If you are having any difficulty using this website, please contact the Help Desk at Help@nullHofstra.edu or 516-463-7777 or Student Access Services at SAS@nullhofstra.edu or 516-463-7075. Please identify the webpage address or URL and the specific problems you have encountered and we will address the issue.

Skip to Main Content
Model UN

Contemporary Crisis: Joint Forum to Resolve the Conflict in Syria

Syria Conflict Background Guide

At the 2018 Hofstra University Model United Nations Conference, the delegates to the Joint Forum to Resolve the Conflict in Syria will each represent a major actor in the Syrian Civil War, such as the Assad Government, Russia, the US, Iran and others, in an effort to resolve the ever-rising tensions caused by the Syrian conflict throughout the Middle East. Delegates will need to be prepared to consider the military, economic, political and social impact this crisis has caused, and how their actions in this committee will affect not only the people within this region, but likewise the international community more generally. In order to realistically involve countries outside of the Middle East, this committee will be connected to the Council of the European Union, which will be debating the refugee crisis. The delegates in this committee will be reacting to real time decisions made by this Council.


Kali McCauley

Dear Delegates,

As the chair of the Contemporary Crisis Committee, I want to welcome you to our Model United Nations Conference at Hofstra University. I want to introduce myself and give you some information about myself and my history as both a delegate and chair in Model UN.

I am currently in my third and final year here at Hofstra as a Chemistry major with a music minor. I'm also in the Legal Education Accelerated Program (LEAP), which is a three plus three accelerated program for a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Doctor of Law (JD) degree. On campus, I have been actively involved in the Hofstra University Model United Nations club as well as the Student Members of the American Chemical Society (SMACS). My freshman year I was the Secretary of the Model UN club at Hofstra and last year I spent the first semester as Treasurer for the club before being elected to the position of Vice President for the second semester. This year, I was elected to be President of the club on campus. I have participated in the last two conferences here at Hofstra as both a dais and a chair. My freshman year, I was the dais for the Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC), which was my first conference in college. Last year, I designed an African Union committee to discuss and debate the topics of Somalia and Gender and Sexual Based Violence in Armed Conflict. I have also been lucky enough to participate in my high school's Model UN program for all four years as many of you are now. During my Model UN high school career, I participated in approximately twenty conferences ranging from my own high school's conference to conferences at UC Berkeley, Rutgers University, and the International Technical Institute in Geneva, Switzerland. I also chaired two other committees in high school, African Union and the UN Security Council as well as vice-chairing two DISEC committees in high school.

Through Model UN, I have researched a variety of projects ranging from Jammu and Kashmir, the drug war in Mexico, and the Israeli Palestinian conflict. This year, I wanted to design a crisis committee that is important currently to the international community. The topic for this crisis is the conflict in Syria, which we will be simulating as a committee as representatives of various countries and organizations involved in this topic. This committee will be especially unique, as we will be working with the Council of the European Union committee for the second half of the conference to get real time reactions to refugee movement and external or internal attacks by the members involved. This will not fundamentally change the timeline of the committee, but it means that in the second half of the committee, we will be getting real time updates on decisions from the Council of the European Union that are reactions to what we do in our crisis. A committee like this has not been done yet at Hofstra, so I will be counting on all of you to do your research and to bring your 'a-game' to the committee. I'm anxious to meet all of you, and embark on an interesting and exciting HUMUNC!


Your Chair,

Kali McCauley

Kali McCauley

Contemporary Crisis Director – Kelly Castellanos

Kelly Castellanos