UT Tyler Wins Coveted “Outstanding Delegation” at Model UN

By MATEUS FERREIRA/Head Writer

UT Tyler’s model UN delegation returned from UN headquarters in New York with the highest award a university can receive.

With only 20% of delegations receiving the award, UT Tyler has not won it in over five years, explained Victoria Olivares, a Model UN student.

UT Tyler was selected to take on the role of Ukraine. Representing the European country proved a complex task, with the country’s invasion by Russia putting it at the center of diplomatic debate for the past four years.

Using the UN’s two weeks of inaction following Ukraine’s invasion as a case study, Victoria Olivares’ committee outlined a plan on how countries can rapidly respond to emerging conflicts.

“Like, it’s crazy to think that a country that is not as big as China, not as big as Russia, not as powerful as the United States can still have so much say in the room is crazy,” said Olivares.

She explained that members of individual schools are assigned to different committees and given multiple topics to choose from. Members can pick from issues like AI, women’s rights and nuclear disarmament. Committees can then draft papers on anything related to the chosen topic. Mirroring the real UN,  successful “working papers” have the opportunity to become resolutions.

UT Tyler Model UN Director Melissa Salgado explained that judges evaluate delegations on their engagement in diplomacy, professionalism, accurate representation of countries and adherence to the rules. Prominent awards come from Model UN directors and daises who evaluate the performance of individual schools across committees.

Olivares explained that while many seasoned teams took a “very aggressive” diplomatic approach, UT Tyler’s team likely stood out to the judges for being respectful and hard-working.

“It was really awesome. It was breathtaking, not just from the keynote speakers themselves, but also just seeing how everything functions,” said Olivares. “We had spent this entire week working on Model United Nations, and that final day for the closing ceremony, we actually got to be there and saw what it was like.”

The event was not without conflict. When a real American UN representative gave a “political” and “heated” speech during the opening ceremony, the environment became “aggressive” as students in the crowd argued with the speaker. Victoria added that the speaker for the closing ceremony was more unifying.

Urging students to at least try Model UN for a semester, Olivares said it can lead to a new perspective on the world.

“They encourage other people to get into the political sphere to get in and make a change in the world,” she said about. “And that’s what they encourage people to do: to make a change in their own way and truly, that’s the heart of Model United Nations.”