Northeastern University International Relations Council
Summer Executive Board Meeting #1
Date: August 3, 2014 1:49 PM
Location: PoliSci Conference Room
Present: Cam, Sarah, Phil, Rawan, Elise
Absent: Evan
HD and NATO Chair Selection Process/Feedback
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Cam: unique challenge, must choose 2 NATO Chair positions and create new
process for HD selection. Application process is no longer efficient.
HD Selection Process:
o 1. Call for nominations:
 Reply to e-mail stating interest in HD position and rank at least 2
conferences in order of preference
o 2. Consolidate nominees:
 1) E-board discusses applicants; weave out unqualified; send out list
of recommendations irrespective of conference to Phil; Phil makes
final selection; reports to President so there’s an open discussion
between Phil and President about final selection
 Yes unanimous
 Yes with reservation
 No with rights
 Outright rejection of application
 2) Phil gets applications, goes through them, and sends the
shortened out stack to us
o Sarah: How much description within list of recommendation provided to
Phil? It must be transparent. Cam: As much description/explanation as
the application necessitates.
o Elise: What about individual recommendations without an e-board
discussion? Cam: Yes, submit private comments to Phil.
o Biggest challenge: who will it bounce to if President is selected?
 If the President is not selected, he/she can self-advocate
o Sarah: What are the standards? Must revisit.
 Elise: Should have been to preferred conference before
 Sarah: Preparation is important; should require position papers;
ability to read a lot of papers and give back constructive criticism;
good with conflict, partnership tensions, and crazy faculty advisors;
good academic background
 Elise: Meet outside of class time
 Rawan: Less quantifiable but should hold respect from team
members; past awards should be in consideration to assess quality
of debate
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Elise: Diverse qualifications, including organizational experience
and past chairing experience
Phil: Someone who is a good ambassador for the program; focus
more on organization/leadership experience; prior conference
behavior
Compartmentalize requirements: been to conference, conference
behavior, organizational background on campus or displayed
leadership capacity.
Favorably upon/we value: diverse background, experience in
organizing
NATO Chairs
o Similar self-nomination process; required past chair experience at
preferred conference including JCC cabinet leaders and default class
chairs; no separate BoD position for NATO Chairs i.e. no voting privileges;
responsible for chair training purposes
o Rawan: We need to standardize chair training
o Phil: NATO Chair will also manage chair paradigm for classes because they
know who’s been trained
 Sarah: Although it is usually EVP’s responsibility to determine class
chairs, Sarah’s comfortable sharing that authority with the NATO
Chairs as long as chair training and in-class chairing are up to our
usual standards
Phil: Lack of progression/direction in IRC. In other words, there’s no existing
clear pathway for new members and “mid-ground” members to recognize how to
best realize leadership/chairing goals.
Future conferences:
o NUMAL: 1 HD, we select assistant
o NATO: 2 HDs, maybe one assistant
o McMUN: 2 co-HDs because level of work is much higher. Caveat is based
on what the assignments end up being.
o CARMAL: 1 HD
o NERMAL: TBD
BoD Selection
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Parliamentarian: Gavin Jones
Webmaster: Katie Braggins…put Keely in contact with her
Retention: Jillian Whelan
SGA: Alex Carlin (tentative)
Fundraising: Miranda Beggin
Conference Recruitment: Merlinda Xharda
Travel and Try-Out Paradigm
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Must book all rooms at once (use numbers from last year), Cam and Evan
working on it; we’re a month ahead of schedule
Phil: Participation in NERMAL is mandatory as either staff, delegates, or chairs.
Phil: Try-outs don’t have to be before NERMAL, selection can even be done
before NERMAL but won’t be announced until after that weekend
Phil: One big try-out that fills all of NATO, McMun, and 50% of Nationals…for
Nationals, it doesn’t have to be specific but we need to have 9 people ready and
set to go and to guarantee experience and division of talent for Nationals
In the Spring, they will assign the 9 names for Nationals and their committees
Selection Committee comprised of Phil, all HDs, and e-board representative.
Elise: What about a multi-step process to accommodate for several conferences?
Not all HDs need to be concerned with the micro-details of other conferences.
Phil: Strongly suggests all HDs be included because we are concerned with the
overall well-being of IRC performance abroad. Suggestion: Not tell HDs their
conference? Rest of e-board is uneasy.
Tentative Solution: Do it all in the same room; split people by conference; Phil
and e-board rep floating; highly experimental
Miscellaneous
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Graduate students: cannot run for e-board position; can fill BoD; can be HD; can
travel; must pay a Grad Student fee + lab fees
Always CC e-mails with IRC account
Do not arbitrarily call for an e-board meeting—it’s Phil/Cam’s responsibility
EVP Summer:
o Surveys: chose topics by picking the top answers
 UN: Disarmament and international security; political affairs and
decolonization; international law/conflict and peace building.
NATO: Political affairs; defense planning; emerging security threats
 A lot of interest in crises
o Improvements/Weaknesses:
 NATO: Resolution/research skills
 UN: Formal speeches, resolution writing, and caucusing
o Video: basically done, missing minor adjustments
o Speakers: Working with Beyond Conflict, bring a panel possibly, market
the club, German Consulate for NATO
o Mentorship: good experience for mid-ground members to mentor new
members
VP Finance:
o Budget is in works
o SERMAL payment to be checked on/completed ASAP; Elise will e-mail
Janet, Cam to go to Savo (?)
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NERMAL: all is well so far.
Agenda for Next Meeting
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Next meeting: August 11th 6:30PM at PoliSci Conference
Travel logistics
Further discussion on Travel Try-Out Paradigm
New mentorship program between Cam, Phil, and Sarah