UCSB Global Studies Students Triumph Again!
For the second year in a row, theUCSB Model Arab League (MAL) delegation won the top awards at this year’s West Coast MAL Conference, held April 8-11 at Mills College in Oakland. Representing the country of Egypt, our team reaped the Best Delegation award and all 11 members won top honors:
Best Committee Chair: Lulwa Bordcosh
Best Delegates:
Ministers of the Interior: George Lyons and Komal Mehta Best Delegates,
Palestinian Affairs: Hassan Elhaj and Aaron Lavee Best Delegates, Environmental
Affairs: Muhammad Nafeie and Heba Gamal Best Delegates, Social Affairs:
Bahar Sadigh and Alon Sachar
Honorable Mention, Ministers of Defense: Garth Hall and Adam Al-Sarraf
Agenda
topics included the security situation in Iraq and Darfur, the role of
non-regional partners in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, the impact
of technology on social norms and values of the Arab world, the influx
of non-national guerillas and terrorists into Iraq, and establishing desalination
programs to provide more fresh water resources to Arab countries. In the
winter quarter, students researched up to fifteen such topics while enrolled
in the Model Arab League course (Middle East Studies 151). They produced
sizeable research notebooks containing regional and international treaties,
copies of official government documents and policy papers, speeches and
remarks made by regional leaders, media reports, and more general background
information. With this information they formulated position papers conforming
to Egypt’s policy priorities, and drafted resolutions that were the
basis of the caucuses and debates that occurred at the MAL conference itself.
UCSB
competed against 14 delegations from other western colleges and universities.
As a result of the delegation's outstanding performance, it was invited
to participate in the National Model Arab League Conference next year in
Washington, D.C.
Prof. Juan E. Campo (Religious Studies and Global Studies)
has instructed and advised UCSB’s MAL delegations since 1993. David
Reaves and Josh Hoffman, both graduate students in History, did a marvelous
job this year mentoring the student delegates. The delegation was also
supported with funds from the UCSB’s King Abd al-Aziz Chair of Islamic
Studies, the Global and International Studies Program, and the Department
of Religious Studies' Hani Sadek Endowment.