Bingo and Blackmail: Motion Picture & Television Fund Wasserman Campus Resident Board, 2009
The gallery overflows with life. Beneath the glittering Schonbek chandelier, a warm amber light scatters across flowing Atelier Versace and Armani Privé gowns. Camera flashes bloom in bursts of white, freezing smiles perfected over deaces beneath studio lights. Laughter boasts throughout the hall in sweeping, theatrical waves. Outside, beyond the crystal gates, reporters press shoulder to shoulder, as they strain for even the briefest glimpse within.
This is not the Academy Awards. This is the Motion Picture & Television Fund Charity Gala.
For decades, MPTF had a promise to Hollywood: a final home for the people who built the industry. Actors, directors, animators, singers, and producers all arrived at the Wasserman Campus with suitcases in hand, expecting a tranquility they will not be able to see yet. For instead, they have found themselves in the midst of a drama that no script had prepared them for.
The year is 2009. MPTF leadership announces the closure of critical healthcare facilities in and effort to save millions. The public is outraged. Families are gathering at the gates, protest signs rise beneath the Woodland Hills sun, news outlets feast upon whispers of layoffs, financial instability, executive excess, and ties to a scandals far beyond the campus. For the first time in its history, the future of MPTF hangs in balance.
In response, MPTF resolved to establish the MPTF Wasserman Campus Resident Board. Officially, it exists to provide recommendations. Unofficially, it is a battlefield. Over the coming years, committee will learn how to navigate institutional collapse, leadership upheaval, labor disputes, media warfare, celebrity culture, and the impossible task of balancing public image with private survival.
After all, Hollywood never truly retires. When the spotlight returns, everyone wants top billing. The question is not whether MPTF can survive.
It is who will write its final act.
Anish Rao
chair
Anish is a second-year student in the College, majoring in Business Economics and Psychology. He is from Pleasanton, California, which is the perfect old person town and the home of slightly better than average ice cream. In his first year, he served as frontroom assistant chair to Yongle’s Bongle: Court of the Ming Dynasty, 1403. Last year, he served as the Chair for Gold Diggers: California Governor’s Cabinet, 1848. Other than Model UN, Anish loves to take naps and will, in fact, fall asleep if there’s even 2 minutes of silence anywhere. If he’s not sleeping randomly, he watches odd German-Turkish movies with his roommates, plays Brawl Stars with his friends during breakfast, and sleeps (again) (all the time). He is super excited to be your Chair for ChoMUN XXX, and is definitely hoping that the delegates will come up with unique and awesome ways to make the committee a place of rainbows and sunshine.
If you need any help with that, feel free to email him at anishrao@uchicago.edu.
Vickie Song
crisis director
Vickie is a fourth-year in the College majoring in Economics. They are from the 138th largest city in the nation, Chattanooga, Tennessee, meaning they have an infinite amount of knowledge. Ask them anything. In their first year, Vickie served as a ChoMUN backroom assistant chair on Yongle's Bongle: Court of the Ming Dynasty, 1403. Last year, they served as a MUNUC backroom assistant chair for Tsar Wars: The Duma Awakens, 1910 and a ChoMUN crisis director for Gold Diggers: California Governor’s Cabinet, 1848. Beyond MUN, Vickie does a macédoine of activities, including, but not limited to the following: approaching strangers in public parks, purchasing boxes of macarons to eat the pistachio ones, and separating the corrugated flutes on cardboard. You can also find them at the front desk of the Center for College Student Success, sitting on a finance committee for student government, or volunteering for a Chicago pro-bono law firm. Vickie is eager (as a beaver?) to be Crisis Director for ChoMUN XXIX, and will be sitting in the same spot awaiting the delegates’ arrival (and for them to do all sorts of exciting MUN things).
They cannot move until you send them an email, so please reach out at vickiesong@uchicago.edu. Send help.
Annaelle Le Guellec
crisis director
Annaelle is a third-year pre-dental student majoring in Business Economics and minoring in Biology. She is from Frederick, Maryland, a town whose only role is to be a bedroom community for D.C. and Baltimore (she loves it dearly). Last year, Annaelle was an AC on Yongle's Bongle: Court of the Ming Dynasty, 1403. Other than Model UN, you can find Annaelle foraging for edible plants along sidewalks, playing video games, or cycling along the Lakefront, racing elderly individuals on e-bikes. She also does cancer and oral health research at UChicago Medicine. Annaelle is looking forward to being your Crisis Director.
If you have any questions or want to know if the mushroom growing in your backyard is edible or not, feel free to email aleguellec@uchicago.edu.
Secretariat oversight:
khushi bora, under-secretary-general