The Boston Area Model United Nations Conference (BARMUN) occurred in its 12th iteration this past weekend from October 3rd to October 6th. The conference took place on Boston University’s campus was led to success by this year’s Secretary-General Akash Chopra.
Akash generously contributed to this article with both comments on the weekend as well as the delegation award winners. About this year’s BarMUN, Akash wrote, “BarMUN XII was the most successful BarMUN that has been hosted by Boston University. BarMUN XII brought with it many firsts – this is the first time that we have over 400 delegates at our conference, the first time we have over 40 delegations attending, the first time that we have 17 committees and the first time that we have 100% of our merchandise sales dedicated toward our sponsor charity (Charity:Water). Having our sponsored charity receive all the merchandise sales was always a vision of mine and Jonathan and I was extremely glad budgeting wise, when we were able to make this possible.”
It’s always commendable to see a conference dedicate part of their income to giving back and BarMUN XII’s decision to do so is highly regarded.
Attending Delegations
The following schools attended the conference, as listed alphabetically in the delegate handbook:
- American University
- Boston College
- Brown University
- Clark University
- Clarkson University
- Colgate University
- Columbia University
- Dartmouth College
- Elon University
- Emory University
- Florida International University
- Fordham University
- Georgetown University
- George Washington University
- Harvard University
- Indiana University
- McGill University
- Michigan State University
- Middlebury College
- New York University
- Northeastern University
- Northern Arizona University
- The Ohio State University
- Penn State University
- Princeton University
- Roger Williams University
- Seton Hall University
- State University of New York at Geneseo
- The United States Naval Academy
- University of Alabama
- University of Albany
- University of Chicago
- University of Connecticut
- University of Minnesota
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of San Francisco
- University of Vermont
- Vanderbilt University
- Wellesley College
- Wheaton College
Committee Overview
BarMUN XII featured 17 committees this year with a mix of procedural styles from General Assembly style Economic & Social Councils, Specialized Committees, and Crisis Committees.
The three ECOSOC committees included The United States Summit on the Use of Federal Land, Senado Federal: Aftermath of the World’s Spotlight, and CHOGM2020: The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
The three Specialized Committees were the Belt & Road Initiative, Project Looking Glass, and Brexit: The Cabinet of Theresa May.
BarMUN’s most heavily featured committee style was their 11 crisis committees, including a two room JCC. The single room crisis committees were: Ukranian Missile Crisis (1991), 2018 Facebook Board of Directors, Pax Britannica, The Ohio Gang, The Peace of Westphalia, Pope Leo’s Cardinals, Jefferson’s Cabinet, The Committee of 40, and the Ad Hoc. The JCC was called A Portrait of Our Neighbors: Orthodox v. Reformist Communists and is based on the “aftershocks of the Sino-Soviet Communist split” based on the topic blurb on the website.
This year’s ad hoc committee was all about the Salem Witch Trials to feature a more local, albeit historical, topic.
In regards to the background guide quality, the guides were praised for their detailed, thorough, and informative historical background on the topic and the guide’s overall formatting and design.
However, some delegates noted the guides had unclear start dates, sometimes a lack of clear committee direction, and that some positions on the guide that were assigned were missing from the character dossier section. Please note that the latter problem was fixed promptly when the issue was brought to Secretariat before the start of the conference.
Committee Comments
As it should always be said, the committee comments section should serve as a balanced critique of the conference. MUN01 recognizes the hardwork and dedication that all Secretariat members put into the weekend. However, MUN01 also believes that delegates should be able to receive honest opinions and conferences gain feedback to grow and improve every year!
Committee Praises
Overall, BarMUN praises came mostly from in-room performance by daises and satisfaction with committee topics. Delegates were generally satisfied with the chairing and it seemed like all the chairs had been trained and had some prior experience running a room. The selection of committee topics was also given two thumbs up for their range in topics and interest factor.
Committee Critiques
The most common critiques of the conference stemmed from backroom problems. According to delegates in specialized committees, procedure for that committee type was unclear and unclarified until day two of the conference. In committees such as Pax Britannica, there was not a clear start date and committee jumped ahead 20 years until delegates protested and it was lowered to a 12 year time jump. Some other delegates had complaints over crisis updates that seemed unrelated to delegate’s arcs. Crisis notes response time were also an issue. Another complaint was that the first session of committee lasted 3.5 hours and went until 11pm. A suggestion was that an hour be taken off that day and moved to Friday’s session.
Socials
BarMUN XII hosted both a head delegate social and a typical delegate social for the weekend. The head delegate social took place on Friday night at the Fenmore Grill inside of the Hotel Buckmister, one of the two recommended hotels for delegations. A short walk from the head delegate feedback room, the event featured an open bar with beer and wine for those of age and a buffet of Italian food. It was all free for the head delegates and was greatly appreciated after the second day of committee.
The second social was for all attending delegates on Saturday night and was held at Boston’s Hard Rock Cafe in a separate event room with a bar, some tables, and a large dance floor with a DJ. Delegates appreciated the 5pm end time of committee that day and the break before the 9pm start of the social. Many enjoyed it right up to the 12am end time which disappointed some delegates, but was necessary due to the closing time of the restaurant.
Awards
As is always the case, Sunday brought an end to the weekend’s antics and debate. Secretary General Akash took the podium during closing ceremonies to give a heartfelt speech about how much Model UN has meant to him throughout his life. And then, it was the moment everyone had been waiting for. Awards.
Delegation Awards were given out as follows:
Best Large – University of Chicago
Outstanding Large – Florida International University
Best Small – American University
Outstanding Small – The George Washington University
American University after their Best Small Delegation award win
Individual Awards, by school, were given out as follows:
Belt and Road
Verbal – Emory
Verbal – Georgetown
Honorable – McGill
Honorable – University of Pennsylvania
Outstanding – Florida International University
Best – Michigan State University
Brexit
Verbal – American University
Verbal – University of Alabama
Honorable – Clark University
Outstanding – University of Chicago
Best – George Washington University
Pope Leo’s Cardinals
Verbal – University of Pennsylvania
Verbal – Florida International University
Honorable – McGill
Outstanding – Michigan State University
Best – Georgetown
Project Looking Glass
Verbal – University of Minnesota
Verbal – SUNY Geneseo
Honorable – George Washington University
Outstanding – McGill
Best – University of Chicago
Westphalia
Verbal – Columbia
Verbal – Georgetown
Honorable – NYU
Outstanding – Emory
Best – Princeton
Ohio Gang
Verbal – Florida International University
Verbal – Wellesley
Honorable – Seton Hall University
Outstanding – University of Chicago
Best – Indiana University
JCC Orthodox
Verbal – Fordham
Verbal – Ohio State University
Honorable – Indiana University
Outstanding – Florida International University
Best – University of Chicago
JCC Reformist
Verbal – Wheaton
Verbal – University of Chicago
Honorable – Clark University
Outstanding – Fordham
Best – Emory
Jefferson’s Cabinet
Verbal – George Washington University
Verbal – Indiana University
Honorable – American University
Outstanding – McGill
Best – University of Chicago
Pax Britannica
Verbal – McGill
Verbal – Harvard
Honorable – Florida International University
Outstanding – George Washington University
Best – American University
Ukrainian Missile Crisis
Verbal – Georgetown
Verbal – Harvard
Honorable – Alabama*
Honorable – University of Chicago*
Outstanding – American*
Best – Princeton*
*award information was given by an attending delegate, shout out to you
Verbal – University of Chicago
Honorable – George Washington University
Outstanding – Indiana University
Best – University of Pennsylvania
CHOGM
Verbal – Harvard
Verbal – University of San Francisco
Verbal – Georgetown
Honorable – Fordham
Honorable – University of Chicago
Outstanding – Northeastern University
Best – Florida International University
Senado Federal
Verbal – Clark University
Verbal – Northeastern University
Verbal – McGill
Honorable – Georgetown
Honorable – American
Outstanding – Harvard
Best – University of Pennsylvania
Committee of 40
Verbal – Florida International University
Verbal – University of Pennsylvania
Honorable – Harvard
Outstanding – Indiana
Best – Emory
US Federal Land
Verbal – Emory
Verbal – Indiana
Verbal – Columbia
Honorable – University of San Francisco
Honorable – University of San Francisco (not a duplicate)
Outstanding – Florida International University
Best – American
Ad Hoc
Verbal – Middlebury
Verbal – Princeton
Honorable – Alabama
Outstanding – University of Chicago
Best – Harvard
Casey would also like to shoutout whoever found her water bottle and gave it to audiotorium staff that she left during closing ceremonies.
To read more about BarMUN XII click here to see the conference website. Thank you to the teams and delegates who participated in building this article with their comments, critiques, and photos. Also a thank you to BarMUN XII for providing delegation award information and quotes and statistics for the article. Congrats to all who competed in or staffed the conference!
MUN01 