BMUN 72 UNCSW

Hello again Delegates! I hope you all are doing well as we near the weekend of the conference. My fellow chairs and I have been working hard grading your papers and getting them back to you in a timely manner. We can’t wait to see what ideas you bring to the table! I recently read an article on the progress made in some European nations these past few months to work on inclusive, ungendered language, and I thought it’d be highly beneficial to share. The The   Guardian article discusses the debate surrounding gender-inclusive language reforms in languages like French, German, Spanish, and Italian. In France, efforts by l´academie to promote inclusive writing methods, such as using the median dot or hyphens to accommodate both masculine and feminine forms, have faced criticism for making the language less readable and excluding certain groups such as dyslexic individuals and non-native speakers. Despite resistance, some progress has been made, which includes allowing feminine titles...

Hello delegates! In recent update on the topic of domestic violence and the legal independence of women, UN Women compiled a resource titled, "Facts and figures: Ending Violence Against Women". In this article, the importance of proper data collection and reporting is emphasized as the UN shares its compiled list of facts and figures revolving around gendered violence. The resource contains fourteen different categories of statistics, examples including the topic of femicides, law on violence against women and girls, and the trafficking of women. This resource should prove helpful for obtaining that last bit of knowledge before BMUN begins. In addition, this article genuinely helps to put things into perspective, and see just how prevalent gendered violence is worldwide. The article can be accessed via this link . In other news, according to the UN News, Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem recently testified in front of the UK, praising their sound legal framework in protecting s...

Hey delegates — we have a quick announcement for you! TL;DR UNCSW Office Hours are happening next week! Here are the dates and times below for your convenience: Monday, March 4th, from 5 - 6 pm  (Head Chair Roxie will be facilitating this session) Tuesday, March 5th, from 4 - 5 pm (Chairs Roxie and Sara will be facilitating this session) Wednesday, March 6th, from 4 - 5 pm (Chairs Roxie and Kamilah will be facilitating this session) So, what are office hours? Put simply, office hours are a time for your delegation to meet with one (or a few) of the UNCSW chairs. This is a space for you to ask questions about committee, BMUN procedure, our topics, or anything else you can think of. You can also use this time to review your position paper with a chair, who will provide feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of your paper and point out potential areas for improvement (which can be useful for your research and writing skills in the future). Grades and general comments on Huxley wil...

 Hello lovely delegates! I am writing to help you out with committee procedure. Since BMUN is a learning conference, don't be scared if you've never done MUN before or if you are a little rusty. Larger committees like UNCSW are a perfect place to learn from other delegates. UNCSW uses standard BMUN procedure which basically means that if you've been in other conferences it will be pretty similar. BMUN's standard procedure guide can be found at this link , and feel free to print it out and put it in your binder for conference. Some terms and concepts to familiarize yourself with before conference are as follows: -Caucuses (Moderated, Unmoderated, and Formal) -Points of parliamentary procedure (Point of personal privilege, point of order, point of inquiry) -How to motion to open and adjourn debate  -How to motion to open the speakers list -How to respond during role call (present vs. present and voting) -How to write resolutions (look at the formatting!)      ...

  Hello Delegates! Welcome back to the UNCSW blog.  Last week, we gave you some tips on how to write position papers, and we invite you to go back and check out that post if you need help!  This week’s post will cover some tips on public speaking during committee meetings, so hopefully, you can feel more comfortable. Public speaking is consistently ranked as one of people’s biggest fears. Therefore, feeling nervous or anxious or any other type of emotion towards public speaking is natural and completely valid.  During the conference, please maintain full respect towards your peers as everyone has varying experience and speaking abilities. Also, please be kind towards yourself, and it is okay if you don’t feel comfortable participating as much as your peers; do what makes you feel the most confident. Ultimately, BMUN is a learning conference, so we value growth and progress above all else! Here are some tips to consider: Understand your country and character’s positio...

 Hi everyone! My name is Bella, and I’m from Portland, Oregon. I am one of your vice chairs for UNCSW this year. I am a senior at UC Berkeley, graduating this spring with a double major in Global Studies and French. I just returned from studying abroad in Paris last semester at Sciences Po. I am happy to discuss my experience with studying abroad if that is something that some of you may be interested in doing in college. I am very active, so I enjoy going to the gym, playing soccer, and doing SoulCycle and hot yoga classes in my free time. I also love listening to music; my favorite genres at the moment are afrobeats, reggae, and reggaeton, watching movies and TV shows, and of course, sleeping. I look forward to meeting you all during the conference and I am happy to answer any questions!

Hello Delegates! Welcome back to the UNCSW blog. Now that we have introduced ourselves, I invite you to introduce yourself in the comments of this blog post (I would love to hear about your academic interests, a piece of media you have enjoyed recently, or anything at all you would like to share)! With that said, here are some good things to consider as you all write and prepare to submit your position papers.  To get us started, here are a few criteria and tips from your chairs. As a reminder, UNCSW will be usin g the standard Position Paper format detailed in the  Committee Page  on the BMUN website. Besides the general format, we wanted to offer some tips on the research process and the formation of your paper. Research The biggest favor you can do for yourself in the writing process is to apply adequate time and effort into understanding the topics beforehand. Not only do we recommend reading the topic synopsis, but we hope that you will interact with it. Ask question...

  Hey y'all! My name is A laina (she/her/ hers), and I will be one of your amazing UNCSW Vice Chairs this year. I am a junior at UC Berkeley studying Rhetoric and French and (hopefully) going on to law school. In terms of academic interes t, I love to learn about South Asian history, and I am also currently trying to learn Italian.  Back home (Cincinnati, go Bearcats!!!), I volunteer for Ohioans to Stop Executions (OTSE) to work toward abolishing capital punishment in my state.  Outside of the M UN world, I love to listen to music, try new restaurants with friends, and watch Netflix. My favorite show at the moment is Nathan For You, and my favorite band is Electric Guest.  As a member of BMUN for the past two years, I cannot wait to see everyone in action once again this March!  Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions that you may have. I look forward to meeting you all!! :) Cheers, Alaina

Hi! My name is Sara, I am one of the vice chairs of UNCSW I am very excited to be part of this committee with all of you. I am a first-year at Berkeley studying Global Studies and Conservation and Resource Studies, I am deeply passionate about diplomacy, social justice, human rights but also the environment! In my free time, I love doing any outdoor activity, especially running, hiking, and swimming, I also play different instruments and love to play around and learn new songs. My favorite place in Berkeley is Campanile Street, if it´s sunset time and it's a clear day you can the Golden Bridge perfectly. Don't be afraid to talk to me about anything, I have many interests and I would love to learn yours as well. I hope you enjoy BMUN72 and have the best time with us.

 Hello Everyone! My name is Roxie, and I am the head chair of UNCSW for BMUN 72! I could not be more thrilled to welcome all of you to this committee, and there will be several blog posts in the upcoming weeks to help you prepare for conference. First and foremost, I would like to introduce myself to all of you. I am a second-year at Berkeley studying molecular environmental biology. In my free time, I hang out with my 10-month-old great Dane puppy and play lots of music which has been mostly Motown, Taylor Swift, and Salsa lately. I'm deeply passionate about the topics that I chose, and I am so excited to see you all debate them. Now to the fun stuff: conference! I picked two very complex and difficult topics because as a former BMUN delegate myself, I thought these topics would be novel and challenging. I also believe that all of you can be respectful, open-minded, and diplomatic within these topics no matter what grade you are in or what experience level you have with MUN. With ...

  My name is Kamilah Elmarsafawi, and I am a staff member for the Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW). I am a freshman and first year for the BMUN class of 72, I use she/her pronouns. I am an intended philosophy major, and along with BMUN I am volunteering for Berkeley’s Queer Alliance and Resource Center (QARC), and a part of Cal YDSA (democratic socialist association). A fun fact about me is that roughly 25% of my current possessions were obtained randomly — found on the street, “borrowed” from friends, or picked up from walking down Sproul. I look forward to meeting everyone at BMUN!! Feel free to reach out, I am down to discuss all things philosophy, gender, sexuality, and just love getting to know people!