BRINGING THE WORLD TO WINTHR

For three days each spring, representatives of 65 countries converge on the Winthrop campus. Numbering in the hundreds, they are high schoolers and Winthrop students, coming prepared to debate and defend resolutions as part of the university’s esteemed Model United Nations program.

The program, established in 1976 by Professor Emeritus Melford Wilson, will celebrate its 40th anniversary with this year’s March 23-25 conference. According to Chris Van Aller, the faculty advisor, the program remains a unique model. “Our program is special because it mixes college students with high school students. We are proud that the program has persevered and flourished while other colleges’ Model UN programs have faded away. I think that shows Winthrop’s staying power and commitment to these types of intellectual endeavors,” said Van Aller.

According to Van Aller, the program helps participants become more conversant in world views and overcome a common fear of public speaking. “The conference is based on debate, so it makes it very dramatic. We even had a student take off his shoe and bang it on the podium just like Nikita Khrushchev did in 1960 at the UN General Assembly meeting,” said Van Aller, recalling one of the conference’s most memorable moments.

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