In Varietate Concordia: Leading the EU in the Patterson School’s Spring Crisis Simulation

By Abby Bedard

This past weekend, I had the honor of leading a team for the annual Patterson Spring
Crisis Simulation. My team, the European Union (and the UK), included William Crawford,
Reece Harris, Jacob Kehoe, Temidayo Ogunbanjo, Bobby Simmons and Kelli Thomas. Dr.
Jonathan Powell graciously served as our faculty mentor.

Representing the European Union in a simulation concerning the Russia/Ukraine war
certainly had its challenges. We often found ourselves mired in the fear of bureaucratic backlash
that comes with acting as such a large and diverse bloc. Events unfolding in real life only served
to further complicate our task, as the real relationship between the EU and US grew increasingly
strained, and the new US administration essentially turned its back on Ukraine to cozy up to
Putin. Despite the challenges, we stood firm in our goals and honored our redlines, namely that
we advocated for and defended a territorially whole Ukraine whose sovereignty must be
respected, and that the EU and Ukraine must have a seat at the table for any potential peace talks.

My team was absolutely indispensable and I could not have asked for a better group to
work with. Jacob, William, Bobby and Reece provided much military and security expertise,
which is an area that I myself am not terribly well-versed in. Kelli and Temidayo provided
excellent insights on humanitarian and diplomatic avenues, and offered measured and rational
advice in times of stress.

The period leading up to the simulation was frenetic. With Simulation Control employing
a new model for the simulation, we were first charged with acting as heads of state, completing
several adjudication rounds and setting our own redlines ahead of the actual simulation. I
hopped on and off zoom calls countless times a day, switching back and forth between my team,
multilateral meetings between our allies, and bilateral meetings with other team leads. While the
new format was certainly challenging, upon reflection, I believe that the nature of the new format
helped to prepare us for real crises in our future careers, as we were tasked with balancing the
impossibility of devoting ourselves wholeheartedly to the crisis at hand, even as the world kept
spinning around us and other responsibilities still had to be tended to, as it would be for officials
during an international crisis.

Throughout the simulation, we naturally worked most closely with Ukraine, offering
support in whatever avenues we could reasonably provide. The wonderful Sam Dantzler,
Ukraine’s team lead and Alex Papastergiou were both a delight to work with, and truly embodied
Zelensky and Ukraine’s indomitable spirit, even in the face of despotic and paranoid Russian
leadership, and an increasingly hostile United States (which my brilliant classmate Madelyn
Williams portrayed with at times unnerving accuracy, but I am glad to report that our friendship
survived). Additionally, we strengthened ties with Turkiye and China, discussing EU accession
with Turkiye and entering into a global health partnership with both nations, which included
technology and sample sharing in an effort to monitor bird flu internationally, given the United
State’s growing disinterest in this realm. James Kessler and Cora Kirby, China and Turkiye’s
respective team leads, became reliable, if not somewhat unexpected, devoted partners for peace,
and moreover, dear friends.

While Russia was (true to form) not open to a just and lasting peace deal, I believe that as
a team and as defenders of Ukraine, we were successful in supporting a sovereign nation in its
fight for peace, decrying autocracy and despotism wherever it reared its ugly head and forged
strong new relationships within the international community, as well as laying the path for what
Europe’s security without the US might look like. I am incredibly proud of my team and
newfound friends and what we have accomplished. In varietate concordia, and as always, Slava
Ukraini!