CSU Model United Nations Parliamentary Procedure
“Parliamentary procedure” is a set of rules intended to guide debates towards ordered, inclusive, and respectful compromise. For CSU Model UN, our intention is to utilize only a handful of motions that are used in the official United Nations. There are multiple reasons for this:
- CSUMUN is intended to be an introduction for Model UN
- The reduced rules are more inviting for new schools to get involved in CSUMUN
- The reduced rules allow the delegates to focus more on the issues of the topics and working with one another, rather than spending unnecessary time debating the rules.
Beginning the Debate
- At the beginning of the session, the chair shall simply call the session to open and open debate.
- A delegate should then “move to set the agenda”, and a second delegate should “second the motion”. This debate is over which topic should be debated first. For each of the four topics, the chair will call on two delegates to argue why the topic should be debated first.
- After these eight arguments have been made, the chair will move for a vote on the agenda. The topic that receives the most votes will be debated first, the motion that receives the second most votes will be debated second. There can be another debate to set the agenda regarding the remaining two topics after the conclusion of the first two topics.
During a Debate
| What is it | What do you say | What does it mean | Does it need a second | Is it debatable | What vote is needed to pass |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Correction | “Point of information...” | There’s something we should all know about. | No | No | No Vote |
| Complaint | “I raise a point of personal privilege.” | We need to resolve the following problem. | No | No | No Vote |
| Confusion | “Point of clarification...” | I’m confused...explain this situation more clearly. | No | No | No Vote |
| Order | “I raise a point of order.” | Calling someone / committee out for not following the rules | No | No | No Vote |
| Dilatory | Chair: “I rule that motion dilatory” | Chair believes motions are unnecessarily delaying the process | No | No | Chair's Decision |
| Moderated Caucus | "I move for a moderated caucus of ____ minutes" | Discussion, one-by-one at the microphone for ___ minutes | Yes | No | 50% + 1 (majority) |
| Unmoderated caucus | "I move for an unmoderated caucus of ____ minutes" | Discussion in small groups for ____ minutes | Yes | No | 50% + 1 (majority) |
Ending a Debate
| What is it | What do you say | What does it mean | Does it need a second | Is it debatable | What vote is needed to pass |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close Debate | “I move the question...” | I think that we should vote. | Yes | No | 67% |
| Unanimously Close Debate | “I call the question...” | Let’s vote – we’ve all had enough discussion | No | No | 100% Consensus |
| Roll Call Vote | "I move for a roll call vote" | Each delegation will be called on one-by-one and vote by voice | Yes | No | A motion and a second |
| Table | “I move to table this motion until...” | We need more time to think about this. | Yes | No | 50% + 1 (majority) |
| Remove from the Table | “I move to take up from the table...” | Let’s talk about this again. | Yes | No | 50% + 1 (majority) |
