Academic Teams and Student Organizations
The College of Arts and Sciences and its faculty support several academic teams and student organizations. Most of these groups are open to EMU students of any major.
Academic Teams
Our academic teams, including Forensics, Mock Trial, Moot Court, and Model United Nations, have won scores of championships in intercollegiate competition.
Forensics
Tradition of Success
As one of the most successful teams in the nation, EMU Forensics:
- Has placed in the top 10 for over 40 years nationwide
- Placed 2nd in the Nation in 2023
- Has won over 40 Michigan State Team Championships
EMU Forensics began its tradition of success with its first national championship in 1973 and it continues nearly every weekend (September–April) as team members hit the tournament trail and travel the country to enlighten, entertain, and bring home a trophy!
Why is it called "Forensics"?
One definition of forensics is "the quest for truth." The term is commonly associated with police and crime television dramas, like CSI. Our team also seeks truth, not with fingerprints and blood trails, but through communication and performance. Whether persuading an audience that legal reform is needed or exploring the emotional truths of the human experience, competitors seek to give an audience a greater understanding of our world and our place within it.
Interested in Joining?
We welcome all students to become a member of our team.
We can be reached by phone at 734.487.0320 and are located in 127 Judy Sturgis Hill Building.
- Bill Heinz, Director of Forensics | [email protected]
- Lee Schwab, assistant director | [email protected]
Mock Trial
The Basics
Eastern Michigan University is a member of the American Mock Trial Association, which sponsors regional and national-level competitions, as well as provides interesting and complex case materials for academic use.
Teams of 8-10 compete as attorneys and witnesses against other schools. Presentation includes opening statements, direct examinations, cross-examinations, and closing arguments. Each round takes about three hours, and a competition includes four rounds. Case may be criminal or civil, and teams prepare both sides of the case. Attorney and law student judges score both teams and individual students.
The mock trial season begins on August 15th every year with the announcement of the current year’s case. It ends in mid-April with 40 teams competing for the national championship.
The Students
A high percentage of members of EMU's top mock trial team have gone on to top-50 law schools, and almost all have or are attending schools in the top 100. These schools include Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Minnesota, as well as Case Western Reserve, Indiana, DePaul and Toledo. Students also attend Wayne State, Michigan State and Detroit Mercy.
Benefits of Joining Mock Trial
Students gain knowledge of American law and legal systems, including application of trial court procedure, federal rules of evidence, criminal and civil law, statutory interpretation and application, interpretation and application of precedent to trial court and handling of evidence.
Students get the opportunity to develop law-related skills, including legal research, direct examination, cross examination, opening statements, closing arguments, legal objections, trial strategy and argument, construction, courtroom decorum, legal and logical reasoning, case law analysis, legal argument, and arguing both sides of a case.
Interested in Joining?
Since 2002, Eastern Michigan University students have competed in trial simulations against teams from other universities throughout the United States. Students learn the mock trial game and its application to the real world under the tutelage of faculty, former mockers and EMU graduates who have gone on to law school and successful legal careers.
To learn more, please contact Dr. Barry Pyle at [email protected]
Moot Court
The Basics
Two-person teams compete in oral arguments and written legal briefs concerning a fictional case being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court out of the State of Olympus. Cases include a lower court record and decision being appealed as well as numerous Court and lower court precedents. Teams prepare roles as petitioner and respondent (i.e., both sides of constitutional questions before the Court). Panels of attorneys and actual judges assess and comment on students’ oral arguments and written briefs.
The Students
Most team members who chose to go to law school have been able to achieve that goal.
Benefits of Moot Court
Students gain knowledge of American law and legal systems, including case flow through state and federal judicial systems, appellate court procedure, structure and content of appellate briefs and oral arguments, and substantive and procedural issues in constitutional law.
Students get the opportunity to develop law-related skills, including legal research, legal citation, legal writing, argument construction, courtroom decorum, legal and logical reasoning, answering legal questions from a judge, case law analysis, legal argument, and arguing both sides of a case.
In addition, students develop strengthen countless other life skills, including critical thinking, public speaking, complex problem solving, adaptive and extemporaneous speaking, team work, judgment and decision-making, performance under pressure, and accepting constructive criticism.
Interested in Joining?
Eastern Michigan first participated in American Moot Court Association competitions in 2013 and was recognized as the 14th Best Program in the Country after only three years. Around 450 teams from college and universities across the U.S. compete in regional and national competitions in which students simulate appellate court proceedings.
To learn more, please contact Dr. Barry Pyle at [email protected]
Model United Nations
The Basics
Model UN promotes awareness of international issues, and also instills an appreciation of the critical role of the United Nations in peacefully resolving conflicts and forging collective responses to global problems. EMU involvement dates to the 1970s, when students organized a Model UN conference through the Great Lakes Invitational Conference Association.
EMU at Model United Nations Conferences
The primary focus of both the club and class is to prepare students to participate in Model United Nations conferences, which consist of a realistic simulation of a session of the United Nations. In recent years, we have sent delegations to the annual American Model United Nations (AMUN) in Chicago and the National Model United Nations (NMUN) in New York, as well as international simulation conferences in Edinburgh, Toronto and Madrid. EMU delegations have received numerous awards for outstanding diplomatic representation.
We have also participated in other intercollegiate simulations of multilateral diplomacy, including Model Arab League and Model European Union. Many EMU students have gone on to serve on staff for university and high school conferences.
Model UN Program Description and Background
At Model UN conferences, delegations of college students represent the 193 nations of the world in the various bodies and councils of the UN, including the Security Council, the General Assembly, the six main committees of the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and some of the many UN specialized agencies. In committee and council sessions, the students represent the positions of their assigned countries on actual issues currently being considered by the United Nations. Preparation for each conference involves months of research on the issues and on various countries’ foreign policy positions and priorities, in addition to practice mini-simulations on campus.
Students engage in formal debate on such topics, discuss them informally in caucus, and draft resolutions that specify actions to be taken and programs to be implemented. To be adopted, resolutions must be supported by a majority of states in the General Assembly. Ideally, they should be adopted by all, or nearly all, members. In order to build consensual support for a resolution, student delegates must engage in extensive discussions and negotiations – just like the actual policy process of the United Nations.
Interested in Joining?
The EMU Model UN program was formalized in 1992 with the addition of a course on the United Nations. Strong student interest led to the creation of a Model UN Club in 2000. Since then, EMU's Model UN team has been composed of two groups of students, those who are members of the club (the United Nations Association at EMU, UNA-EMU) and those enrolled in the Model UN course, PLSC 343L.
For more information, please contact faculty adviser Dr. Soltani at [email protected].
Publications
College faculty advise EMU student publications, including The Eastern Echo, EMU’s student newspaper; Cellar Roots, an undergraduate arts and literature magazine; and Acta Cogitata, an undergraduate journal of philosophy. With guidance from CAS faculty, students also organize EMU's Undergraduate Conference in Philosophy, run radio station Eagle Radio, and host and produce EMU Today TV, a cable television show.
Ensembles
The College's eleven instrumental ensembles and five vocal ensembles perform throughout the year, and our students stage several theatrical productions and dance performances annually.
Clubs and Organizations
CAS schools and departments sponsor dozens of clubs, honor societies, and student chapters of professional organizations. Please visit department and school websites to learn about these opportunities. You can find a list of those sponsored organizations here to find the best fit for you.