The United Nations held their 67th General Assembly session with dozens of speeches from leaders representing countries across the globe. From our own President Obama to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the U.N. had their fair share of news and popularity with the session beginning last week. However, as the school year begins, so does our own Suffolk University Model United Nations chapter. Although the year has just begun, the chapter’s e-board has some big plans ahead this year for a new-and-improved club.

Suffolk Model UN President Cori Simmons says that they were always known as a Model United Nations club, and that they made some changes for the better, improving the club and the way things are run.

Gabriela Sterling, Vice President of the club, explained that they received “a lot of new interest showing up with the incoming freshman,” and mentioned how, at the Temple Street Fair, there were a lot of people interested.

Among the improvements the club is working on making, one of the most significant is probably the fact that they will soon be known as the Suffolk University International Affairs Association which will entail designing a new logo for the group. The e-board decided that this would be a good idea to not only attract more people, but also spread the word and do more on campus as well.

Simmons went on to explain that the new name “will spark a lot of new interest and help consolidate with different groups [on campus].”

The secretary for the club, Carol Leon, said she is “going through the process of changing the name, and meeting with [Student Leadership and Involvement] and Student Government.”

To go through this process, Leon says they need to redo and rewrite the club’s constitution and remove things that are outdated. Student Government and Student Leadership and Involvement provided a type of layout for guidance and some assistance in dealing with the situation. Overall, she considers it a simple matter of mostly updating information.

Simmons said that, as a freshman two years ago, there were around six students from the Suffolk Model U.N. chapter that went to the international conference in New York and, during her sophomore year, there were ten people. This past spring, there were 18 students that took the trip to the conference. But the increase of membership seems to keep going: this fall, more than 25 people signed up to participate in the travel team for conferences but the problem is that there are not enough slots available for them all go. It is enough for each attendee to have a partner to split the work with, but the e-board actually had to turn some people away.

With the new expansion and broadening (especially with the new name) they are doing what they can to keep students involved on campus, even if they cannot be part of the actual conference itself in New York City.

The club also has intentions of having more events on campus and is looking for possible co-sponsorships with other clubs.

Meetings are held every Tuesday in Sawyer 132 and start at 1 p.m.