Letter from Secretaries-General

Dear Delegates,

We are so excited to welcome you to the Princeton Diplomatic Invitational 2024! After a four-year hiatus, we are thrilled to be back on the circuit and hosting delegates from around the world for a weekend of meaningful debate.

This year's crisis committees, speaker offerings, and charitable partnership represent the unique vision that our team brings to collegiate Model United Nations—one in which debate is dynamic and evidence-based, delegates are sensitive and informed, and the consequences of our resolutions are taken seriously. We cherish the opportunity to bring so many visiting students onto our campus to benefit from and contribute to the environment of serious academic inquiry, openness, and camaraderie that we are lucky enough to call our home. 

Reviving PDI has been a year-long journey. Since our appointment last spring, we have had a crash course in building a team, setting goals, and meeting challenges. All of it, though difficult and at times overwhelming, was undertaken with a clear vision of this weekend in mind. Everything that our outstanding Secretariat team has done—including liaising with nearly every facet of University administration and reserving just about every room on campus—has been for all of you who took a chance on an unranked conference in the middle of New Jersey. We hope that PDI '24 is as meaningful, enjoyable, and memorable for you as it already has been for us! We are so proud of the conference we now present to you.

Furthermore, we could not be more pleased to announce that the theme of PDI '24 is United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #2: Zero Hunger. In that spirit, we have partnered with the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK), which provides 9,000 meals per week for those in need in our area. This weekend, whether you're navigating Florentine politics or cleaning up intergalactic litter, we hope you will find time to come back down to Earth and contribute to a worthy local cause if you are able.

It is our honor to serve as your Secretaries-General of PDI '24, but none of what we have achieved would have been possible without the help of the small army we have assembled. We are so grateful to all of our Secretariat members, student staffers, participating faculty speakers, honored guests, University administrators, and the American Whig-Cliosophic Society for their support and invaluable contributions. Without them, we would be two friends with nothing but a dream and a University credit card.

Throughout the conference, please don't hesitate to reach out to either of us, or any member of our Secretariat and staff, at any time. We are committed to doing all we can to make all of our attendees feel safe, supported, and valued during their time at Princeton. Now, let debate commence!

Sincerely,

Sarina Hegli and Ferenc Somogyi

Secretaries-General, Princeton Diplomatic Invitational 2024