The collegiate model UN season kicked off this weekend at Columbia University’s CMUNNY, a crisis conference that is in its 8th year and has grown to 19 committees. As the conference’s social media presence increased due to delegates’ excitement, the phrase “CMUNNY get MUNNY” became commonplace in hashtags and Facebook posts. Secretary-General Henry Wilson and Director-General Rohit Prasanna led a very hands-on Secretariat team, which stayed engaged with each committee all weekend long and added positive energy to the conference. Delegates simulated the Cabinet of Kim Il-Sung, which resulted in the entirety of North Korea being concentrated on the island of Jeju, executed over 15 characters in the Ivan the Terrible Committee, and saw the Ta’if peace conference of Lebanon turn into a bloodbath involving Israel and eventually the rest of the Middle East. The Nigerian Cabinet broke into a JCC, with the opposition splintering off and characters being framed and committed to a mental institution, only to be eventually reunited.
The Georgetown CMUNNY delegation poses with their Best Large Delegation hardware back on campus (Photo courtesy of the Georgetown IRC).
The University of Florida poses with their Best Small Delegation trophy and individual awards.
Neal Chhabra from William & Mary, talks to crisis staffers in the ISI 1977 committee.
Although the conference has grown significantly over the years, it still has a small-conference feel to it, as delegates were able to rekindle friendships that were separated by a summer without Model UN. With an enormous city to explore, delegates were able to take in the sites, yet still keep their eyes on the prize in committee. The social events of the weekend included a head delegate social, and the infamous Saturday night delegate fest at Stitch, a club near Times Square. Closing ceremonies were dominated by the Floridian delegations of the University of Florida and Florida International University in the small delegation category, and the traditional powerhouse teams from Georgetown University and the University of Chicago in the large delegation category. Georgetown and UF took home Best Delegation, while UChicago and FIU received the Outstanding Delegation plaques in their respective delegation sizes.
Florida International University took home Outstanding Small Delegation honors this weekend.
Other notable performances came from the Harvard, Penn, and NYU teams. Penn fielded a largely underclassmen team, showing just how deep their bench is for the upcoming season, especially at Georgetown’s NCSC and even further down the line at Harvard’s HNMUN. Harvard and NYU also performed incredibly well, taking home 10 awards a piece.
(L to R) Aaron Kalafarski of Florida, Pritika Gupta of Emory, and Alexander Benedict of Kutztown University meet in an unmoderated caucus in the Derg: Ethiopia committee.
Georgetown Head Delegate Sam Brothers and GW Head Delegate Jared Greenspan pose for a quick photo before hashing out a committee strategy.
Delegates from the Myanmar committee meet in an unmoderated caucus.
Harvard’s Rory O’Reilly took home second place in the Ivan the Terrible committee.
UF’s Ashley Inman raises her placard. She took home second place in the Sand War: Morocco committee, and UF took home Best Small Delegation
