The BMUN conference is first and foremost designed as an educational experience for high school students. The conference is meant to provide a platform for delegates to realize their potential in public speaking and policy debate, and to spread awareness of critical international issues. With these considerations in mind, we recognize delegates, schools, and clubs alike that have significantly contributed to the conference and have demonstrated skill and expertise in exercising their diplomacy.

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There are three types of individual awards that delegates may be eligible for: Best Delegate, Outstanding, and Commendation. Each committee dias, led by the Head Chair, will distribute the individual awards to delegates based on their committee performance, delegate pairs will be evaluated together. Exemplary delegates are distinguished by:

• Quality of research, as reflected in their position papers and debate;
• Quality of amendments, resolutions, and proposed solutions;
• Ability to accurately represent their nation’s interests and policies;
• Diplomacy skills in building consensus and compromising with others;
• Effectiveness in working in caucus and resolution groups;
• Persuasive skill in communicating with other delegates; and,
• Responding effectively to situations of crisis.

Thereafter, delegation awards are determined by the overall performance of its’ delegates. There are three main awards delegations may be eligible for: Best School, Best Club, and Best New School. This will be calculated based on how many awards have been received by a school or club, normalized against the total number of delegations they have registered.

Berkeley Model United Nations (BMUN) is committed in all areas to providing a learning environment that is free from harassment. Harassment includes, but is not limited to, any conduct motivated by or based upon an individual's sex, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, gender identity, medical condition, physical or mental disability, marital status, or any other legally protected characteristics. Harassment of any kind is not and will not be tolerated. All participants in BMUN conferences and partner conferences, including students and advisors, are expected and required to abide by this policy.

We are also dedicated to providing a space free of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is behavior of a sexual nature that is unwelcome and offensive to the person or persons it is targeted toward. Examples of harassing behavior may include unwanted physical contact, foul language of an offensive sexual nature, sexual propositions, sexual jokes or remarks, obscene gestures, and displays of pornographic or sexually explicit pictures, drawings, or caricatures. Use of a computer system at BMUN conferences or affiliated events for the purpose of viewing, displaying, or disseminating material that is sexual in nature may also constitute harassing behavior. We at BMUN follow the California state standard for consent: affirmative consent. Consent must be affirmative, informed, explicit, and voluntary. Any act performed when one of these requirements is not met is sexual harassment.

At our delegate dance, we have elevated platforms so that our secretariat can better monitor delegate behavior, and we remind all delegates of our harassment policy before releasing them from committee on Saturday night before the dance. In addition, we use on-floor monitors with flashlights to break up large groups and make monitoring the dance more manageable.

BMUN has a zero tolerance policy for harassment of any nature. We reserve the right to contact advisors should delegates be found in suspicion of violating the harassment policy as outlined above. Delegates found in violation of this policy will NOT be welcomed back to commitee or any other BMUN-affiliated events for any part of conference and will NOT be permitted to attend any future BMUN-affiliated events. They will NOT be considered for awards and their school or club will be ineligible for school or club awards.

Violations include, but are not limited to:

• Writing of inappropriate notes, position papers, directives, resolutions, or other documents of a discriminatory or sexual nature as outlined above
• Inappropriate, unwanted touching of other delegates in committee, at the delegate dance, or at any BMUN-affiliated events
• Verbal attacks of a sexual or discriminatory nature against other delegates in committee, at the delegate dance, or at any BMUN-affiliated events

Reports to the Secretary-General will be evaluated based on this policy and action will be taken at the sole discretion of the Secretary-General. The determined outcome will first be relayed to the advisor of the delegate in question, who will go with the Secretary-General to remove the delegate from the committee room.

As one of the deliverables for the conference, all position papers will be extensively cross-referenced through various sources, both online and in-print. If there is any evidence of using the work of others without citations, the delegate(s) will not be eligible for an award. Any school that has multiple cases of plagiarism may be reconsidered for a School Delegation Award. It is the responsibility of the delegate and the advisor to ensure this does not happen.

One of the fundamental pillars of the BMUN experience is delegates engaging with each other at the conference and crafting resolutions that are uniquely tailored not only to the topic but also to each other’s positions and suggestions. Thus, our chairs will not accept any documents written prior to the conference. All resolutions and supporting materials submitted are to be written during committee sessions. If it does not seem that the contents of a document could have been feasibly written during the time allocated in conference, chairs reserve the right to question its authenticity and the resolution may be duly penalized.

This is the general policy for all committees in BMUN, regardless of its size or jurisdiction, unless explicitly stated on the individual committee’s page by the Head Chair. There may be select committees from year to year that may require delegates to do extra preparation that is to be presented in committee, such as UNHRC, the THIMUN committee for BMUN LXXI. Otherwise, there will be no exceptions.

While traditionally BMUN has been a tech-free conference, recent innovations have required us to adapt to the demands of a modern conference. Because of this, we encourage our students to bring their technological devices (these can be laptops or tablets; we discourage the use of cellphones in committee) for the purpose of resolution drafting, not for additional research in committee. Delegates found doing additional research in committee will be disqualified from awards.

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BMUN will have three types of committees:

1. technologically inclusive committees (full tech)
2. committees in which technology is only allowed for resolution writing in unmod (unmod tech), and
3. technologically exclusive committees (non-tech)

Specifically,

1. Full Tech committees WILL allow the use of technology for the purposes of collaborative resolution drafting ONLY. Delegates in these committees should save all research (such as their position paper, any notes, and any other references they wish to use in committee) in a single Google Doc. This will allow chairs to see the edit history on the document and verify that all research was done prior to coming to conference. Paper resolutions will still be accepted in tech committees.

2. Unmod tech committees WILL allow the use of technology for the purpose of writing and collaborating on resolutions, but strictly in unmoderated caucuses. Delegates should have all of their research in a physical form (printed or written) for them to access during all other parts of committee. This type of committee also allows for one member of a dual delegation to be using technology outside for resolution writing and another inside during the procession of committee. For example, delegates will be able to type on a laptop/tablet during unmoderated caucus, but unable to access their devices at all during moderated caucus. Specific situations will be left to the chair's discretion. In a dual delegation committee, one delegate would be allowed to use their device outside of the normal committee room while the other member of their delegation.

3. Non-tech committees WILL NOT allow the use of technology during conference. All resolution writing will be done on paper and all prior research must be printed and be available in a physical form for the delegates to reference throughout committee.

BMUN LXVIII’s committees have been assigned policies based on the head chair’s preference. You can find committee specific information on their respective pages

In short, students should expect to bring technology, but should not expect to be able to rely on it in committee. Ample research prior to arrival is still central to their success. No delegate will be penalized for not having technology in committee, and having technology in committee does not guarantee success. These are simply the limitations our chairs have chosen to place on technology use in their respective committees.