Novice - The Last Straw: The Straw Hat Riot (1922)

Committee Profile

Until the early 1920s, in an effort to not only follow stylish fashion norms, but to also keep safe from the brutal summer sun, it was more than common to sport a straw hat from mid May to mid September. Following September 15th, it was then widely accepted that a lightweight straw hat would be traded in for a more practical warm-weather felt hat. However in 1922, a group of young New Yorkers decided to take advantage of the tradition of hat-bashing and escalate it. Two days before the fifteenth, a group of teenagers began a brawl with dock workers over their straw hats, even stopping traffic on the Manhattan Bridge due to the extent of the violence. Following the event, the Straw Hat Riot of 1922 ruptured across New York City, resulting in several days of violence and many people being injured by the mobs of teenage hat-bashers.

The Last Straw: The Straw Hat Riot of 1922 will navigate terminating the incessant violence occurring throughout the busy streets of New York City through whatever means deemed necessary, while simultaneously tackling the broader issues of self expression and the right of individual choice.

Chair Letter

Dear Delegates,

My name is Cameron Katz and I am so excited to be the Chair for The Last Straw: The Straw Hat Riot of 1922. I am currently in my fourth-year at UCLA studying Political Science and Psychology. Sadly, being a Senior means that this is my last BruinMUN. That being said I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of this wonderful committee that our staff and our amazing Crisis Director, Linde, have put so much work into!

Now, for the most important part of this letter: fun facts about me. I was raised in the Bay Area – a fact which my friends wish I would stop mentioning. I currently work on the board of MUN at UCLA as Director of Operations. In addition, I am the President of Bruin Democrats at UCLA. In my non-academic life, I enjoy playing Legend of Zelda, rewatching Veep, trudging through A Song of Ice and Fire books, and making plans with my friends to open a combination coffee shop/bookstore.

The Straw Hat Riot presents a complex collection of problems for you, as delegates, to navigate. I hope you all engage with the issues at hand and find novel solutions. Topics at the center of the riots include individual choice, the role of tradition in society, and collective violence. While we are debating these topics in the context of an event that happened 101 years ago, I encourage you to think about how they continue to be relevant to our lives in the 21st Century, and come prepared to discuss these topics with that mindset.

I’d like to thank Sophie Kogan – our USG and my successor. She has done an amazing job leading the crisis staffers and helping prepare everyone for the conference. I’d also like to give a shoutout to Linde Spear, our committee’s CD. I know that our committee and the future of this organization is in good hands because of her, and I am so incredibly excited to see what she has in store for us this weekend.

Whether this is your first BruinMUN or your last, I encourage you to engage to the fullest. Debate your heart out, collaborate with the other delegates in our committee, and most importantly: have fun! I am so grateful for all the BruinMUN has done for me, and I hope to make this an amazing experience for all of you.

I look forward to meeting you all soon!

Cameron Katz | Chair | BruinMUN 31

strawhat@bruinmun.org

CD Letter

Dear Delegates,

My name is Linde Spear (she, her). I am a second-year student at UCLA majoring in history. On campus, I am not only involved with Model United Nations at UCLA, but am also a member of the United Nations Association at UCLA, and serve as the Programming Director for Bruin Democrats. Outside of school I enjoy traveling and exploring new places, taking dance classes – preferably ballet or modern – whenever I can, sporadically going to yoga when I am fortunate enough to fit it into my schedule, and doing anything outdoorsy. I am from Eugene, Oregon, and, as such, love to hike, camp, and go to the beach as often as I can. In the future I hope to go on to law school before pursuing a career in either international or human rights law, or making my way into the field of international relations.

I have participated in Model UN since my first year of high school, where I represented Kuwait in a GA environmental committee. While I was exclusively a GA delegate and an eventual GA chair before participating in MUN at the collegiate level, I have staffed both BruinMUN and LAMUN (our college conference) as a crisis staffer and greatly look forward to being your Crisis Director this year! Over the course of the past year, while staffing in the realm of crisis, I have really enjoyed participating in historical committees. As such, I am very excited to teleport back to the early 1900s and investigate the Straw Hat Riot with you all!

The Straw Hat Riot of 1922 will explore a multitude of issues relevant to both the twentieth century and to today, concerning specifically the right of self expression and the right of individual choice. I am so looking forward to seeing how you all creatively engage with these important and complex topics to solve this consequential crisis. I hope you all find great joy in exploring the fascinating intersection between fashion and personal freedom. Best of luck, delegates!

Warmly,

Linde Spear | Crisis Director | BruinMUN 2023

strawhat@bruinmun.org