Columbia International Relations Council and Association
Columbia International Relations Council and Association is a student club that allows students to debate in an environment simulating the United Nations. This allows students to explore international politics from a variety of angles. CIRCA consists of the Traveling Team, which holds a strong reputation on the national circuit with its traveling team winning 5 team awards and over 40 individual awards in the 2006-2007 academic year, its prestigious high school conference hosted on campus, its International Relation Events Chapter (which hosts events with numerous reputable speakers on campus), CMUNCE (Columbia Model United Nations Conference and Exposition), and its expanding college conference, CMUNNY (Columbia Model United Nations in New York).
CIRCA is the foremost International Relations Chapter on campus, and deals with all major things that relate to International Relations from speakers to debate.
Activities
- A CIRCA Traveling Team delegation goes to several intercollegiate Model UN conferences every year, where they participate in committee simulations. During the 2006-2007 academic year, CMUN attended 8 conferences and won 4 "best small delegation" awards, one "outstanding small delegation" award, and over 40 individual awards. In the coming year, CMUN anticipates going to conferences at Yale, Georgetown, Penn, McGill, Princeton, Harvard, UChicago, World MUN, UC Berkeley, and UVA.
- CIRCA also allows students to participate in Columbia's student-run high school conference, CMUNCE, and its college conference, CMUNNY.
- CIRCA hosts Educational Simulations (ESims), a day-long Model UN conference which allows New York City high school students to debate for free.
- CIRCA hosts study breaks, dinners, and other social events at which the club members of the club can socialize with each other.
History
CIRCA is the new name change for the previous Columbia Model United Nations (CMUN). As CMUN had expanded drastically year after year for a few short years, in 2007 CMUN decided that it would only be fair to expand to all students interested in International Relations. Therefore, CMUN changed its name to CIRCA (Columbia International Relations Council and Association). The very first new branch intiated in CIRCA history was the Interational Relations Events branch, which has been bringing multiple prominent speakers from the Foreign Affairs community for the 2007-2008 school year.
The members of the CIRCA Traveling Team believe that the 2007-2008 school year was especially significant for their club. In 2007-2008 the CIRCA Traveling Team (formerly known as Columbia Model United Nations) revived their traveling team abroad, which went on to attend more conferences and win more awards than any other school that year. The club also hosts a Model UN college conference at Columbia, called "Columbia Model United Nations in New York" (CMUNNY). Finally, the club introduced the Educational Simulations program (ESims) described above. The club hopes to continue hosting such programs in the coming years.
Traveling team
The Columbia Model United Nations Traveling Team holds a reputation across the different conferences of the world. As the 2006-2007 school year saw an explosion of skill and talent with the new incoming class, along with the continuing legacy of strong leadership, the traveling team became one of the best in the nation. Among the 5 team delegation awards (4 best team delegations), there was a total of over 40 individual awards.
Team Awards 2006-2007
Conference Name |
Team Award |
National Collegiate Security Conference (NCSC) |
Best Small Delegation |
University of Pennsylvania Model United Nations Conference (UPMUNC) |
Outstanding Small Delegation |
McGill Model United Nations Assembly |
Best Small Delegation |
Asian International Model United Nations (AIMUN), Peking University, China |
Best Delegation |
Chicago Model United Nations Conference (ChoMUN) |
Best Small Delegation |
Expected Conference Schedule for 2007-2008
Conference Name |
Location |
Date |
National Collegiate Security Conference (NCSC) |
Georgetown University, Washington D.C. |
September 27-30, 2007 |
Security Council Simulation at Yale (SCSY) |
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut |
October 25-28, 2007 |
University of Pennsylvania Model United Nations Conference (UPMUNC) |
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
November 8-11, 2007 |
McGill Model United Nations Assembly |
McGill University, Montreal, Canada |
Spring 2008 |
Harvard National Model United Nation (HNMUN) |
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts |
February 14-17, 2008 |
Princeton Interactive Crisis Simulation (PICSim) |
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey |
February 28 - March 2, 2008 |
World Model United Nations (WorldMUN) |
Pueblo, Mexico |
March 24-28, 2008 |
Berkeley Model United Nations (BMUN) |
UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California |
March 14-16, 2008 |
Chicago Model United Nations (ChoMUN) |
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois |
Spring 2008 |
The club's awards from the 2005-2006 year are listed at their Facebook group.
Events
Columbia Internationals Relation Council and Association has brought in a number of different prominent speakers that relate to International Relations.
Sponsored Events by CIRCA
Event Name |
Speakers |
Details |
A Discussion with Samantha Job - Monday, Nov. 26th |
Samantha Job |
Samantha Job is the First Secretary, political, Permanent Mission of the UK to the UN. She will be part of the series " |
A Dialogue with Noted Author, Journalist and Diplomat Shashi Tharoor - Nov 18th, 2007 |
Shashi Tharoor |
Shashi Tharoor is the Former Under-Secretary of the United Nations and Current Chairman of Afras Venture and Author of The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cell-Phone |
Speaker: Ambassador Marc Wall, Nov 6th, 2007 |
Ambassador Marc Wall |
Marc M. Wall is Diplomat-in-Residence at the City College of New York. A Senior Foreign Service Officer with rank of Minister Counselor, he was U.S. Ambassador to Chad for over 3 years in Darfur. He has participated in extensive work through his many tours throughout Africa. Will be discussing also jobs/careers in State Department. |
CMUNCE
The Columbia Model United Nations Conference and Exposition is an annual four-day international affairs conference for high school students, which will be held during January 17-20, 2008. It will take place at Columbia University, NYC. CMUNCE is perhaps one of the most significant Model UN conferences in the country.
For more information, please check www.cmunce.org
CMUNNY
The second annual Columbia University Model United Nations in New York (CMUNNY) conference will be held from Thursday, October 23, 2008 - Sunday, to Sunday, October 26t, 2008 on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University, NYC.
For more information, please check www.cmunny.org