Joint Crisis Committees ready for NAMUN 2014

Crisis committees should be challenging to delegates, says Eenslid

BY: Rachel Man

With the Conference closing in the Joint Crisis Committees held their final training session Friday. The Valentine’s Day meeting was their last before the Conference beings, but definitely not the first.

Starting in November 2013, the 35 members of Joint Crisis Committees had been meeting 4 hours every week in preparation for NAMUN 2014. The preparation is intense. During the sessions, they not only decide the crises but also things that delegates would want from the team, including updating maps, keeping track of directives, creating crises and press releases, arranging meetings between delegates, and updating the delegates on the general process of the committee.

"The reason it’s more complicated is because what happens on one side of a crisis affects the other side, which is not something that happens in any other kind of committee," said Jenn Eenslid, the Director of Joint Crisis Committees, adding that being a crisis staffer is no easy task.  “It can get tough to keep track of everything that’s going on."  Behind the scenes crisis staff also have to keeping track of events that have already taken place in the simulation, and events that could occur in the future.

With hours of training time and running mock sessions, the goal has always been to supply the best experience possible for those in crisis committees.

“The delegates should anticipate having their debate skills challenged, brought to the limits of their diplomatic abilities, and being tested on their knowledge of history and policy. I believe that this year we will be delivering a level of committee excellence that will really raise the bar on the Model UN circuit,” said Eenslid.

There will be two joint crises running this year, Change 2008 and From Edo Bay to Pearl Harbour. Change 2008 is all about the 2008 Presidential Election in the United States. Committees working on Change 2008 will be separated to cover the Obama and the McCain campaign. From Edo Bay to Pearl Harbour focuses on relations between Imperial Japan and the United States through the Kanagawa period and the World War II period.