UC Berkeley Delegation Wins Top Awards
at West Coast Model Arab League
April 16, 2007

A group of eighteen undergraduate students from the University of California, Berkeley received an Outstanding Delegation award for playing the role of diplomats from Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia at the West Coast Model Arab League, an annual gathering of university students focused on international politics and diplomacy in the Middle East.

Ten of the students also received Outstanding Delegate awards for their individual contributions to the work of various councils at the Model Arab League.

The Model Arab League is a simulation of the League of Arab States, similar to the Model United Nations. The event was held April 13-15 at Mills College in Oakland, CA. Nearly 150 students from universities throughout California attended the event. About a dozen regional Model Arab Leagues are held annually throughout the United States, sponsored by the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC.

Key topics of debate included the security situation in Iraq, the 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, social concerns in the Arab world (education, unemployment, and human development), democratization, and environmental affairs (including protection of natural resources, environmental impact of Israeli and Iranian nuclear programs).

"I'm so proud of our team," said Hali Boyd, a 3rd-year anthropology major who received an Outstanding Delegate award for representing Jordan on the Environmental Affairs Council. "None of us had participated in the Model Arab League before, and I personally had no background in the Middle East before taking this class. We worked really hard to prepare for the event, building on our different strengths to train ourselves to represent our countries accurately and effectively."

"The students had to master a lot of material in a very short time," said Adrian McIntyre, PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology and the instructor for MES 109: Model Arab League, a course offered through the International & Area Studies Teaching Program and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at UC Berkeley. "In addition to gaining in-depth knowledge of their countries' position on key political, economic, and social issues, they researched the historical relationships and contemporary power alliances between countries in the region. They also learned the rules of parliamentary procedure and developed skills in public speaking, negotiation, and networking."

Khatchadour Khatchadourian, a 3rd-year anthropology major who served as Head Delegate for the UC Berkeley delegation, said this training in leadership and diplomacy would be invaluable in the future. "I would like to work in the arena of international politics after I graduate, and the Model Arab League provided a tremendous opportunity to debate a number of contentious issues and engage with delegations from other universities. We had to think on our feet to defend our respective countries' interests while working together to find common ground and pass resolutions that could make a real difference for the future of the Middle East."

"I would urge all students interested in world affairs to participate in the Model Arab League," said Lisa Roscoe, a 3rd-year Middle Eastern Studies major who served on the Palestinian Affairs Council. "We walked away from the weekend with a vivid understanding of how diplomacy works -- and doesn't work." Roscoe plans to write a senior thesis comparing Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon.

UC Berkeley students Lance Hendrix, Nadia Al-Lami, Rose Stewart and Tate Garibyan received Outstanding Delegate awards for representing Lebanon on the Social Affairs Council. Hali Boyd and Jennifer Mogannam received Outstanding Delegate awards for representing Jordan on the Environmental Affairs Council. Khatchadour Khatchadourian and Ilya Bernstein received Outstanding Delegate awards for representing Lebanon on the Environmental Affairs Council. Berrin Yilmaz and Nadia Kayyali received Outstanding Delegate awards for representing Lebanon on the Political Affairs Council.

Other members of the UC Berkeley delegation included Lisa Roscoe, Katia Roux, and Daniel Laporte representing Lebanon on the Palestinian Affairs Council; Amir Azari and Devon Boutelle representing Saudi Arabia on the Joint Defense Council; and Kathleen Miles, Lea Nehme, and Dana Sacco representing Lebanon on the Joint Defense Council.

Rose Stuart, a 3rd-year anthropology major, was elected Assistant Secretary-General for the next annual West Coast Model Arab League, to be held at Pomona College in southern California in April 2008.

Head Delegate Khatchadour Khatchadourian accepted the award for Outstanding Delegation on behalf of the entire UC Berkeley team.

"These students represent the best and brightest of the next generation of activists, scholars and diplomats," said McIntyre, a former Fulbright scholar and National Science Foundation fellow who has worked for over a decade as a journalist, social science researcher and humanitarian aid worker throughout the Middle East. "I'm deeply inspired by their enthusiasm and commitment to working with others to find sustainable solutions for the many challenges facing this region."

Based on its success at the West Coast regional event this weekend, the UC Berkeley delegation was invited to attend the National Model Arab League in Washington, DC next March.

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For further information, please contact Adrian McIntyre at (510) 506-0489.