I would like to welcome you to the Second Continental Congress of the newly-created Joint Crisis Committee between the British Crown and the Second Continental Congress. I hope to make this committee fun as well as insightful, and I am sure that our excellent staff will help make UPMUNC 2008 a great experience. The committee will be as successful as the amount of work and preparation you put in, and the events leading up to potential military engagement will be affected by your decisions as a group.
About myself, I am a member of the Class of 2009 in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, majoring in Chemical Engineering. I was born in Fayetteville, right outside of Syracuse, New York and have lived there my whole life. In terms of Model UN experience, I have participated since freshman year of High School, and was the Vice Chair of the Committee on Science and Technology at UPMUNC 2007.
The important part of the committee is not to focus on the decisions made historically, but to analyze why those decisions were made. You must decide if, knowing what you know now, you would make the same decisions.
In order to make sure you are adequately prepared for committee, and to help the staff facilitate a balanced debate, I will require a position paper from each delegate. The papers should be up to a page in length and focused on the issues to be discussed in committee.
If you have any questions about the committee, UPMUNC, or anything else, please do no hesitate to contact me via email. I look forward to seeing all of you in November!
Jordan Mendel
mendel@seas.upenn.edu