By PHIL FIJALKOVICH

Two weeks ago CWRUMUN attended the Harvard National Model UN Conference, representing Germany. This was our best assignment to date, as it put us in the elite group of Western countries. Last year, we represented India, and, years before, we had Kazakhstan and Somaliland (which I don't even think is a country). Given this fast climb up the MUN ranks, Harvard certainly respects the talent we have brought in the past, and our expectations were high going into the conference.

We sent a team of 21 this year, which was the second largest yet (24 last year). Unfortunately, the club did not receive many awards this time around. The only award winner was Josh Cherry with an excellent award on the European Union: Council of Ministers committee. This soured the weekend somewhat, as many more delegates on the team than just Josh felt they had deserved awards. Myself and Joe particularly got screwed beyond belief out of an award. This more than likely may have just been an unlucky year, but, as always, talk of not going to Harvard next year arose. This will, of course, be debated further next semester when the time approaches to send in our registration.

Because we only had one award winner, we were not eligible for a team award. Yale won first place, even though they had far less awards than second place, Universidad Catolica Andres Bello from the land of plenty, Venezuela. If I remember correctly, the third place school was Queens University from Canada. If we return next year, we will surely spout some nationalistic rhetoric and return the team awards to American schools.

On a more positive note, we did send several new delegates that learned the ropes of MUN at one of the most competitive conferences in the world. They held their own at Harvard, so they will undoubtedly be able to perform well at the other conferences we attend. We also only sent 2 or 3 senior delegates, so, once again, we will be returning a number of experienced delegates next year.