BOMUN Chronicles
2012 Issue 1
Preparatory Events
Table of Contents Letters from the Editors - pg. 3 Mock Debate 1 - pg. 4 Mock Debate 2 - pg. 5 In class Preparations and Debates - pg. 6 Special positions - pg. 7 101 Sessions - pg. 8 - 9 Grasshoppers & Grandmasters pg. 10 - 11 Technology in BOMUN - pg. 12 Photos - pg. 13
The Editors
Putting together the BOMUN 2012 magazine has been a creative and collaborate effort. My fellow editors and I have put a lot of time and effort into this issue hoping to update you on the happenings of BOMUN thus far. We have tried to include articles from all of the major meetings and mock debates that have taken place over the past few weeks. Working on this issue has made me realize how much effort and planning is needed in order to produce a final product that one can be proud of. Hopefully you will enjoy what we have to offer you in this issue and will be eagerly awaiting our second installment. This process has been a great experience and I can speak for all the editors when I say that we have thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it.
As BOMUN is approaching, it is essential that delegates and viewers are aware as to what has been happening behind the scenes and how much work has been put into this annual event. This issue revolves around the preparatory events and what is being done to make the BOMUN event top class and that the debates are, shall I say, fruitful. A lot of work has been put into creating this issue as there are many tasks that had to be fulfilled; such as interviews, photo taking, meetings, and discussions. As an editor I’ve come to the realization that working on an issue like this is a hard task; every person on the team has to be committed to ensure that the outcome is top notch. I’d like to thank the other two editors for being organized and efficient during the process of this issue, Ms. Allison for all the support and feedback and all delegates and special positions for all their hard work. I hope that the upcoming BOMUN debate will be superb.
Aditi Reddy
Collaboration and technology is a great boom to the 21st century journalists. Being a journalist for the “BOMUN Chronicles” is a time consuming yet, fun job. Our job is dynamic since we need to cover several meetings, take photos, interviews, write articles and use technological applications to make a magazine. This year, I’m working with two other journalists; therefore we all do different jobs to bring the “BOMUN Chronicles” together. We have managed to stay organized and be efficient, in spite of one of our journalist’s absences for a week thanks to technology. The power of collaboration and technology smoothly shaped an outstanding “BOMUN Chronicles.”
Sidhant Raote
Enjoy! Vivian van der List
Mock Debate - 1 In preparation for the BOMUN Debate, held during exam week, students gathered on Thursday for a mock debate which would determine who would have the honor of being granted a special position as Secretary General, President of the General Assembly, Chair, Deputy Chair, and Rapporteur. The delegates of China, France, India, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, United Kingdom, and United States were present and they debated on The Hague Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missiles Proliferation. As the chair called the house to order there were a mix of emotions in the air. There were delegates who were taking a glance at the resolution, scanning it with a fine comb just to see if they had missed anything. Others were sizing up their competition shooting sidelong glances to the delegates on either side. A few others looked a little bit nervous, and one was even having a coughing fit. Needles to say they all looked increasingly prepared and this was further emphasized in their eloquently written and executed opening speeches. Not to mention the delegates all looked very dapper in their formal wear. As the main submitter, the delegate of the United States, made his way to the podium the delegates, even the previously nervous ones, got their game faces on and listened intently to what the delegate of the United States had to say about the resolution. More than once the delegate stressed that the resolution was a ‘comprehensive framework’ for the action that needed to take place and that it should be considered as such. He brought to the committee’s attention certain key clauses such as 2 which called for incentives to ratify The Hague Code of Conduct (HCOC) and clause 11 which recommended an annual meeting to all subscribing states of the HCOC. This clause in particular thereafter was subject to much debate as many delegates felt that it was unnecessary as such annual meetings were already in place. Up next was the poised delegate of France who was in support of the resolution and mentioned that the resolution was well formed, touched upon multiple areas and that the incentives of economic benefits to non signatory states of the HCOC was a great addition. The delegate of Russia did not share her views and in his speech against the resolution stated that the resolution was flawed. It was stated that the resolution had good intentions but that it was not structured in the best possible way. The delegate also had a major issue with Clause 3 as in their opinion ‘military information should not be shared. The debate continued with a variety of amendments submitted by Pakistan, Syria and Iran. Each amendment was scrutinized and mulled over by the delegates. There were a few POI’s asked and eventually the amendments were voted upon, with admin securing the doors, of course. The amendments submitted by Pakistan and Iran failed whereas the amendment proposed by the delegate of Syria passed with 8 for and 1 against. The delegate of China (Anika Gautam) was against the resolution and felt that it was idealist, vague, and inefficient. She said, “This resolution is like a missed basketball shot. Although aimed in the right direction, it does no good for the overall team.” This comment definitely caused a few of the delegates to giggle. Finally after a tremendous 1 hour of debate and several more speakers, the admin secured the doors and the resolution was voted upon. With an increasingly small margin the resolution failed. All in all the delegates did an amazing job. They posed relevant questions made insightful amendments and contributed to a very well executed and ‘fruitful’ debate!
Mock Debate - 2 The Mock Debate that took place on Wednesday this week was quite an informative and successful one for all of the delegates present. They were able to ask questions and clear up doubts with the chairs about procedure and MUN language. Delegates of Ms. Kelley’s class were called at random to say their opening speeches. Krish, Chaeli, Lauren and Carsten all did a great job and presented clear and well practiced speeches. The main submitter of the resolution was the Delegate of the United Kingdom, Anshel Kenkare. The delegate of the DPRK, Mahir Chadha, asked two pertinent Points of Information which allowed the delegates to see how a follow up question was asked which many of them were unaware of previously. The debate continued with the Delegate of Pakistan, Aditya Srinivasan, speaking in favor of the resolution. The Deputy Chair, Amar Punchhi, used Aditya’s speech as an example of when a formal apology is needed. The delegate of Pakistan insulted the delegate of the DPRK and Amar explained to the other delegates how a formal apology works and when one will be issued. The delegates also got to practice making amendments to a resolution. The delegate of China, Oscar Lecuyer, proposed an amendment that wanted to strike clause 8 sub clause B which was met by many POI from a few delegates who hadn’t previously spoke such as the delegates of New Zealand and Germany. At this point delegates were also taught that POI’s could be used in a positive way and that one could shoe support to the delegate standing on the podium by using the phrase “Does the delegate not agree…” before stating a question. On the whole this debate was extremely informative and helpful to all the delegates present. Many delegates mustered up the courage to speak and practice MUN procedure and language. Also there were a lot of teaching moments and the special positions were great at helping out their fellow delegates. How productive was the debate? “The best intentions were put forth when writing this resolution and the delegate is disappointed that it was failed but feels that other nations must have had a good reason for voting in the fashion that they did and that ultimately they voted in their countries best interest.” – Delegate of the United States (Eshaan Patheria) “This debate was not as fruitful as it had the potential to be. Due to time constraints many points were not addressed and it is felt that many of the amendments were not heard, again due to the time constraints.” – Delegate of Russia (Mahir Chadha)
In Class Preparation and Debates There is a lot of preparation that goes into this debate prior to the actual event. Since not everyone is experienced in debating, delegates, special positions, and teachers need to go through the procedures of debating and essentially what needs to be done to make the debate successful. Thus far, there have been; in class debates where delegates get the chance to practice their opening speeches and their ability to ask POIs, 101 sessions where the special positions talk to their fellow delegates and go into depth as to how they must tackle things such as completing their clauses and amendments. Technology plays a big role since it allows delegates to communicate with one another without actually being together. Without technology the preparation for this debate would not be orderly and delegates would not be able to know what to do and when to do it. See page for 12 for a more in depth review as to how technology is used throughout the process of preparing for this debate. Not all things are done on a technologic platform. Lobby and Merging also takes place, usually in the library, and it allows delegates and special positions to finalize the resolution for the debate. The delegates agreed on which clauses were the strongest and therefore needed to be added. This year there has only been one Lobby and Merging session since a lot of the communication and preparation either occurred in class or online. Due to the large amount of preparation, it is certain that this year’s debate will be top-class. Everyone put in a lot of effort and above all the teachers (Ms. Allison, Ms. Kelly, and Ms. Kalbag) have been great mentors to ensure that everything remains in order.
Special Positions Secretary General of this year’s BOMUN debate is Anika Gautam. Anika is in charge of communicating with all the delegates about upcoming BOMUN meetings and making sure that everyone is prepared and on top of things. She has also taken an active role of updating the BOMUN 2012 Facebook page with all the necessary information to make a delegate successful. This year’s President is Eshaan Patheria. He helps delegates with writing amendments and clauses and also helps to organize many of the meetings prior to BOMUN. The Chair of this year’s BOMUN is Kana Morikawa. As the Chair of BOMUN, Kana’s duties before the conference consist of helping delegates develop their resolutions and familiarize themselves with MUN procedure. During the debate, the Deputy Chair, Rapporteur and Kana will be directing it and ensuring that the conference flows smoothly. Amar Punchhi is this year’s Deputy Chair. He is involved in helping out delegates with tasks such as writing clauses and amendments. He will also be the person in charge of organizing all the submitted amendments for the BOMUN conference and choosing which ones to debate. On the day of the debate he will be involved with chairing certain parts of the debate. Amala Garg is the Rapporteur for this year’s BOMUN. Aside from having difficulty pronouncing the name of her title, Amala has many other roles. She helps delegates out with their amendments and resolution writing. She also plays a big part in scheduling all of the meetings for BOMUN. During the final BOMUN debate she will be co-chairing certain parts of the debate along with researching any information, if delegates need it.
101 Sessions Clauses 101 The MUN heads decided to help their fellow delegates by holding “Clauses 101.” It took place on May 17th during second lunch in the High School Library. Most of the delegates didn’t have a clue on what a clause was and neither were they given enough time to research. Due to the limited time given to write the clauses, the experienced heads of MUN decided to host a meeting to explain a clause. A day before the meeting, an e-mail with a PDF explaining clauses was sent out by the Secretary General to the tenth graders, asking them to read and come prepared with some basic knowledge on clauses since explaining clauses only served three quarters of the meetings purpose. After the Clauses were explained, floor leaders worked with their delegates and pointed out to them the direction in which their clauses should be aimed. At the beginning of this meeting, delegates came in with some knowledge on clauses and a lot of pressure, but at the end, they walked out confident. As soon as the meeting started, delegates of the world claimed their prize and organized themselves according to their countries. There were four groups and each group consisted of countries with clauses aimed in the same direction. Once the delegates were familiar with their groups, they demanded their brownies. The heads of MUN promised meeting attendee’s brownies as a bribe for motivation to work during the lunch period. After claiming their brownies, delegates sat enthusiastically with their floor leaders waiting for the meeting to begin. In the meeting, the heads MUN explained a clause and gave a few examples. The heads started with explaining the purpose of a clause and how it is written. Clauses make up a resolution and clauses are made of sub clauses. Then they talked on how to punctuate clauses. A clause shouldn’t have a full stop till the end; it can only have commas in the middle. After explaining a clause, they showed a good examples and bad examples of clause which really helped out the new delegates. The heads differentiated a good and bad clause by examining components of a clause so that delegates would know which components would make a good clause. Due to the time and efforts the heads put in explaining clauses, the new delegates of the world knew how to write a good clause. Once clause explanation was over, the
experienced floor leaders took over to start making progress on clauses. The floor leaders debriefed their groups on what their clauses are going to be aimed towards. Floor leader of DPRK’s clauses for aimed at Nuclear Proliferation for Peaceful Purposes. Floor leader of America’s clauses differed from DPRK’s and aimed for Nations to be more open for nuclear disarmament. Floor leaders of China’s clauses were slightly related to America’s though they were aimed for Nuclear disarmament in East Asia for an East Asian Nuclear Free Weapons Zone. The Floor Leader of UK’s clauses were unique compared to the other floor leaders since they were aimed for having a criterion by which systems of nuclear weaponry between nuclear states must abide by. After the debriefing session, some of the groups even started to write their clauses as some delegates would require help writing their clause from stage one. The floor leaders and MUN heads also went around answering any questions on clauses. Once “Clauses 101” was over, the delegates, with guidance from their floor leaders, walked out with knowledge on how to write a clause. The meeting and the brownies had served their purposes of preparing delegates for the debate. Thanks to the leadership the MUN heads and floor leaders displayed, delegates learnt how to write a clause and what they should write for their country.
Amendments 101 The MUN heads held another “101” to fill in new delegates on how a debate works. This meeting took place on Monday second lunch in the High School Library. It wasn’t as popular as the first “101” meeting since many people didn’t show up. Maybe it was because of the fact that many students had already learnt debate format in class, or maybe it was due to the lack of brownies. Even though, there weren’t too many attendee’s; most of the MUN heads were there and ready to teach their delegates how a MUN debate works. Throughout this meeting, the MUN debate style was explained. The MUN heads went over how the debate starts, than what happens during the debate and how the debate ends. They talked about aspects of the debate such as the roll call, delegate recognition, points of information etc… After explanations were over, they took questions to eliminate any doubts in the delegates’ minds. Once everything was done, the delegates were prepared for the upcoming BOMUN debate.
Grasshoppers N E W C O M E R S
“Grasshoppers,” the newcomers have worked hard to prepare for the upcoming MUN debate. They’ve done ample work on their clauses and amendments, attended several meetings and made sure that they’ve been on top of their tasks. Of course “Grandmasters” played a huge role in supporting by taking a series of actions to increasing confidence amongst “Grasshoppers.” Due to all the support given to “Grasshoppers” and the hard work displayed by them, there’s no reason to call them less experienced. The dedication and time given to MUN work by the delegates and the support from “Grandmasters” ended up leading to very good clauses, amendments and a final resolution ready on time. Many delegates were under a lot of pressure at first since they had no clue what a clause was but, that changed within the first two days of BOMUN thanks to the MUN heads. All delegates showed responsibility and attended “Clauses 101”, where they learnt how to write good clauses. In an interview with Hilla Hankimaa, delegate of Belgium, she said that making clauses at first was really hard but, the meeting really helped her out as talking about clauses is much easier than reading a long document about them. She also gave credits to her floor leader for helping her out. Even in an interview with Nikita Harrison, the delegate of Brazil, she also stated the difficulties she was originally having with writing clauses. After mentioning her difficulties, she said now, she’s fine with clauses since she attended the clauses meeting which was a turning point for her. One common aspect of each interview with delegates was that they were all complementing the “Grandmasters” for all the support. A common aspect amongst all the interviews with MUN heads was that they were all complementing the “Grasshoppers” on the amount of hard work they’ve put into their work and how much better each delegate has become in each and every part of MUN. In the end, all of the finalized clauses reflected upon the hard work done by delegates and the support given to them by MUN heads. Newcomers at MUN were fast to improve and can’t be consider as “less experienced” anymore. The “Grasshoppers” have attended several meetings and gained ample knowledge from them. They also have the support of their “Grandmasters” to add to all the hard work they have done and are willing to do. This is one power packed combination of efforts and support which ensure delegates a great BOMUN experience.
Grandmasters This year, sophomores who had experience with MUN got their chances to take up special positions in BOMUN. All of the experienced students are very happy with their positions as MUN heads and doing a great job. So far, these students have taken initiative to hold meetings and mock debates to help the less experienced delegates. This event is awarding for the special positions as they finally get their chance to display leadership and guide the delegates of the world through another successful BOMUN. One glimpse of the MUN heads is enough to tell their satisfaction with their positions and this year’s delegates. Based on a series of interviews, they are all happy with the positions they received. One of the many examples of jubilant MUN heads was Anika Gautam, this year’s Secretary General. She hoped for getting the Secretary General position and her experience helped her get it through the Special Positions debate. Even the students who didn’t get their specific special position were still proud as they still got a fair chance of being leaders. Floor leader of UK, Anshel Kenkare didn’t get his position as “Chair” but, he completely fine with the being floor leader as he still gets to lead his esteemed delegates. Some students got the positions they were hoping for, some didn’t but, they all had one thing in common. They all know that this year’s delegates are going to be the main factors behind a fruitful BOMUN 2012. Out of all the interviews of MUN heads that were taken, all had similar responses. Everyone knew that the delegates - even the less experienced ones – have done an outstanding job on an extremely complex topic. It’s easy to tell that BOMUN will be outstanding this year through the satisfaction the MUN heads have with their positions and the pride they hold in their delegates. The MUN heads did a brilliant job of bringing all delegates to the same level of understanding. Leading a debate is a job that requires a lot of commitment as the MUN heads would have to check the clauses, resolution and amendments day and night if they wanted delegates to have a fruitful debate. They would also have to answer any questions delegates asked and solve any problems delegates came across. Commitment was only one part of the equation for good MUN heads; the other part was strong leadership, which was clearly visible in all of them. They displayed it by giving delegates a helping hand by calling for several meetings which would aid them with all the process in BOMUN. Other than meetings, the MUN heads also managed to find a place and time for a mock debate so that delegates could get a feel of a MUN debate for real. By planning a platter of events to help delegates, the MUN heads proved to live up to their expectations of being leaders and being committed. The experienced students of tenth grade have done an outstanding job of showing leadership. They got jobs which would require a lot of commitment and strong leadership. Indeed all of the leaders surpassed their expectations; leading to the greater good of 2012’s delegates.
Technology at BOMUN Technology is a key part of BOMUN and without it many of the delegates would be quite lost. Technology has made communication fast and easy for all delegates. All they have to do is check their Facebook notifications and they receive an update from the Secretary General about upcoming deadlines and events. Or check their email, and share information with their co-delegates. There’s a page on Facebook called “BOMUN 2012” which is used as an event calendar as well as a communication platform for all students. Since Facebook is the most popular social network, used at home and during school, it is very accessible and allows the students to know what is going on. Since Facebook is constantly checked by students, sharing updates on the group is very efficient. Furthermore, the Facebook app is now also available on phones so students are able to access the BOMUN page wherever they are and are always aware as to what is happening. Due to the Facebook page, no one is left wondering if there was a Clauses meeting on Thursday during Second lunch in the Library or a Mock Debate after school; they would be sure and know where and when they would have to go. The Facebook page does more than making life easier for BOMUN part takers; it shows the school that Facebook serves a purpose greater than distracting students from work. Google Docs and email have also been instrumental in the spread of information and delegate preparedness. A vast majority of research is done by the delegates on their respective Google Docs. Teachers can view these documents and leave comments for the delegates to point them in the right direction. Outlook has also been very helpful as students can send each other information 24/7 and correspond with each other. Technology aids students to make BOMUN a successful event. It plays a huge role in making students work efficiently and reminding them of events that are going to take place before the final debate. If not for technology, students will not be as prepared for BOMUN as they could be. In fact, without technology you wouldn’t even be reading this magazine.
Students utilizing their phones to stay up to date as to what’s happening on the BOMUN Facebook page
Photos