Schuman Challenge 2019: In Defense of Ukraine
The College of William & Mary from Williamsburg in Virginia won the 2019 edition of the Schuman Challenge (February 14–15, 2019) on the occasion of its first participation. A record number 17 teams from across the United States competed in the prestigious EU foreign policy contest for undergraduates in America.
Teams were tasked to come up with a joint EU-US strategy to achieve the following objective: “Supplementing the Minsk agreements: Taking additional steps in support of Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.”
Teams of 2–3 students mentored by a faculty member presented their case before senior judges from the foreign policy world, who then followed up with expert questions discussing the rationale behind their case.
Judges for the first round (European diplomats together with U.S. security and defense experts Jamie Fly from the German Marshall Fund of the United States and Jorge Benitez from NATOSource) designated the University of West Virginia (winner of the 2018 edition) and William & Mary (second oldest university in the United States) as the two finalists.
The final round took place in the press room of the Delegation of the EU to the U.S., with all the other students in attendance. The event was livestreamed and both teams were now invited to present their strategy under the spotlight.
The panel of judges for the final round — EU Ambassador David O’Sullivan, Swedish Ambassador Karin Olofsdotter, Deputy-Assistant Secretary of State for Western Europe and the EU Julie Fisher, Washington Post Foreign Affairs Writer Ishaan Tharoor, and Defense One Technology Editor Patrick Tucker — heard from both teams and ultimately chose William & Mary as the winner.
“Both teams made an excellent presentation,” said Ambassador O’Sullivan. “It is obvious that a lot of work went into this. I saw a lot of self-confidence. On balance, we felt that the team that convinced us most was William & Mary. I hope that all teams will gain a deeper understanding of the importance of the transatlantic relationship through this contest.”
Julie Fisher said she found the presentations “incredibly impressive” and hoped there were aspiring diplomats in the room. Ambassador Olofsdotter also congratulated on all the teams for their outstanding work and said that the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker would certainly be interested in hearing from them.
Ishaan Tharoor added that it “was an incredibly close call” and praised “the depth of understanding and research” from all teams. He said that William & Mary offered more of “a geopolitical vision, a story.” Patrick Tucker concluded by saying that it was “reassuring to know that there were so many smart people bringing the full weight of their intellect to an incredibly difficult problem.”
Howard University and the University of Indiana received an honorable mention.
On April 23, 2019, newly-appointed EU Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis hosted the finalists of the competition for a lunch in their honour at the EU Residence. Several judges joined the lunch, seeking their views on the latest presidential elections in Ukraine and the future of EU-US engagement with the country. Students then had the opportunity to visit the State Department and meet with U.S. diplomats working on Ukraine.
Congratulations to all teams and see you in 2020!
Useful links:
- Press release from the EU Delegation
- Press release from William & Mary
- Video of the final round of the Schuman Challenge
- Video highlights (final round)
- Photo album of the contest and the lunch at the EU Residence on the Facebook page of the EU Delegation to the U.S.
You can monitor the engagement on Twitter using the hashtag #SchumanChallenge (5 million impressions this year).
List of participating teams:
Thanks to the support of the EU’s Partnership Instrument, the EU Delegation to the U.S. was able to support the travel costs of a larger number of teams from universities based outside of Washington DC in 2019.
The EU Delegation was therefore able to diversify and amplify the contest, with 17 teams coming from across the United States (11 states and DC) compared to 10 teams in 2018 and 6 in 2017: U.S. Air Force Academy (CO); American University (DC); George Washington University (DC); Howard University (DC); Tufts University (MA); University of Missouri (MO); University of North Carolina (NC); Norwich University (VT); West Virginia University (WV); University of Michigan (MI); James Madison University (VA); Indiana University (IN); Patrick Henry College (VA); William & Mary College (VA); California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo (CA); Pepperdine University (CA); University of Washington (WA).
List of judges:
The judges for the first round were: Caroline Vicini, Deputy-Head of the EU Delegation to the U.S.; Jamie Fly, director of the Future of Geopolitics program and the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the U.S., former foreign policy advisor to Marco Rubio during the 2016 campaign; Jorge Benitez, Director of NATOSource, professor at the U.S. Marine Corps Academy, and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council; Maria Belovas, Spokesperson, Head of the Press and Public Diplomacy Section, EU Delegation to the US (day 1 only); Dino Mihanovic, Counsellor, Political, Security and Development Section, EU Delegation to the US (day 1 only); Helena Boguslawska, Deputy-Head of the Political, Security and Development Section, EU Delegation to the US (day 2 only); and Christoph Seemann, First Secretary, Political Department, German Embassy (day 2 only).
The judges for the final round were: David O’Sullivan, EU Ambassador to the U.S.; Karin Olofsdotter, Swedish Ambassador to the U.S.; Julie Fisher, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Europe and the EU; Ishaan Tharoor, Foreign Affairs Writer, The Washington Post, Patrick Tucker, Technology Editor, Defense One.
