Our Policy

ClarkMUN does not require position papers and will not take their submission into account when deciding delegate awards for each committee.

 

We will, however, make a point of saying that the process of writing a position paper can help to organize one’s thoughts and lead to more cogent and compelling arguments in committee and more detailed and daring schemes in crisis—both of the kind that earn one awards. Position papers can also serve as useful points of reference, summarizing one's research and analysis of a topic. With that in mind, we will provide some guidelines for those delegates who still wish to write them or whose advisors require them.

We will also offer one conference-wide book prize. The Secretary-General’s Book Prize—consisting of a certificate and a book of the secretary-general’s choosing—goes to the one delegate who writes the best two position papers at ClarkMUN. The Book Prize will be completely independent of delegate awards so it will neither disqualify you from winning an award nor increase the likelihood of your winning one.

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Our Rationale

It has been our experience, as delegates writing position papers and as staffers receiving them, that, although not always the case, more often than not:

1. Delegates find it tiresome to have to write position papers and, if they write them at all, they put it off until the last minute, ultimately rushing to prepare something and sometimes even having others write their papers for them;

2. Advisors find it troublesome to have to hound their delegates about writing position papers, to provide the support that conferences do not or cannot when it comes to the writing process, and to then get all of the papers submitted in a timely manner;

3. Staffers find it cumbersome to have to keep track of all the position papers once they receive them and they put off reading them, skim them, read only some, or don’t read any at all; and

4. All three of the above groups find it burdensome to have to endure increased difficulty managing their other responsibilities for seemingly minimal benefit with many questioning what it is that’s gained out of the whole exercise.

The fact of the matter is, in the real world, we are judged by our performance and so it is at ClarkMUN as well. While preparation can certainly aid your performance and often does, it’s no good to you if you can’t make use of it, whether at a Model UN conference or in life itself. We feel that our policy reflects this—it neither penalizes those who can perform well without writing position papers beforehand nor precludes anyone from writing papers voluntarily, instead leaving it to each individual delegate (or advisor as it were) to decide whether they need or want to write one and, indeed, whether they have the time to do so considering their other commitments, academic or otherwise. Moreover, the Secretary-General’s Book Prize exists to recognize the very best of pre-conference delegate work, guaranteeing that those who do write position papers can still be rewarded for their efforts. We believe that this flexibility, along with the book prize, allows for the best possible ClarkMUN experience for everyone involved and we thank you for your understanding.