Generally Speaking: Malczyk prepares GA staff for NAMUN 2015

Just weeks before the start of North American Model United Nations (NAMUN) 2015, Director of General Assemblies (GA) Brian Malczyk expressed faith in his team.

“I am confident that GAs will be ready for the conference on February 19,” said Malczyk at a January 21 training session. “Any minor kinks they still have will be worked out at mock NAMUN.” A mock NAMUN session was held January 30, during which Malczyk told The Emissary he was pleased with their progress.

The session began with a shoot by photographer Tina Zhou, followed by a dry run of a committee on international peace-keeping operations. “We’ve been endowed with very knowledgeable staff members,” Malczyk said.

The delegates demonstrated an impressive grounding in international politics, frequently referencing relevant current events to buttress their points. Malczyk led by example, starting and driving numerous discussions when the team fell quiet, speaking for both sides of some arguments.

A few of the kinks mentioned by the director managed to surface during the January 21 training session, however. “I don't even know where Yemen is,” exclaimed Kristen Shi at one point, in what was possibly a deft satire of U.S. foreign policy-makers (Shi was playing the delegate from the United States). Shi is the chair for Disarmament and International Security (DISEC).

Asked to describe what participants should look forward to, Malczyk replied, “we’ll see a lot of debate in the legal committee for sure because it’s on a topic that’s been neglected in model UN's: Drone warfare. We expect lots of exciting discussions on that.”

Shi, a first-year student, expressed similarly high hopes for NAMUN 2015's GAs, praising the Conference's logistics.

"I'm in all four of the model UN organizations, and I can say that NAMUN is definitely the most organized," she said. "You always know who to report to."