The 41st annual Yale Model United United Nations (YMUN XLI) — one of the world’s most prestigious academic simulations of the United Nations — will take place on Yale’s campus Jan. 22-25.
“Learn Today, Lead Tomorrow” is the theme of this year’s conference, which will be attended by over 1,500 high school students from over 40 countries, including Russia, Turkey, New Zealand, Honduras, Jordan, and South Korea.
“Our theme was chosen to highlight the message that our conference broadens the minds of our delegates and prepares them to become global citizens, not only through learning about pressing issues of the 21st century, but also through interacting with peers and discovering more about themselves,” note the conference organizers.
YMUN is distinctive from other university-run high school MUN conferences in that it is held on campus while classes are in session, allowing students to experience Yale’s academic and extracurricular life through events and activities such as the Yale Day program, which features master lectures by noted Yale professors. During Yale Day, students can also attend a college admissions panel; workshops run by some of Yale’s undergraduate student organizations; campus tours; and a lunch event with Yale faculty members. “We devote significant effort to giving delegates an opportunity to experience all that Yale has to offer,” say the conference organizers.
Another event planned for YMUN XLI is the Global Exchange Program, designed to further encourage delegates’ interest in international relations outside of the committee sessions. Forty students are accepted into the application-based program, which aims to help delegates grapple with major issues and fundamental leadership questions. This year’s Global Exchange Program is focused on the theme “The Quest for Self-Determination” and will focus on issues ranging from the Arab Spring to the series of referenda taking place in Europe. The half-day program will include lectures and seminars run by Yale faculty members.
For the first time in its history, YMUN is offering financial aid to international delegates. Another first for YMUN XLI is the introduction of a new parliamentary procedure that combines two contemporary procedural styles — UNA-USA, used in the United States circuit, and the THIMUN/International procedure. Developed by Miranda Melcher ’16, this new approach is called the Hybrid Procedure and has only been used once before, at YMUN Korea in 2014.
“This method combines the best of the UNA-USA style of Model UN, with its emphasis on impromptu and eloquent speaking, and the THIMUN rules that allow for high quality content of resolutions and efficient pace of debate,” say the organizers.
“Another exciting aspect of this year’s YMUN is the diverse set of committee topics — everything from Churchill’s War Cabinet to antibiotics resistance and the World Health Organization — and the speakers who will come to committee sessions to offer expert opinions to delegates about the subjects that they are researching,” note the organizers.
For more information, email Charlotte Clinger, under secretary general of outreach, atymun.outreach@yale.edu.