Ambassador Fay Hartog Levin speaking at NUMUN XII Opening Ceremonies on April 9, 2015.
From April 9-12, Northwestern University Model United Nations (NUMUN) hosted its twelfth annual conference in Evanston, IL. In one of its largest, most action packed conferences yet, NUMUN brought over 750 delegates and advisers to Northwestern’s Norris University Center.
With a staff of over 70 undergraduates and a Secretariat of 11 more, NUMUN XII was able to create 14 dynamic committees ranging from your typical GAs like SOCHUM to smaller crisis oriented bodies like a 1970s Northern Ireland committee.
Instilling the value of diplomacy and furthering delegates understanding of the foreign service has always been central to the mission of NUMUN. This year’s keynote speaker, Ambassador Fay Hartog Levin, the US Ambassador to the Netherlands, highlighted drew on her own experiences to further these goals as well as to illustrate what the life of an American ambassador is truly like.
Amb. Levin emphasized the urgent need for this generation of students to be involved and involved when it comes to international issues. Her speech congratulated the delegates for taking the steps needed to be engaged citizens, and set a strong theme of enrichment through the conference.
Delegates in an unmoderated caucus.
In its twelfth year, NUMUN was excited to receive delegations from not only across the nation, but also from Canada. Students from Bellarmine Preparatory School made the over 2,000 mile journey from Tacoma, WA to attend NUMUN XII. Toronto French School brought 14 delegates making NUMUN XII Northwestern’s first true international Model UN conference.
Arguably the most unique development at this years conference was the over 500 delegate midnight crisis sessions held at the Hotel Orrington in the early morning hours of April 11th.
Delegates of 11 committees were thrust into a variety of crisis scenarios ranging from nuclear reactor instability, to reawakened conflict on the Korean Peninsula. Delegates debated and rapidly passed directives to deal with all of the crises thrown at them.
The conference was one of NUMUN’s most successful and brought out one its best trained and involved staffs ever. From highly active committee twitter accounts to intricately planned out topics and crises, NUMUN is proud of the phenomenal work that many of its younger staffers have done and is looking forward to seeing where they take the organization during their next few years at Northwestern.
Although the conference is over, NUMUN is never really over. Planning for NUMUN XII has already begun.
For more information about NUMUN, check out its website and Facebook!
(This conference recap was provided by Ronak Patel, outgoing NUMUN USG of Public Relations)
