This recap was provided by Harini Manikandan, the Director of Media for &MUN I. All photographs provided by the Staff and Secretariat of &MUN.
This past weekend, The William & Mary International Relations Club launched its first-ever collegiate college conference, &MUN I! The conference was held April 11-14 at William & Mary’s brand-new School of Education building, featuring seven innovative crisis SAs, fun and personalized social events, and two former U.S. Ambassadors as conference speakers.
Delegates of the Calman Commission debate the future of Scotland.
Committees included The Calman Commission, in which Scotland declared independence from the United Kingdom and wrote a constitution (before some of its oil-rich council areas declared their own independence!) and Sic Semper Tyrannis: SPQR 44 BC, a committee that plunged delegates into the political turmoil besetting the Empire after the assassination of Julius Caesar (with a healthy dose of backstabbing and visits from a particularly lascivious Cleopatra). Other committees included the UN Security Council, a unique conflict resolution experiment discussing violence in the South China Sea parallel to the MOSTIMUN Conference in Mostar, Bosnia, the UN Office on Central Africa, which addressed an Ebola pandemic, the Ad-Hoc Committee, which simulated an overthrow of the U.S. government by the not-so-fictional fascist Business Plot, and a Joint Crisis Committee simulating tension between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in 2020.
Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering addresses delegates and staff of &MUN on Friday about U.S.-Iran negotiations.
On Friday, &MUN hosted Thomas R. Pickering, one of the most storied diplomats in U.S. history, and former Ambassador to the United Nations, Russia, India, Israel, Jordan, Nigeria, and El Salvador to speak about U.S. negotiations on Iran. Additionally, at Opening Ceremonies, William & Mary alumna
and former U.S. Ambassador to Algeria and Haiti Janet Sanderson gave a candid (and hilarious) rundown of her experience with the UN peppered with her sage advice for seeking a career of international service. As the night set in, &MUN’s social events (&Chill, a lounge night, and &Rage, an outdoor dance party at William & Mary’s Lake Matoaka Amphitheater), gave delegates from around the country the opportunity to meet and mingle, as well as hang out with the &MUN staff.
Delegates at &MUN also supported the William & Mary International Relations Club’s partner service organization charity: water, ultimately helping the club raise over $5,000 to build a well that will provide clean drinking water to a community in a developing country. Overall, William & Mary’s team was elated to host its first collegiate conference, and hoped that all delegates left having made friendships and learned something about debate, networking, and negotiation. To keep up with plans for &MUN II, you can check out &MUN’s website at http://andmun.org, visit http://facebook.com/wmcollegemun, or follow &MUN’s Twitter and Instagram at @wmcollegemun.
Charles Lindbergh (GW Head Delegate Max Sanders) gives a speech to the Ad-Hoc just minutes before his assassination.
A delegate in the JCC: Abu Dhabi 2020 committee writes a note to crisis.
Staffers, Delegates, and Chairs of the UNSC pose for a photo at &Chill, Friday night’s social event.
JCC Abu Dhabi Crisis Manager Katie Mitchell and Ad-Hoc Chair Iman Shakeri are all smiles.
Crisis staffers argue in front of delegates in the UNSC.
Sic Sempur Tyrannis crisis staffers before a crisis drop.
Stanford University took home Outstanding Delegation.
The George Washington University took home Best Delegation, including four gavels.
&MUN Secretariat poses for a final photo.
