The TCS COSMUN Chair was selected on Monday, September 2nd. The Secretary-General and his Sub-Secretaries posted the list that elucidated on who had been chosen and who had not.  

After weeks of deliberation, a fraction of the candidates were chosen. Juan Felipe Gaviria and Alejandro Escobar, former Sub-Secretaries, cannot sufficiently stress how hard it is to reject hopeful applicants, but still defend the validity of the selection mechanism. 

“When we first talked about selecting the chair we tried to analyze the process from the start because we did not want to do anything automatically. We kept everything pretty much the same because we thought that it was an actually useful process,” Gaviria said. 

Moreover, several existing cases could suggest that COSMUN is a fickle institution. Escobar’s case, for example, emerges as a peculiar one, since the newly-elected President of the JFK Crisis Committee now holds a less powerful position than the one he held last year. After such a bizarre journey, it might be difficult to still feel motivation, but Escobar believes that some challenges still lay ahead. 

“I still feel some pressure but in a different way. In ninth grade I was competing for a position and really wanted to make a good impression… now I feel like I have nothing to lose but a lot to prove,” Escobar said. 

Yet, Escobar’s is an unusual case. As for the other candidates, current Secretary-General Gaviria defined the three aspects that he was looking for in a President or Vice-President.

“The most basic aspect is knowledge of MUN procedures. The second aspect is general knowledge of the world and politics. The third aspect is character. We were looking for people with the correct character that can lead people to be better,” Gaviria said.  

Though some might suggest that superb delegates automatically make exceptional Presidents, the Secretary-General disagrees with that assertion. Gaviria believes one must be careful not to misunderstand what each role entails.  

“Since I entered MUN, I’ve always said that an experienced delegate [might] not make a good President and a good President might not make a good Secretary-General. It’s three different jobs for three different people,” Gaviria said.  

Namely, the appointment of Presidents and Vice-Presidents has been a tremendous disappointment for some of the candidates. Still, Escobar has an optimistic message for those who did not pass.

“It’s a part of the process. Losing will just make you want to push even harder,“ Escobar said.