Students Recognized during Model Arab League Simulation

April 15, 2011

OBU students competed in the Southwest Regional Model Arab League simulation at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock April 7-9, with OBU students Caitlin Dacus and Ethan Groff receiving honorable mention for their respective councils.

The OBU group represented Libya in this year's competition. Dacus, a senior from Overland Park, Kan., participated in the social affairs council. Groff, a junior from Henryetta, Okla., was in the joint defense council. They were among the top five delegates in their councils, which earned them honorable mention.

Bison Hill students have participated in the simulation for more than 20 years. The students competed against 16 other Model Arab League programs from other universities. To prepare for the simulation, students reviewed information about the region and drafted resolutions for the various committees.

Dr. Glenn Sanders, OBU professor of history and chair of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences, serves as the faculty sponsor of OBU's Model Arab League.

The Model Arab League is a leadership program designed to help students learn to think quickly as they pose as Arab diplomats struggling through the world's problems and trying to reach a policy consensus. Students receive a drafted agenda which becomes the basis of their research for a two-page policy statement. The statements are discussed with their fellow committee members.

The simulation is part of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations. According to the council's website, the council was founded in 1983 as "an American non-profit, non-governmental, educational organization dedicated to improving American knowledge and understanding of the Arab world."

For more information, click here.