About YIRA

Founded in 1969, YIRA is one of the largest and most vibrant student organizations on Yale’s campus, with an active membership approaching several hundred students and an e-bulletin reaching over eight hundred Yalies every week. Although we are an undergraduate organization, our members include both undergraduate and graduate students from a multitude of countries and backgrounds and a wide range of academic and professional interests. YIRA aspires to cultivate better relations between the Yale community and the United Nations. Currently, YIRA serves as an umbrella organization for a number of distinct initiatives all aimed at the promotion of awareness of international affairs.

One of YIRA’s main foci is the advancement of Model United Nations. To that end, the organization hosts and structures three large conferences per year, in addition to maintaining its own world- acclaimed collegiate Model United Nations Team at Yale (MUNTY). MUNTY team members travel to conferences around the country and around the world participating in simulations of various international decision-making bodies.

The conferences hosted by YIRA are aimed at both the high school and collegiate levels. Indeed, each academic year begins with an Intramural Security Council Simulation at Yale (IMSCSY). IMSCSY provides an opportunity for Yalies of all levels of debate experience and political knowledge to discuss issues of international concern by simulating debates held in real United Nations committees. Later in the year, YIRA structures the actual Security Council Simulation at Yale (SCSY). SCSY has been among the most popular and prestigious collegiate Model UN conferences on the east coast because of its unique preference for small committees (all under 30 delegates), each with a specialized focus. The conference usually simulates a wide array of national cabinets, UN committees, and regional bodies. The conference is held entirely on Yale's beautiful campus, offering its approximately 300 delegates the opportunity to explore Yale University and engage with Yale students while at the same time debate some of today's most pressing issues of international concern. The year comes to a close with YIRA’s high school Model United Nation conference (YMUN), the largest and most wide-reaching event sponsored by the organization. Each year 1200 high school students from around the country and the world arrive in New Haven to take part in a four day long Model UN conference that truly challenges its delegates to solve global dilemmas in innovative ways. These conference experiences offer delegate and staffer alike the unique opportunity to think critically about international issues in an intellectual and engaging manner.

Aside from Model UN, YIRA is extremely dedicated to advancing the knowledge of international affairs in the New Haven community. The YIRA Outreach Program sends YIRA members to a multitude of public schools within New Haven to teach after-school sessions about the nuances of international relations. This program is unique in that it allows teachers to cultivate lasting and meaningful relationships with high school students—all centered around a shared passion for global affairs.

 In addition to reaching out to the community, YIRA prides itself on bringing community and world leaders to Yale’s campus. Our Speakers' Committee, therefore, has two central goals: first, to expose the Yale community to a range of opinions on international affairs by inviting world leaders to campus, and second, to provide a forum through which discussions on global issues can take place. The Committee invites government officials, ambassadors, journalists, academics, and others to participate in events open to the entire Yale community. The Committee will provide diverse forums in which speakers can communicate their perspectives and experiences to the Yale community, including Masters' Teas, panel discussions, addresses to a broader audience, dinners, and student debates.

Finally, YIRA is unique in that it designs projects which allows its members to participate in election monitoring missions around the world. Such missions allot YIRA members the opportunity to cultivate meaningful relationships with US embassies in various countries, engage youth from various universities, and see, first-hand, the development of true democracy. In the past three years, YIRA has sponsored three missions to monitor elections in El Salvador, Mauritania, and Kenya.