Skip to main content

Details of Arab League CRISIS Committee/BMUN Conference

Hi everyone,

Hope you guy are all doing well! I just wanted to give you some quick updates about conference as well as go over some of the details on how committee will proceed.


First, good job on position papers! I have uploaded the grades and your graded papers onto Huxley so you can go ahead and take a look at them to see if there is anything additional preparation you guys want to do before conference. Please do not be discouraged if your grade is low! We did grade somewhat harshly, and there was definitely no expectation for you to get an A or B.


Next, I wanted to reveal some of the basic details of procedure in CRISIS. There a couple of different motions that are available to you guys over this weekend:

1. Default will be a moderated caucus with one minute speaking time. This time is really meant for you guys to discuss which direction or topics you guys should discuss in committee.

2. Moderated Caucus: You can motion for a moderated caucus on a specific topic and change the default speaking time. These moderated caucuses will help you focus in the topic of debate and help the entire committee to dive deeper into specific issues.

3. Unmoderated Caucus: Your standard unmoderated caucus .

4. Formal Caucus: This is a twist on formal caucus that is standard in normal BMUN procedure. Once a committee directive is submitted, you can motion for a formal caucus to present the committee directive before the directive is voted on by the committee. This caucus consists of 2 minutes of presentation time and 3 minutes of time for Q&A. If there are no questions, the remaining time can be yielded to comments or yielded to the chair. I believe this caucus will be a good tool to get everyone on the same page and to facilitate discussion on the committee directives.

Voting on committee directives will take a 50+1 majority format.

I also want to emphasize that our committee will be a no-technology committee. 
That means that there should be no phones or laptops open/out during our committee. I don't think you guys will have any need to use technology as committee proceeds. Exceptions to this rule will be subject to the chair's discretion.

I will answer any other questions about procedure before committee begins and also feel free to email me before this weekend about any other questions you might have!


Finally, I wanted to go over a bit about grading.  

Grading will be broken down into four main sections:
1) Moderated Caucus
2) Unmoderated
3) Comments/Q&A
4) Directive writing/presenting

In your speeches/comments, try to focus on the content of your speech and pushing debate/discussion forward. Creativity/uniqueness are also always appreciated! Also remember that diplomacy is factor that is weighed in grading as well. At the end of the day, don't be too worried about grading. Be insightful, polite, and have fun and all of you guys will do great!

That's everything for now. My dias and I are super stoked to meet everyone this coming weekend and I know it's going to be a lot of fun. Again, feel free to reach out to me or email me if you any other questions or concerns before conference weekend.

Your head chair,
Andy

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Introduction and The Kurdish Fighters in Syria

Hi everyone, Hope you guys are doing well. Just to give a bit more light on blogs, my vice chairs and I will be making posts every week about news and articles that we feel are relevant to our topic for CRISIS committee as well as other posts about position papers and actual committee proceedings. I suggest trying your best to keep up to date on current events within the Middle East as well as any news relevant to your countries. I also highly encourage posting your own thoughts in the comments section, and my dais will do our best in replying to all of your comments. To start things off, I came across an interesting article in the New York Times about the Kurdish fighters in Syria known as the People's Protection Units, or Y.P.G. The Y.P.G. played a major role in pushing the Islamic State out of northeastern Syria backed by U.S. military support. However, the Y.P.G. is now involved in increasing tensions with Turkish forces in northwestern Syria. Moreover, the Y.P.G. has also ...

Vice Chair Introductions: Moriah Meyers

Hi everyone! My name is Moriah Meyers. I'm from Palo Alto, California, and I am a first-year at Berkeley studying Political Science. Outside of BMUN, I am an editor for the International Relations Review of Berkeley, and in my free time, I enjoy hiking and writing. I'm so excited to meet you all soon!

"Secret Alliance: Israel Carries Out Airstrikes in Egypt, With Cairo’s O.K."

Hi all! I hope your preparation for BMUN is going well and that you're all excited for conference in less than a month! This NY Times article came out last week, and I thought it was really interesting. It discusses the alliance between Israel in Egypt, through which Israel has been able to target jihadists in Egypt with airstrikes. Israel and Egypt have had notable historical tension and differences, and it seems that experiencing this common threat has assisted in uniting them. Egypt previously attempted to navigate these threats of attack but later agreed that Israel could step in. The article noted that although this "alliance" is definitely heartening, it's certainly a complex issue with much underlying tension; critiques of Israel say that it may be acting out of defense for itself in order to prevent issues in Egypt from moving north, and Egyptian media have continued to denounce Israel, despite its aid to them. I'm curious to know what you think, a...