Harvard International Relations Council

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Harvard International Relations Council
Abbreviation HIRC
Formation 1955
Type NGO
Purpose/focus Education
Location Cambridge, MA
Official languages English
President Kyle Fishman
Main organ Board of Directors
Affiliations United Nations Department of Public Information

The Harvard International Relations Council (HIRC) is a non-profit organization that promotes awareness of International Relations. It is composed as several semi-independent but centrally funded programs, which each promote awareness of international relations in different ways. Those programs are Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN), Harvard National Model United Nations (HNMUN), the Harvard International Review (HIR), the Harvard Program in International Education (HPIE), Harvard Intercollegiate Model United Nations (ICMUN), and the Harvard International Relations on Campus (IRoC).

HIRC is the largest student organization at Harvard College. It is a registered 501(c)(3)[1] that is run entirely by undergraduate students, and it is an affiliated Non-Governmental Organization with the United Nations Department of Public Information. [2]

Contents

[edit] Harvard Model United Nations

Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN) is one of the oldest Model United Nations simulations in the world. It was founded in 1953 when the Harvard student group that had been simulating the League of Nations since the 1920s decided to start a new simulation to reflect the new organization that had been established at the end of World War II.[3][4] Every year, students from around the world attend the conference, which is currently held at the Sheraton Boston Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. The next session of HMUN will be the 57th session, and it will be held January 2-31, 2010.

Like many Model United Nations simulations, HMUN offers committees in 5 categories:

Delegates represent countries or famous individuals, and must work to solve problems through debate and compromise while still promoting the interests and policies of the nation or person they represent.

[edit] Staff

The 56th Session of HMUN had a staff of nearly 190 Harvard undergraduates. These staff members are organized into three groups: the Secretariat, the Senior Staff, and the Junior Staff.

[edit] Secretariat

The Secretariat consists of the top-level officers of Harvard Model United Nations who oversee all branches and activities of the conference.

There are nine Secretariat members: the Secretary-General, who is responsible for the conference as a whole, the Director-General, who is the administrative head of the conference, the Comptroller, who is responsible for conference finances, and six Under-Secretaries-General in the various branches of the conference: administration, business, substantive support, and the three substantive organs, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Councils, and the Specialized Agencies. The DG, Comptroller, Administration, and Business organs comprise the executive organs, and Substantive Support is both a substantive and an executive organ.

The Secretary-General is elected annually in March by the Board of Directors of the IRC and the outgoing staff of the previous conference. He or she is traditionally a member of the past year's Secretariat. The remaining Secretariat members are appointed by the Secretary-General in coordination with the Secretary-General of HNMUN.

The Secretary-General of HMUN 2010 is Daniel Robinson '10, and his Secretariat includes Jeffrey Phaneuf '10 (Director-General), Byran Dai '11 (Administration), Anusha Tomar '11 (Business), Elena Butler '10 (Comptroller), Nara Lee '11 (Substantive Support), Reema Shah '11 (General Assembly), Jerry Kung '11 (Economic and Social Council), and Alec Barrett (Specialized Agencies).[5]

[edit] Senior Staff

The senior staff, like the secretariat, can be split into executive and substantive staffers.

On the executive side, senior staff are the direct deputies of their respective USG. Each organ has several senior staff filling various responsibilities:

Director-General Organ:

  • Deputy-Director-General: General assistant to the DG on hotel and tech related issues. Officially in charge of the conference when the Secretariat is in meetings or otherwise unavailable.
  • Senior Director of Security: Manages security staff and operations.
  • Director of Technology: Manages computer labs and provides technical support.
  • Director of Special Projects: Occasionally appointed to work on long term conference related projects.

The administration organ has several directors of administration who are the immediate assistants to the USG and who respond to questions about the conference and manage conference registration, and the business organ similarly has several directors of business, responsible for ad sales and conference amenities like catering. The comptroller organ has no staff.

On the substantive side, senior staff consist of committee directors, who are the substantive authorities for each committee and prepare the study guides that serve as the foundational documents for delegate preparation, and crisis directors, who coordinate crisis scenarios on continual crisis committees.

The substantive support organ includes committee directors, directors of substantive support who handle presentations, and chargés d'affairs who are the primary point of contact for faculty advisers.

[edit] Junior Staff

Again, junior staff vary from organ to organ, and can be split into executive and substantive staffers.

On the executive side, each organ has specialized assistant directors (ADs):

  • the DG organ has several ADs of technology and security,
  • the administration organ has several ADs of administration,
  • the business organ has several ADs of business,

and each of these ADs assist their respective senior staff and USG with their duties.

On the substantive side:

  • moderators moderate debate and enforce the rules of procedure, and
  • assistant directors prepare supplemental research and assist committee directors with running each committee

The substantive support organ has similar assistants to the committee directors.

[edit] Awards

Like most Model UN conferences, HMUN recognizes exceptional delegates and schools with awards at the end of the conference. Awards are given to the delegates who demonstrate strong preparation, excellent speaking skills, adherence to national policy, and exceptional abilities of compromise and negotiation, and they are awarded by the directors of each committee. The number of awards on a committee varies by size, but each committee gives out at least one of each of the following awards:

  • Best Delegate
  • Outstanding Delegate
  • Honorable Mention

Unlike many conferences, HMUN does not give Verbal Commendations.

Based on the number delegates receiving awards, awards are then given to the delegations that represent the best collection of delegates. The delegation awards, as well as their recipients at HMUN 2008, are:

[edit] Harvard National Model United Nations

Harvard National Model United Nations or HNMUN is the longest running college-level Model United Nations simulation in the world and among the largest in the United States.[6] HNMUN is an annual four day event held in February, composed of nearly three thousand university students of which almost half tend to be international students. The conference is held exclusively at the prestigious Boston Park Plaza Hotel in downtown Boston. Next year's conference will be held February 11-14, 2010.

Awards are conferred upon individual delegates in their respective committees and to delegations in the categories of best small, best large, and best international delegation.

Delegation winners for the 2009 conference were:

Best Small Delegation United States Military Academy at West Point representing Kenya.

Best Large Delegation Yale University representing France..

Outstanding Large Delegation University of Chicago representing the People's Republic of China

Best International Delegation United Netherlands representing the United States of America.

HNMUN was first run in 1955, ten years after the formation of the real United Nations.

[edit] Logistics

HNMUN is host to about 3000 university students from over 30 countries and so requires a large amount of planning by the Secretariat and staff hosting the event. Planning for the following year's conference starts as soon as the current one ends. Topics for debate must be chosen early so that study guides may be prepared and delegates may research their topics. Study guides are written by directors over summer and assistant directors come on board to write updates and provide support to the directors starting in October. The Secretariat works throughout the year on aspects including delegate recruiting and conference logistical planning. The Secretariat is also responsible for long-term strategic planning for the conference.

[edit] Secretariat

As with HMUN, the Secretariat oversees the administration of the conference. The Secretary-General is similarly elected, and appoints his or her Secretariat in coordination with the Secretary-General of HMUN. There are nine secretariat members: the Secretary-General, who is responsible for the conference as a whole, the Director-General, who is the administrative head of the conference, and seven Under-Secretaries-General in the various branches of the conference: administration, business, delegate relations, finance, and the three substantive organs, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Councils, and the Specialized Agencies.

The Secretary-General of HNMUN 2010 is April Qian '10, and her Secretariat includes Sanjay Gandhi '10 (Director-General), Danielle Lee '11 (Administration), Jennifer McKee '11 (Business), Sisi Pan '11 (Delegate Relations), Edmund Soriano '11 (Finance), Cansu Aydede '11 (General Assembly), Kerry Yang '11 (Economic and Social Council and Regional Bodies), and Ricky Hanzich '11 (Specialized Agencies).[7]

[edit] Committee Structure

Model UNs follow the general structure of the UN but for logistical and educational reasons, the structure differs somewhat. HNMUN's structure is similar to most Model UNs but there are a few important differences.

  • Only one resolution may be passed on each topic. This is meant to stress consensus and compromise between delegates. This is achieved by the fact that:
  • Resolutions cannot be sponsored
  • There are no "friendly" or "hostile" amendments, as there are no sponsors with whom to confer

[edit] Harvard Inter-Collegiate Model United Nations

Harvard Inter-collegiate Model United Nations (ICMUN) is Harvard University's traveling Model UN team. The team is composed of about 60 Harvard undergraduates who alternate attending conferences across the United States and the world. The team is currently led by three head delegates. These include the two program heads, Upasana Unni '11 and Carlos Bortoni '11, as well as the Director of Delegate Education, Jeff Phaneuf '10. The outgoing program heads are Philip John Kenner '09 and Vikas Lonakadi '10. In 2008-2009 academic year, the team attended conferences at Boston University, Georgetown, Columbia, Yale, UPenn, McGill, and the University of Chicago.

[edit] Harvard International Review

[edit] Harvard Program in International Education

[edit] International Relations on Campus

[edit] Related

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin - Public Browse and Search
  2. ^ http://www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/dpingo-directory.asp?RegID=NA&CnID=US&AcID=-1&kw=&NGOID=4035
  3. ^ http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=491141
  4. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE7DB1139F931A15751C0A966958260
  5. ^ http://www.harvardmun.org
  6. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE7DB1139F931A15751C0A966958260
  7. ^ Harvard National Model United Nations
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