Welcome to UNCSW!

 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 that being said, I'd like to set some expectations so that we are all able to have a pleasant and productive time in conference. 

First, I know that there was a lot of sensitive language used in our background guide. That was intentional. I think that it is very important to step out of our comfort zones as we learn and read about new things. However, this does not mean that you can say slurs, use derogatory language, or be aggressive during committee. Conference should be a place where everyone feels safe, so please do your best to be respectful of all identities with our language during committee. At BMUN, we value highly diplomacy, so keep that in mind, as well. Second, we expect you to listen to your peers during moderated and unmoderated caucuses. I know it is tempting to work on speeches and resolutions during mods, but to respect other delegates and grow as people, listening is just as important as speaking. We will pay attention to who is listening respectfully to other delegates. Also, UNCSW is a no tech committee, but we will allow you to write your resolutions using a device (i.e. computer, tablet, phone, etc.) as that is the most accessible practice, so bring whatever device you can. 

To finish, I'd like to give some general reminders and pieces of advice as you research and prepare for conference. If you are a dual delegacy, work together. I can not emphasize this enough. Every year there are dual delegacies that split the two topics up completely so that each student has their own topic. Despite our best efforts, it can be extremely difficult to get through both topics fully, and we don't want anyone left out of debate waiting for the second topic. Next, I urge you to think critically about what you read (including the background guide!) Ask yourself, "who wrote this? Why did they write this? What audience are they catering toward? And what would the country I am representing think of this resource?" Hopefully, this will lead you to be curious, and if you have questions about the concepts, MUN procedure, or anything else ask us, your peers, and your advisors. Finally, while developing your speeches and position papers think about how your words will impact the people listening. Not only will this make your speeches less likely to cross a boundary, but they will be much more impactful and engaging for the audience. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Truly I cannot wait for conference, and do not hesitate to reach out with questions!

Best wishes,

Roxie Baggott, Head Chair of UNCSW


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction - Kamilah Elmarsafawi

  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!
Read more

Tips for Solutions

 Hi Delegates! Today, I wanted to write some tips for coming up with solutions for our topics. First off, I want to recognize that our topics (especially the first topic) can be very abstract, thus coming up with solutions may be intimidating. If you're intimidated by the problem at hand, one thing that you can do is try tackling one part of the issue. For example, for topic B, you could just work on the aftermath of domestic violence by providing mental health services for survivors. You could also, just try one solution to solve problem. For example, in topic A you could attempt a top down approach and encourage governments to have their official language organizations add gender inclusive language.  Another tip that we love talking about at BMUN is using the S.M.A.R.T. solution method as a way for you to check how actionable your solution is. S.M.A.R.T. stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely, so after creating your solution, you can ask, "Is this ...
Read more

Last minute updates for conference! (**the crowd goes wild**)

 Hello Everyone! Welcome back to the BMUN blog. Conference is in less than a week, and I am bouncing off the walls with excitement! We have read and graded your position papers, and I am looking forward to seeing you debate all of your ideas. We did have some technical difficulties with Huxley, so if your grade was changing around Sunday and Monday that is why. I will say that all of the grades are now finalized, and if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to join our office hours today and tomorrow from 4-5PM ( here is the wejoin ). You can also send us an email if you have any last minute questions or just ask us at conference. Thanks for keeping up with all of the emails, blog posts, work, and chaos. I can't wait to meet you in person on Friday (which is coincidentally national women's day!!) The prefix to your suffix, Roxie Baggott,  UNCSW 72 Head Chair
Read more