OU earns individual, team honors at international Model UN conference

Oakland University’s Model United Nations team turned in a stellar performance at the recent American Model United Nations International Conference, collecting numerous accolades while representing the interests of Iceland and Palestine.

More than a thousand students from 67 universities competed at the event, representing countries on a range of issues, including small arms trafficking, nuclear security, sustainable stewardship of the world's oceans, the situation of women and girls in developing countries and even threats in outer space. 

OU’s team received a Position Paper Award for its articulation of Palestinian foreign policy across multiple committees and issue areas, along with several individual honors, making it the most decorated delegation of any Michigan school at the conference.

• Jan Kuehnke received an Exceptional Representation Award for his work on the Security Council.
  
  
• Ethan Vela received an Exceptional Representation Award for his efforts in the International Atomic Energy Agency. 
  
  
• Meghan Bareis and Joseph Zonsius received an Exceptional Representation Award for their work on the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. 
  
  
• Meghan Bareis and Aiden Wheelihan successfully litigated a case on the legality of the West Bank wall in the International Court of Justice simulation. 

The competition produced some interesting moments as OU students advocated for Palestine, an observer state with limited powers compared to other UN delegations.

“During our preparation, our team found a lesser-known rule that allows delegations to request full UN membership status,” said OU Model UN President Jan Kuehnke. “Since our school delegation represented Palestine, we decided to use this rule. We wanted to get our name out very early and represent our assigned country as authentically as possible.”

Although the petition was ultimately unsuccessful, it required students to advocate for Palestinian statehood before both the General Assembly Plenary and the Security Council. The latter pushed Kuehnke into an emergency session that lasted until 3:30 a.m. on the final full day of the conference.

“They do those to more realistically simulate real emergencies that do not have time to wait,” Kuehnke said. The emergency session involved responding to a crisis situation between Israel and Lebanon, in which Palestine played a “nuanced role as a state with ties to Lebanon.”

Kuehnke, a junior majoring in political science, said he enjoys debating and representing countries in Model UN.

“It allows you to gain skills in public speaking, but you also learn a lot about ongoing international political events,” he said. “Model UN is essentially a very big, highly organized, and formal debate. It teaches you how to debate in a respectful but also highly effective manner, as you often have limits on speaking time.”

To prepare for the conference, students met weekly during the fall semester researching issues, practicing debate and conducting intensive drills on strategy and parliamentary procedure. They also conducted opposition research on other countries likely to oppose their policy positions.

“It's a genuine pleasure advising Model UN at OU,” said Dr. Cody Eldredge, the team’s faculty adviser. “We're unique among university teams in that we operate as a course-club hybrid. Some of our team take Model UN for credit, while others participate as an extracurricular activity.”

OU’s team will look to build on its success at the North American Model United Nations Conference in Toronto in February 2026. 

For more information about Model United Nations at OU, contact Dr. Eldredge at [email protected].