War with Pakistan seems extremely likely in the Indian state of Kashmir; can students stop an outbreak of hostilities? That's the question behind a daylong crisis simulation to be held on campus April 4.
Students from MHC, UMass, Smith, and Hamilton College will divide into teams representing Kashmir, the United States, India, and its neighboring nations, and determine policies that they believe accurately reflect the real-world policies of their assigned countries. "Then we'll see if there will be peace or if they'll nuke each other," says organizer Vincent Ferraro, chair of the international relations program.
Ferraro has run crisis simulations in his MHC courses and helped alumna Carol Drogus '81 to conduct one with her Hamilton College students last fall. That exercise was so successful they decided to join forces for the April simulation.
Some forty students are expected to participate as diplomats, government leaders, spies, journalists, and messengers. Most have done substantial research into the Indian-Pakistani political situation in preparation for the event. (Background information from several perspectives is available on the Web at http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/crisis/index.htm.)
The simulation is similar to model United Nations events, but more "freewheeling," Ferraro says. There is no formal protocol to follow in this exercise, for example, and "journalists" may spread both accurate and inaccurate information about the situation.
Ferraro says students generally gain two things from such simulations. "They develop a knowledge base about a subject they probably didn't know well--most people don't know much about Kashmir, but they'll be experts by the end of the weekend. They also gain a new perspective. People tend to look at issues from a personal point of view, but this requires that students look at issues from a state's point of view. That helps them get a sense of the intricacies of setting policy."
For more information or to sign up for the simulation, contact Izmeen Ali '99 at x 5160.
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