Contact: Sammy McDavid
Approximately 300 students and teachers are expected at Mississippi State next week for the university's 20th annual simulation of the United Nations' representative assembly.
From Thursday through Saturday [Feb. 12-14], the 1998 Mississippi Model Security Council will include participants from 21 high schools, one college and two universities. Activities will take place in the Colvard Union and Lee Hall.
In addition to assuming major leadership roles in mock council sessions, the students and teachers will work directly with the two career UN diplomats scheduled to attend.
Both ambassadors Qin Huasun of the People's Republic of China and Nazareth A. Incera of Costa Rica are members of their nations' permanent missions to the New York City-based world body. Qin is a former Security Council president. Incera, a UN representative for more than two decades, is a 1962 graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi.
"The Model Security Council provides a hands-on learning program designed to enrich the students' understanding of world politics," said Rickey L. Travis, the assistant professor of political science who directs the program.
At 10:30 a.m. Friday [the 13th], Travis said the diplomats will be part of a general question-and-answer session in Lee Hall auditorium. The program is open to the general public.
The U.N. charter, signed in 1945 by the United States and 49 other nations, gives the Security Council "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security." Though principally concerned with the resolution of conflicts, it is the only U.N. body with the power to create and deploy peacekeeping forces.
In addition to the political science department, the Mississippi Model Security Council is sponsored by MSU's Center for International Security and Strategic Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, John C. Stennis Institute of Government, and University Honors Program.
For additional information on the program, contact Travis or Paul Kaiser at (601) 325-2711, or Ronald Aqua at 325-2028.