DU Model Arab League (MAL) is in the process of applying to become an official club after sending a team to the regional Model Arab League conference over spring break. They hope to be recognized as an official student group by the beginning of next year.

The MAL is similar to the Model United Nations, which allows students to represent a country involved in the Arab League and discuss issues and draft legislation in one of five councils: the Joint Defense Council, the Council on Palestinian Affairs, the Council of Political Affairs, the Council of Environmental Affairs and the Council of Social Affairs.

The group sent five students to the regional Model Arab League competition at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT, March 20-23, the first team to represent DU in a MAL competition.

“We headed into the conference with an open attitude. We just didn’t know what to expect,” said David Lunde, who founded the team and acted as DU’s head delegate at the conference. “We went hoping to have fun and learn as much as we could, I would say we achieved those modest goals.”

“I think we adapted well and learned pretty quickly how to participate in the conference,” said Lunde about the first-time team.  “We were all authors in at least one resolution drafted, so we had active participation.”

The DU group, with approximately nine members, hopes to continue its momentum by forming a campus club, which will prepare for and attend the regional MAL competition annually, according to Lunde.

Lunde said the interest in forming a team to attend the conference began when Nader Hashemi, director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies in the Korbel School of International Studies, introduced the idea in one of his classes.

“You are grappling with real issues that real diplomats in the Middle East are grappling with,” said Lunde. “That really interested me as well — to engage in real-life issues with other passionate students.”

Lunde emailed other students with the idea of preparing a team for the conference, and eventually assembled a team of five members, including himself. Sophomores Will Trout, Michelle Disher, Dylan Faust and Tanner Mastaw, all international studies students, also attended. The team represented the North African nation of Tunisia in the conference.

Each student paid $110 for the costs of the trip, including renting a hotel and a minivan, which the group used to drive to Salt Lake City. Lunde hopes becoming an official group will help fund the trip next year so members will not have not have to pay so much out of pocket.

Lunde said the competition gave DU students a chance to learn more about the competition, format and strategies from other universities that have sent a team annually for a number of years.

“We kind of had to wing it for ourselves,” said Lunde. “But pretty much all the people who went this year can go next year, so hopefully they can bring their experiences next year.”

He said he hopes to eventually see DU have enough members to send more than one team (teams are usually composed of five members) to compete.

“We only had one team but some schools, like Montana State, had eight,” said Lunde. “It was somewhat intimidating.”
The student group would meet weekly to discuss topics of interest to the Middle East. However, its main objective would be preparation for the annual competition, according to Lunde.

“People can come to weekly meetings and talk about the Middle East, it’s a good place to discuss issues and be aware of the world around us,” said Lunde.

Students interested in participating can email Lunde at DavidLunde1@gmail.com.