Meredith Student, Alumna to Help Lead Model United Nations Conference
Meredith sending its largest student delegation to the conference
By Melyssa Allen

A Meredith senior and a member of the class of 2002 will both serve as assistant directors during the Southern Regional Model UN conference, scheduled for Nov. 20-22 in Atlanta.

Joni Smith, ’03, will be assistant director of the Security Council, and Lindsey Jones, ’04, will be assistant director of the League of Arab States. Meredith College is also sending its largest student delegation to the conference. Faculty members Michael Novak and Jim Piazza will lead the 16-student delegation.

“The country we are representing is the Russian Federation, which is a country with a permanent seat on the Security Council and therefore wields a veto,” said Piazza. “We also have seats on a number of other committees, such as the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the World Health Organization, UNESCO and UNCTAD. Some of the topics we are preparing to discuss and write resolutions on are the current conflict in Chechnya, the status of the war on terrorism, management of water resources, the SARS epidemic and the problems of disarmament.”

Smith and Jones have prepared for their staff positions with extensive research.

Smith, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in political science at the University of Missouri, said that she completed much of the research needed for her role as assistant director for the Security Council while studying abroad in Russia.

“I did most of research for the topic of Chechnya while I was in Russia last winter,” said Smith, who studied abroad during her final semester as a Meredith student. “This particularly helped me get a first-hand look into what the war has done to the country’s morale and military.”

Smith said she became involved with Model UN because she is “very interested in international affairs, particularly international conflict and warfare. The UN is the quintessential element of international cooperation, a factor that is of the utmost importance in such an interdependent world.”

Senior international studies major Lindsey Jones said having served as a delegate in two previous Model UN conferences has helped prepare her to lead this year’s conference.

“As a leader of the committee, I must be knowledgeable of the countries in my committee, their positions, and these topics.”

“The responsibilities are two-fold: intense research/writing and heading a committee of student delegates from various schools around the country,” Jones said. “The research and writing is about the committee and three topics that affect the countries in this committee. As the assistant director of the League of Arab States, I had to research the history of the committee. Then the director and I chose three topics that affected the Arab states. I researched and wrote about one of these topics for the topic guide that is given to the delegates.”

Taking a Model UN course in 2001 (Model UN is now a Meredith student organization) led to Jones’s current major.

Jones said, “I wasn't involved in international studies at the time and was actually planning on being a teacher. The whole process and experience was extremely enlightening and made me seriously reconsider my major and career plans.”

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