Joint Crisis Committee, The Great Dinosaur Rush: Peabody Museum of Natural History
Meet the world-famous fossil enthusiast Othniel Charles Marsh. Beginning his work at Yale’s Peabody Museum, this brilliant scientist has uncovered countless dinosaurs, including the triceratops, brontosaurus, and stegosaurus. He’s hired you, an esteemed group of academics, politicians, and trained paleontologists to best his rival, Edward Cope, at finding new fossils by any means possible. Although Marsh was raised in an impoverished household, Marsh’s uncle George Peabody—a famed financier and philanthropist—certainly buttressed Marsh’s paleontological ventures. From bribery to tampering to even destruction of Cope’s discoveries, very little is off limits for your team. In this exciting new field of paleontology, the leaders in dinosaur discovery will not only have the praise of their scientific peers but have their names forever etched in history.
We are excited to bring you a new kind of war, not fought with guns and tanks but with fraudulent publications, sabotage, and stone chisels. Delegates will explore the American gilded age, as concerns surrounding labor and the environment are brought to light. At the same time, they will uncover the age of dinosaurs, and delve into the natural history of our planet. From the prestigious classrooms to the dusty dig sites, our teams of experts are sure to meet their match.
New Mechanic:
Since the discovery of new species and the subsequent publication of the findings is an essential component of the Bone Wars, we are introducing a new mechanic to simulate this process. Periodically, committee will be alerted of fossils they have uncovered, which may or may not be paleontological breakthroughs. They can then choose one of three options:
Publish the findings as an existing species and add to the body of scientific literature
Publish the findings as a brand new species and bring great prestige to their team
Keep researching to be more confident as to whether or not the discovery is a new species
Option one and three are safe, but may cause your team to lag behind that of your rival’s. If you choose the second, you may be rewarded for your breakthroughs with praise and endowment, or you may be humiliated by the scientific community for your false publication, or even worse, banned from the American Naturalist journal. Delegates must choose wisely and gauge risk and reward to increase their reputation in the cut-throat world of paleontology. More information about this new mechanic can be found in the Introduction section of the background guide.
Chair Letter
Hi, friends!
My name is Amelia Nguyen (she/they), and I have the pleasure of serving as Chair for the Marsh side of the Bone Wars JCC. I’m a fourth year International Development Studies and Philosophy major – scary to think that I’ll have to face the real world soon. I’ve chaired at multiple other conferences through MUN@UCLA, and I’m so excited to spend my last-ever conference chairing this committee.
Outside of MUN, I also serve as Outreach Coordinator for YDSA’s UCLA chapter – but I spend most of my time lounging around (I’m lucky to have secured a job for after graduation early). When I can, I like to knit and crochet, goof around with K-Pop dances, and I spend an insane amount of time online shopping. I also like anime (I have a Jujutsu Kaisen tattoo!), Stardew Valley, long Youtube video essays on esoteric topics, and blowing my bank account on body mods. I’m originally from Gilbert, Arizona, which is terrible to visit during the summer, but going to college in Los Angeles has been such an amazing experience (except for my wallet). However, I miss my two dogs all the time.
I was a founding member of my high school’s MUN club during my sophomore year, and it’s crazy to think that I’m still doing MUN almost a decade later. While my career goals and personal interests have admittedly shifted over time, I always find myself coming back to MUN. I’m so grateful for the community that MUN@UCLA has given me and for the experiences I never would’ve had otherwise (like my LAMUN XVII tattoo).
Admittedly, I didn’t know too much about the Bone Wars before this. However, I believe that it’s a perfect example of America during the Gilded Age and speaks to how easy it is to desecrate something so important for the sake of one’s reputation. I’m so excited to see how you all come up with creative solutions (a.k.a. ways to blackmail), because we will be the winners of this war.
Yours,
Amelia Nguyen | Bone Wars: Marsh | LAMUN XVIII
CD Letter
Dear delegates,
My name is Jianhao Cui, and I will be serving as your Crisis Director for the Marsh side of LAMUN 2023’s Bone Wars Joint Crisis Committee. I’m currently a second-year pre-law student at UCLA, double majoring in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations and Economics.
I began my MUN journey in my freshman year of college when I was looking for clubs focused on public speaking and international policy, and MUN is the club that I loved the most and stuck with. Since joining, I’ve competed at three conferences, staffed LAMUN, and been a chair at BruinMUN (UCLA MUN’s high school conference) and a Crisis Director at MUNSI (UCLA’s MUN summer camp). This year will be my first year senior staffing at LAMUN, and I’m extremely excited to create the best experience possible for this committee.
Outside of MUN, my main hobbies are olympic weightlifting and cooking. I’m part of Barbarian Barbell Club, a gym outside of UCLA. Since quarantine, I’ve been cooking all the time and often spend tens of hours prepping for a single dish. Other things about me include my borderline obsession with Pokémon, being the designated tour guide since I grew up in LA, and living in France this summer for a month.
The Bone Wars is an incredibly exciting conflict in American history. It blends the sophistication of high society and academia with the utter pettiness of well-educated adults. These scientists started by advancing the field of paleontology at a breakneck speed but eventually devolved into prideful strikes through bribery, slander, and destroying the other’s discoveries. I look forward to how you will ensure that Marsh gets the recognition he deserves as the leading mind of paleontology while simultaneously maintaining your dignity as you sabotage Cope and his allies.
Jianhao Cui
Crisis Director | Bone Wars: Marsh | LAMUN XVIII
CCD Letter
Greetings and salutations,
My name is Parker Do (they/them) and I have the honor of coordinating the marvelous Bone Wars JCC! This is my third year at UCLA studying human biology and society with a minor in anthropology, and my seventh year in MUN. Last year I was Under-Secretary-General for BruinMUN, our high school conference, Crisis Director of LAMUN’s Stonewall Riots committee, and program coordinator of the Model United Nations Summer Institute. This year, I serve as Director of Operations for our club and am very excited to be Secretary-General for BruinMUN 2023 (if you have high school friends, send them our way)!
As a recovering former pre-med, I stay involved with Lavender Health Alliance, connecting UCLA students to volunteer opportunities at the LA LGBT center and their primary and sexual healthcare clinic. I’m also involved with not one but two research studies relating to the menstrual cycle. My most defining passion is for animals, including us humans, and I do work with Mercy For Animals and other activist groups, as well as considering my experimental plant-based cooking “praxis.” You can find me listening to male-manipulator music, taking martial arts classes, and painting my face like a Pierrot.
This topic came from the mind of our wonderful Secretary-General and the staff and I are so excited to bring it to life. Much like the dinosaurs you are sure to uncover, this conflict is in a word awesome. It combines the competitive human spirit, incredible natural world, and all of the gilded age and academia scheming the heart could desire. I can’t wait to bring you all back 150 years, and a 150 million years, to a world of glorious scenery, epic battles, and new discoveries.
Peace and love,
Parker Do
Coordinating Crisis Director | Bone Wars: Marsh | LAMUN XVIII