Top honors at model congress competition

A team of Trinity students won top honors at a Model Congress competition held at Yale University, becoming the first liberal arts college group to finish first in an event that is usually dominated by Ivy League schools. Four Trinity students won a total of five awards, a highly commendable showing for a team that had only been in existence for three months at the time of the competition. The team's co-founders are Arthur H. Chou ’14, and Donald Haffenden, Jr. ’14.

Model Congress, which historically has been reserved for high school students but has expanded recently into the collegiate ranks, gives students a chance to engage in a role-playing simulation of Congress, testing their parliamentary and debating skills.

At the intercollegiate competition, delegates are asked to discuss and debate a wide range of political, social, economic, and international relations issues facing the United States. It’s a wide-open process, with delegates able to write legislation, introduce amendments, and offer rebuttals. Some bills are approved in committee and make it to the full session, and some don’t.

Trinity team members offered a number of bills, including ones that would have made the Patriot Act more accountable, eliminated the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, required the labeling of genetically modified food, and allowed foreign-born students who study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the U.S. and then work here to gain citizenship.

“This was an opportunity for students from different backgrounds to come together as a Trinity community and stand together under the Bantam banner,” said Haffenden, a native of New York City who is majoring in philosophy and human rights.

Coming on the heels of its victory at Yale, the team finished second at a February tournament at Columbia University. Trinity was narrowly edged out by Cornell, but four Trinity students walked away with honors.

 The College’s Political Science Department provided financial support for registration fees and the team’s travel expenses through its Gastmann Fund. Political Science Professor Diana Evans, one of whose areas of expertise is the United States Congress, is the team’s faculty adviser.