Official Announcement of MSUMUN XIV and RCMUN III

Official Announcement of XIV

Esteemed Delegates, Advisors, and Friends,

It is my pleasure to officially announce the fourteenth session of Michigan State University Model United Nations (MSUMUN) as well as the third session of Red Cedar Model United Nations (RCMUN).

After two remarkably successful conferences in 2013, our staff is excited and ready to continue hosting our Midwestern Model UN conferences. At MSUMUN XIII and RCMUN II delegates engaged in educational and exciting debates on topics ranging from the role of media in combating human rights violations to the delicate position of the UN Security Council in the era following the fall of the Berlin Wall. In our historical simulations they worked on such issues as figuring out how best to put a man (or woman) on the moon and who should have represented the Democratic Party in the 1932 Presidential Election. Students participated in committees such as the World Health Organization, the Special Commission on Responsible Genetics, the Parliament of the Weimar Republic, and even the executive council of the Iroquois Confederacy. With roughly 100 MSU volunteer staff members we hosted ov­­­­er 100 middle school students and nearly 600 high school students as they participated in two of the nation’s premier Model UN conferences held on the nation’s most beautiful college campus.

At this time I am excited to officially announce that MSUMUN XIV will remain on Michigan State University’s historic campus and that it will be held March 14-16th, 2014. The conference will be relocating to the Kellogg Center, Michigan State’s own renowned hotel and conference center. The new location will allow us to centralize most of the conference activities, including opening and closing ceremonies, committee sessions and our delegate social activities. While we are sad to leave our old home in the MSU Union, we are confident that the new space will improve the MSUMUN experience for all involved. We look forward to showing delegates the best of what MSU has to offer while continuing to provide the dynamic and educationally enriching experience that MSUMUN has always been.

I am also looking forward to the third session of our middle school conference, RCMUN III. The conference will be held on February 15, 2014 and will be relocated to a new place on campus so that we can better accommodate new delegates. RCMUN has been an incredibly positive experience for all of its delegates, advisers and staff and I am pleased to see it into its third session. Our excellent Undersecretary-General of RCMUN, Mary Connolly, who oversaw RCMUN II, will be returning to her position for RCMUN III. She is excited to see RCMUN grow and expand as a conference and I have the utmost confidence in her vision and ability to manage a wonderful Model UN conference. If for any reason you may need to contact her, Mary can be reached at rcmun@msumun.org.

As we continue to prepare for MSUMUN XIV and RCMUN III, we also plan to work with our schools, advisers and delegates outside of the conference setting through our Outreach Program. As in past years, MSUMUN and RCMUN staff members will be travelling to schools in order to help students and teachers engage in research, public speaking, writing, debate and many other valuable skills associated with Model UN. I expect our Outreach Program to continue to strengthen the relationships MSUMUN and RCMUN have worked hard to develop with our schools and advisers while it provides valuable educational opportunities to all students, whether they are in high school, middle school or college. If you are interested in requesting staff members from MSUMUN or RCMUN to help in your high school or middle school classroom through our Outreach Program, please do not hesitate to contact our Undersecretary-General of Internal Affairs, Kevin VanLiew at internalaffairs@msumun.org.

If you have any general questions, comments or concerns relating to either of our conferences, please feel free to contact me personally at secgen@msumun.org. I am looking forward to working with all of you this year as the Secretary-General of MSUMUN and cannot wait to see all of you at RCMUN and MSUMUN next year.

As I prepare for my final year of Model UN at Michigan State University, I know that MSUMUN and RCMUN will continue to be just as important to me as they always have been. I have been involved in these conferences since attending MSUMUN VII as a freshman in high school and they have played a considerable roll in making me the college senior I am today. I have cherished every moment that I have spent as a delegate and as a staff member of MSUMUN and RCMUN.

I have been returning to these conferences every year for seven years, and I guarantee that you will want to do the same once you experience Model UN at Michigan State University.

Sincerely,

Robert Coon

Secretary-General, MSUMUN Session XIV