The General Assembly:
The entire purpose of a Model United Nations conference is to draft a resolution. This resolution (or usually set of resolutions) serves to push forwards a given voting bloc’s agenda on a set of predetermined issues given by the conference ahead of time. This activity forces the delegations to collaborate and debate with other countries while abandoning their personal ideologies and adopting that of a country which has been assigned (usually at random). These resolutions are meant to embody the spirit of what the United Nations has the power to do, implicitly teaching the concept of national sovereignty and international politics, but also highlight the responsibility all nations have to uphold commitments and work collaboratively.The program of Model United Nations is fundamentally inline with the mission statement of Hampden-Sydney College. To make good men and good citizens is a complicated task that depends, in the age of globalization, on the understanding of other people’s culture. At a cursory glance, this activity does everything it can to uphold and encourage students from all backgrounds to adopt ideologies they might not be personally comfortable with, and to empathize with those they disagree with. Delving into the activity deeper, the resolution writing process is a logical extension of the Rhetoric Program, both in writing and in speech. The activity is reliant on effective communication both in debate and within the writing process which makes up a majority of the committee time.
Model United Nations also emphasizes the importance of working cooperatively with large groups and highlights the leadership needed to be successful in any situation.
Crisis Committees:
While the General Assembly focuses on real issues, the Crisis Committee topics tend to be a little looser, placing less emphasis on the current events and more on the ability to cooperate and think critically. At SCVMUN 2020 we will likely do a fantasy crisis committee, loosely based off of works of mythology or literature that will be fun and engaging but also require lots of thought and effort. Unlike a General Assembly, the actions that the Crisis Committee take effect the simulation,
meaning their are consequences for passing directives, which take the role of resolutions. Similarly, individuals will have the ability to unilaterally effect the simulation using crisis notes, and their personal powers. This allows for lots of fun, politics, and scheming to happen in an engaging and fast paced environment. If you are interested in participating in a Crisis Committee, please let the staff know that when
you make a delegate request for SCVMUN 2020.