Despite a disturbance involving the intoxication of two high school delegates, The Georgetown International Relations Association’s 52nd North American Invitational Model United Nations Conference, which took place from Feb. 12 to 15, succeeded as the largest in history.
The alleged incident took place on the night of Feb. 14 before the start of the planned two-and-a-half-hour delegate dance. When NAIMUN staff discovered the issue, they immediately ended the dance at around 11 p.m., one-and-a-half hours into the event. Secretary General Andrew Lyu (SFS ’16) and Executive Director Aaron Lewis (MSB ’16) decided to stop the proceedings to ensure the safety of the other delegates.
“This was an isolated incident of two delegates who were severely intoxicated,” GIRA Chairman and CEO Pavan Rajgopal (SFS ’14) wrote in an email. “The safety of other participants was never at risk.”
Lyu and Lewis both declined to comment on the specifics of the situation, including possible punishments, due to privacy and health concerns for those affected. In addition, neither would identify the names or delegation of the intoxicated persons.
“Thank you NAIMUN attendees for your patience and understanding tonight. On the evening of Feb. 14, 2015, there was an isolated incident of intoxication,” Lyu wrote in a statement posted on NAIMUN’s website that night. “Here at NAIMUN, our top priority is to ensure the safety of all delegates; therefore, the executive decision was made to end the delegate dance early. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. The situation has since been under control, and there are no further safety concerns. We thank you again for your patience.”
NAIMUN Director of Programming Cheryl Lau (SFS ’16) would not go into detail about the incident. She did, however, emphasize that the attendees were never in harm’s way and were not affected by what occurred.
“The measures we took to cut short the dance and implement curfew right away was done smoothly,” Lau wrote. “Moderators and delegates understood the necessity of the measures we took and were pleased with the overall quality of the conference.”
Lewis said that the conference was a success despite the setback due to the hard work put in by Georgetown staffers, who numbered around 200.
“We have good conferences and bad conferences,” Lewis said. “That usually correlates to the staff that we have. This year, we were fortunate enough to have an amazing staff who was diligent and on top of their game and I think that’s reflected in the quality of the conference.”
This year, staffers organized visits to various government agencies and local landmarks around the city for delegates to attend as a bonus for attending the conference. They included tours of the White House, Pentagon, Capital, Supreme Court and Smithsonian Museums.
“A year’s worth of time goes into preparing for the whole [conference],” Lewis said. “[And] all of our programming went really well, that was a huge point for us.”
NAIMUN’s organizers ran a program to collect money for Doctors Without Borders, which raised over $15,000 for the charity. Merchandising sales, which help fund the conference, were over $18,000. Lewis credits these to the large number of delegates that were able to attend NAIMUN.
In recent years, the conference had not reached its full capacity because of weather-related events. The 2014 conference faced heavy snowstorms, which caused one-third of the 150 attending delegations to arrive late, missing the first committee session.
This year, the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue filled with 3,000 students and teachers.
“Past years have been difficult because there have been snowstorms and that hindered us,” Lewis said. “But this year, everyone who signed up for the conference attended the conference, literally every single person.”
The planning for NAIMUN next year will begin in early March after new elections for the secretary general and executive director. However, Lewis does not expect many changes, as the format of the conference will not change.
“I have ideas on what to do differently, what to improve, what to change, so that’s all in my head,” Lewis said. “[But] year over year, the conference is always very similar.”
