Model United Nations Club Hosts PEAMUN XII

By Otto Do, Gracie Keyt, Amy Lum and Erin Sackey

Three hundred delegates from sixteen schools and three countries gathered virtually on Sunday, Nov. 8, for Phillips Exeter Academy’s twelfth annual Model United Nations Conference (PEAMUN XII). This year, PEAMUN featured Obama administration cabinet member and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Samantha Power as the keynote speaker.

Due to the pandemic, the typically in-person conference was conducted over Zoom. This shift, however, provided unique opportunities. MUN conferences typically charge up to a hundred dollars per delegate; the virtual platform allowed Exeter to charge only five dollars per delegate, with fee waivers available. Due to this cost factor and the elimination of travel, more schools were able to participate.

Unlike other years, the MUN Board elected to donate all proceeds to charities and organizations, such as the Jimmy Fund (community-based fundraising events that aid the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston), Lebanese Red Cross, Uyghur Human Rights Project, Equal Justice Initiative (a non-profit that provides free legal aid to wrongly convicted prisoners) and Children International (a global non-profit that helps impoverished children through early intervention). The Lebanese Red Cross was chosen in light of the Beirut bombing and political instability in the country.

During the remote spring term, co-heads Noah James, Stephen McNulty, Alana Yang, Phil Horrigan and Nahla Owens hosted mock committees with club members to prepare delegates for the conference, using a combination of Zoom and Discord for these sessions.

The MUN Board also met weekly for the duration of the summer to outline initiatives to make the conference a “more inclusive, safe space for students of all backgrounds,” James said. “One such step was creating a comprehensive PEAMUN Code of Conduct, with input from the OMA Team and Dr. Bramlett.” These steps followed up on racist incidents reported on the Instagram page @BlackatExeter. 

The Code of Conduct prohibited attacks on personhood or acts of cultural appropriation including but not limited to adoption of accents, appropriative use of cultural attire and use of slurs. Prior to starting committee sessions, students read and agreed to these rules. The document also contained reporting mechanisms for microaggressions, personal attacks and other rules violations that staff members were familiarized with during a diversity, equity and inclusion training session before the conference.

Attending delegates were divided into five Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Committees and five Crisis Committees. In ECOSOC Committees, delegates discussed issues of global importance, while in Crisis Committees, they dealt with evolving situations. ECOSOC Committees discussed the Yemen crisis, artificial intelligence rights, incarceration during the coronavirus pandemic, Latin American Spring and 2030: The Next Frontier. The Crisis Committees were The Five Families (mafia), 1988 Mexican Elections, Post-Apartheid South Africa, Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) and the Lion King.

During the two committee sessions, which lasted for three hours each, delegates utilized breakout rooms for unmoderated caucuses (unsupervised sessions for informal discussion) and Zoom’s “raise hand” function before speaking during the main session.

Students held various opinions about this year’s conference; some suffered from Zoom fatigue and missed meeting participants in-person, while others appreciated the less crowded atmosphere, increased speaking opportunities and ability to move between committees efficiently.

Many students noted that keynote speaker Power was a highlight of the event. “Most Model UN conferences don’t bother with getting great keynote speakers, but with our conference fully online amid the pandemic, we felt that we needed someone to draw students into participating in a day-long online event,” James said.

“Not even HMUN or BOSMUN or DARTMUN, incredible conferences run by college MUN clubs with far more resources and people than we have, were able to get Samantha Power,” McNulty said.

Her appearance at the conference’s opening ceremonies consisted of a brief reading from her Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, The Education of an Idealist, as well as a half-hour long question and answer session with James. James’ interview touched on a variety of topics, including the role of activism in national security, the leadership of the United States in upholding human rights, Power’s work as a war correspondent and her experience as one of just thirty-seven female ambassadors to the UN.

McNulty elaborated on the contents of Power’s reading. “[Power] talked a lot about her relationship with Vitaly Churkin, [who was] at the time the Russian Ambassador,” McNulty said. “Her reading focused on what it means to have personal relationships with those who don’t share your values—after all, Power had to confront Churkin plenty of times at the UN herself.”

“Especially in the political climate that we’re in right now, we don’t think about compromise all that much,” senior and The Bromfield School delegate Olivia Lindo said. “I imagine [that] within the caucus they had many disagreements, but to show that they ultimately had a really friendly relationship… was nice to hear and think about.” 

“[Power] considered and took seriously each question that was posed to her,” Club Adviser and German Instructor Marianne Zwicker said. “She seemed to give answers that demonstrated deep self-reflection and, at the same time, an ability to relate to her audience—primarily high school students interested in international relations and the UN.”

Upper William Park agreed. “It made our Model UN conference feel rooted in realism,” Park said. Park appreciated “seeing the world we were about to pretend to be in in its actuality.”

James was grateful that Power donated her time to appear at the event. “Interviewing her that morning was probably the highlight of my year,” James said. “They say meeting our heroes doesn’t always live up to our expectations, but speaking with Ambassador Power was everything I hoped it would be and more.”

Despite the compromises of holding an online conference, Lindo said she enjoyed the experience. “PEAMUN did a great job integrating technology, especially with the implementation of Discord. PEAMUN should set a precedent [for other schools] because the whole event functioned really smoothly.”