The University of Utah’s undergraduate Model European Union Club (UMEUC) recently traveled to Seattle, WA to compete in the West Coast Model EU at the University of Washington, February 10-11, 2017. This annual competition is sponsored by the European Union (EU) and hosted by UW’s Center for West European Studies. It brings together teams from the Pac-12, like the University of Arizona and the University of Oregon, as well as other universities across the U.S. and Canada, including Brigham Young University, University of Wisconsin, Claremont Colleges, University of British Columbia, and University of Victoria.
The U’s team consisted of six students, representing Finland, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic. Successfully negotiating the formal ‘Brexit’ of the United Kingdom as well as the EU’s fiscal capacity, Anthony Calacino, ’18 (Political Science), and Maite Carranaza, ’17 (Business), respectively won outstanding Head of Government and Minister of Finance awards. In addition, Anna Passman, ’19 (Economics), won the price for best position paper as well as an honorable mention for her performance as Finland’s finance minister, guaranteeing the U more ‘gold medals’ than any of the other universities. The other team members were Jack Brown, ’20 (Business), Bas Coebergh, ’19 (Geography), and Christian Sonderegger, ’17 (Political Science).
UMEUC meets once a week to practice negotiation skills, work on draft position papers, and debate current EU-related issues. The team is coached by faculty and graduate students from the Department of Political Science and LEAP program. Students interested in joining the club and competing in Model EU simulations should contact Dr. Tobias Hofmann (tobias.hofmann@utah.edu).