded the
final meetings of the General
Assembly.
At a banquet Friday, Krasulin,
a graduate of the Moscow
Institute for Foreign Relations,
spoke to the delegates about
the USSR's stand in the world
today. He stated, "There are
two roads open to the world
today: war and peaceful coexistence."
Krasulin went on to elaborate
on the real existence of only
one choice, that of peaceful
coexistence. He explained that
the purpose of the United Nations
is to promote peace, and
noted that the differences between
the US and the USSR on
world policy are not serious.
The ideological differences
are deep, he stated, but his
country does not "force the
development of a permanent
gap between the two powers."
A delegation sponsored by
the Student Association rep-
MUN proves place for role-ploying
By JEANNE JARVIS
The most important insight
into the functioning of the United
Nations provided by the
MUN experience cannot be
reckoned in terms of substantive
issues or physical structure.
The parliamentary machinations
of the student USSR delegate,
who kept the issue of East
German recognition off the Security
Council floor for more
than two hours, were far more
interesting and stimulating, for
'instance, than the address by
Boris, P. Krausulin, first secretary
to the (real) USSR mission.
As in a chess game, every
move was precalculated. Delegates
usually acquired *a previous
understanding of the direction
of floor action through
interdelegation causes, notes,
or personal exchanges.
Role-playing
When a session convened, discussion
actually amounted to
role-playing determined either
by a country's own interests or
previous diplomatic agreements.
Floor debate was thus more
concerned with the manipulation
of MUN parliamentary
rules than with real issues. Russia,
for instance, resorted to
walking out of a Security Council
meeting to prevent a vote
on the substantive issue of Red
Chinese membership. On another
occasion the Gaullist
delegation exited from the
Eighteen Nation Disarmament
Meeting.
Students delegates at the
well-organized three-day conclave
are required to represent
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the viewpoint of their real U.N.
counterparts.
As a member of* tlie Security
Council, the delegates from
Rice initially considered resolutions
concerned with seating
Red China and with the international
status of Yemen, Rhodesia,
and the divided nations.
Meanwhile, the General Assembly
delegates divided into
two groups to deliberate on proposals
dealing with the Syrian-
Israel conflict, Vietnam, arms
control, and the colonial questions.
Parliamentary Machinations
Later all the committee
merged to form the General
Assembly which met concurrently
with the Security Council
in sessions lasting from
i):00 am until 10:30 pm with
breaks only for meals and frequent
diplomatic recesses.
The Rice delegation was in
one sense fortunate that France
traditionally abstains on many
votes. British and Russian delegations,
on the other hand,
conducted intensively researched
and sophisticated tactical
battles. At one point, in fact,
a disgruntled British representative
reacted to a French abstention
by asking whether the
delegation represented the
Fourth or Fifth Republic.
Other than accidentally declaring
war on • Dahomey, the
most notable positive action of
the French delegation was to
procure champagne glasses and
a bottle of imitation wine (Union
rules) in an ice-bucket to
symbolically counter the Americans
with their coke bottles.
To place such antics in perspective,
consider only that in
Austin, unlike New York, the
Security emblem was overhung
by a set of Texas longhorns.
presented France.
The delegation, composed of
Kathy Davis, Kitty Schild, Tom
Bertrand, Bill Blanton, Nick
Gilliam, and Jeanne Jarvis, was
the only Security Council member
not composed of UT students.
Baker College originally
sponsored two delegations:
Czechoslovakia and the United
Arab Republic. Upon arrival at
the conference, the over-staffed
Czech delegation noted the absence
of certain of their fellow
Communist-bloc countries and
the absence of several of the
emerging nations of Africa.
With shrewd and alacritous
action, the control of the Mongolian
People's Republic, Byelo-
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russian SSR and Dahomey delegations
also fell under the control
of the Baker delegates.
Chris Curran was chairman
of the Czech group, with Lee
Hall also on the Czech delegation.
Sandy Mueller and Jean
•Talbott were the Mongolian
ambassadors, George Forristall
grabbed Dahomey and Charles
Szalkowski led the Byelorussians.
Bruce Coats chaired the
UAR group, with Mike Ross,
Doyon Main and Tom Wright
as the other Arabs. The Soviet
bloc, under the direction of the
USSR and with aid from its
Rice-guided "underlings" managed
the passage of several
important bills and the blockade
of several more.
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