Ad Hoc Committee of the Secretary General
Worried about your Ad Hoc? Take a break with some puzzles!
I wonder if there’s something to fill in the blanks—or wait, do these all sound like something familiar (#??????)?
Topic Summary
Note: This will be the first double delegate Ad Hoc committee in the history of Harvard National Model United Nations. We highly recommend that only experienced delegates consider this committee, and be prepared for a committee with unparalleled challenge and innovation.
The Ad Hoc committee for HNMUN 2024 will be one of the most exciting and challenging experiences for our delegates. In the style of the Ad Hoc, the topic of the committee will not be revealed until delegates walk into the first committee session, making for one the most competitive and challenging formats a Model United Nations committee can take. Nowhere will you find a more worthwhile place to test your skills and abilities. In particular, HNMUN 2024 is excited to unveil their greatest challenge yet: the first double delegate Ad Hoc committee in the history of the collegiate Model United Nations circuit. In addition to the regular skills, teamwork and communication will be essential for this committee. The Ad Hoc will provide delegates with unparalleled innovation, and we ask that all delegates who are considering the Ad Hoc committee be prepared for a challenge unlike any other in the history of Model United Nations.
Director’s Letter
Ad-hoc-ers,
It’s an honor to welcome you to the ad-hoc Committee of the 70th iteration of Harvard National Model United Nations.
My name is Omar Darwish, a board member of the Intercollegiate Model United Nation team pursuing a double degree in Economics and Government. I am a sophomore at the college originally hailing from Queens, New York City. At Harvard, I am involved in not only competing with ICMUN, but also staffing both our collegiate and high school conferences. When I am not busy MUN-ing, I work at the Students Organization center. In my free time, you can find me playing chess or watching the latest fixtures of Premier League matches.
Ad-hoc is often characterized by its unique, fast-paced and hellish experiences. This ad-hoc will not fall short of these expectations, nor will it disappoint even the most adventurous of delegates. When all the cards are on the table, all hands are shown, it will be down to you to piece it all together. And if we do our jobs well, you will find yourself asking “how did we end up here?” or “why didn’t I just stay home?” Regardless, by the end of the weekend you will have a memorable experience to rant to your parents about.
In preparation, re-play all your MUN experience in an imaginary cinematic montage for what's to come is a strange but truly fantastic ride, as all ad-hocs turn out to be. Wishing you all the best and excited to see you soon.
May the force be with you,
Omar Darwish
Dearest Delegates,
Hello everyone! I am so excited to welcome you all to the 70th session of Harvard National Model United Nations!
My name is Sophia Mora-Ortega and I absolutely cannot wait to serve as your Director for this ad-hoc committee! A little about me is that I am from warm and sunny Fort Lauderdale, Florida and am currently a sophomore here at Harvard. I am studying Social Studies with a secondary in Environmental Science and Public Policy. I love international affairs, philosophy, and all things related to people’s interactions!
Last year, I staffed both HMUN (our high school conference) and HNMUN (you guys!) and am thrilled to be able to do it again this year! I am on our traveling MUN team (ICMUN <3) and am a member of our training staff. This is currently my 9th year of doing this wonderful activity competitively! Outside of all the time I spend doing everything MUN related, I am also a tour guide and write for one of our on campus newspapers.
As an ad-hoc, be prepared to stay on your toes and be pushed to the limits of your wildest imagination. With no prior knowledge of the topic, the playing field is leveled. It all will come down to your ability to adapt to whatever circumstance we put you wonderful delegates in! We look forward to the creativity you will display and dazzle us with. Forget about the box, and think way outside of it. This committee will be a wild ride, the most important piece of advice I can give to all of you is to expect the unexpected…
Eagerly awaiting meeting you all.
Best,
Sophia Mora-Ortega
Ad Hoc Director
Harvard National Model United Nations 2024
Crisis Director’s Letter
Dearest Delegates,
I could not be more excited to welcome you all to the 70th Annual Session of Harvard National Model United Nations, and—more importantly!—to the Ad Hoc Committee of the Secretary-General!
My name is Calvin Osborne, a junior at Harvard College studying a joint concentration in mathematics and philosophy. I was raised in Chicago, Illinois—but by Chicago, I really mean the suburbs about an hour north of Chicago. I myself am a “forever MUN-ner:” I started competing as a high school student, and I have since continued as a competitor on the collegiate circuit, a community which has truly become my home in college.
If you know anything about me, you probably know that I compete in a lot of Ad Hoc committees—at the time of writing this letter at the end of my sophomore year, I have competed in seven(!) to this day, as well as directing Harvard’s Ad Hoc committee last year (quite the Arthurian, Catan experience!). On Harvard’s Model UN team, people say that I am stuck in “Ad Hoc jail.” However, there is a reason that I keep returning back to this style of committee. There is an unmatched challenge to regularly competing in Ad Hoc committees: not only is the topic of the Ad Hoc unknown until the start of the committee, but the style, dynamics, and procedures of these committees are always changing.
In every Ad Hoc committee that I compete in, I am honored to engage in the world, story, and vision of the staffing team. There is nothing quite like the feeling of learning the topic of an Ad Hoc committee, and I am forever excited to learn what innovation is being brought to the table. It is for this exact reason that I could not be more honored to be part of crafting the first double delegate Ad Hoc committee in the history of the collegiate Model United Nations circuit: unparalleled teamwork, communication, and cooperation will be essential for success.
I implore that each delegate comes into this committee with the expectation that this will be one of the most dynamic experiences you could imagine for Model United Nations. I have been working with this team and the Under-Secretary-General for over a year to craft this committee, and we could not be more committed to ensure its success. This committee is not for the faint of heart: come in ready for a challenging experience unlike any other in Model United Nations.
With all this being said, I cannot wait to meet you all soon at the beginning of next year. If you are prepared to open yourself up to the world of this Ad Hoc committee, you are bound for a memorable experience. My only regret is that I won’t be able to compete in this committee myself!
Safe travels—both to you and your partner!—and with the best of luck,
Calvin Osborne
Director, The Ad Hoc Committee of the Secretary-General
Harvard National Model United Nations 2024
Dear Delegates:
It is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to HNMUN 2024 and to serve as one of your Crisis Directors for this upcoming weekend.
My name is Alexander Glynn, and I am a senior at the college studying Applied Mathematics with a secondary in Government. I have been involved in Model United Nations for far too many years, starting out as a wide-eyed 7th grader in a UNSC. Since then, I have both competed at and staffed many conferences, with a few highlights including being the Crisis Director of Designated Survivor at HNMUN 2023, directing Advisors to the Antipope the year prior, serving as the Under-Secretary-General for the Specialized Agencies at HMUN 2023 (our high school sister conference), and being the current Director-General of HMUN India, one of our international conferences. I deeply enjoy competing in crisis committees and, despite not being an Ad-Hoc delegate myself, am honored to serve as Co-Crisis Director for this one. I know I will be impressed by both the level of debate and the creativity you will bring.
Outside of MUN, I am involved with research into fair Machine Learning and am a member of the Harvard Public Opinion Project. In my free time, or what part of it is not sucked up by MUN, I enjoy trying new food, travel, rock climbing, board games, and running.
Alongside Calvin, who is an Ad-Hoc delegate of the highest caliber, my successor at HMUN, and an evil genius, we are so excited to deliver you the crisis components of what will surely be an unforgettable, unprecedented, and (slightly) unhinged committee. And I know the front-room will be well-served in the hands of Omar and Sophia.
Though vague implications of chaos to come are more Calvin’s style than mine, I do want to highlight that I greatly appreciate when delegates bring specific actions they take in the front-room to back-room and vis-versa. The weaving of the multiple threads – your front-room, your back-room, and your interactions with others – that occur in a crisis committee into a cohesive story of success is what I expect to see. As a crisis director, my job is to test the limits of your ability to adapt, to highlight the parts of your work that would support engaging debate, and to make sure at every moment there is something more to work with.
I look forward to meeting you all at the conference, and seeing what you can do.
Sincerely,
Alexander Glynn