WUDC 2014: Key Results

Champion: #4 Harvard University A (Josh Zoffer & Ben Sprung-Keyser)
Finalists: #1 University of Sydney B (Chris Bisset & Elle Jones), #10 University of Cambridge B (Ben Adams & Kitty Parker-Brooks) and #27 University of Glasgow A (Duncan Crowe & John McKee)
Best Speaker: Elle Jones (University of Sydney B)

ESL Champion: #2ESL Berlin Debating Union A (Dessislava Kirova & Kai Dittman)
Finalists: #1ESL Lund University A (Peer Klussendorf & Emilia Carlqvist), #3ESL Babes-Bolyai University A (Radu Cotarcea & Octavian Buta), #4ESL University of Belgrade B (Helena Ivanova &Stefan Siridzanski)
Best ESL Speaker: Mubarrat Wassey (International Islamic University A)

EFL Champion: #8EFL Institut Teknologi Bandung A (Vicario Reinaldo & Fauzan Reza Maulana)
Finalists: #1EFL University of Warsaw A (Konrad Kiljan & Karolina Partyga), #3EFL New Economic School (Ilya Androsov & Mikhail Sonin), #6EFL Eberhard Karls University Tubingen (Konrad Gutschow & Nikos Bosse)
Best EFL Speaker: Helena Ivanova (University of Belgrade B)

WUDC 2014: Victorious Harvard Debaters End US Drought, Aussie Reign

#4 Harvard University A (Josh Zoffer & Ben Sprung-Keyser) became the first American team for more than a decade or even two, depending on how one sees it, to triumph in the most prestigious debate tournament on the planet. Their victory in the 2014 World Universities Debating Championships in Chennai ended a long drought for the United States since New York University Law School won it in 2002.

Interestingly, both of the NYU Law speakers were students from the United Kingdom. The last true American pair to win WUDC also came from Harvard but they did it in 1993 when the format was 2-on-2, not the 4-team British Parliamentary style that is currently used.   

Harvard A (Ben Sprung-Keyser/Josh Zoffer)

In the recent final, Harvard acted as the Opening Government and proposed the motion "This House Believes That India Should Adopt Aggressive Free Market Policies" in front of an audience that included top government officials of India's Tamil Nadu state. Their stance arguing that India can only rise to become a world economic power if they radically change their protectionist policies stood until the end.

The victory was an upset because many had placed their bets on Closing Opposition #1 University of Sydney B (Chris Bisset & Elle Jones) who set a new record on points collected in the preliminary round with a whopping 26 from 8 wins and a second place finish. The other finalists were  #10 University of Cambridge B (Ben Adams & Kitty Parker-Brooks) and #27 University of Glasgow (John McKee/Duncan Crowe).

Harvard also stopped a four-year Australian reign. A Sydney team won it in 2010 and then their countrymen from Monash University secured the title for three straight years. The Australian strength was apparent on the speaker tab. The top four all come from Australia with Sydney's Elle Jones as the number one debater in WUDC 2014.

WUDC 2014: Sydney Advance With Best Score Ever (Open Break)

University of Sydney B (Elle Jones & Chris Bisset) did not only break first into the knockouts of the 2014 World Universities Debating Championships. With 26 points after winning 8 out of 9 preliminary rounds and coming second in only one debate, they became the first team in the history of WUDC to score that high. Previous record holder University of Oxford A (Lewis Iwu & Samir Deger-Sen) hauled 25 points in WUDC 2008 Bangkok, which they eventually won.   

While the rest had thin margins between them, Sydney B were four points clear from their closest rival #2 University of Cambridge A (Ashish Kumar & Thomas Simpson). All teams that secured 18 points or more advanced along with 8 pairs that bagged 17. Among the 48 qualified teams, there are 3 from Asia -- #26 Ateneo de Manila University A (Allan Cabrera & Paulina Robles), #38 Indian Institute of Technology Bombay B (Souradip Sen & Ritvik Chauhan) and #47 International Islamic University A (Syed Saddiq & Mubarrat Wassey).

The top 16 teams go straight to the octofinals while #17-48 must battle it out in the pre-octos to fill up the remaining 16 slots. The main break list is as follows:

1. University of Sydney B (AUS) - 26
2. University of Cambridge A (ENG) - 22
3. Monash University A (AUS) - 21
4. Harvard University A (USA) - 21
5. McGill University A (CAN) - 21
6. University of Canterbury A (NZL) - 21
7. University of Cape Town B (SAF) - 21
8. University of Melbourne A (AUS) - 20
9. University of Otago A (NZL) - 20
10. University of Cambridge B (ENG) - 20
11. Australian National University B (AUS) - 20
12. London School of Economics B (ENG) - 20
13. University of Sydney A (AUS) - 19
14. University of St. Andrews A (SCO) - 19
15. University of Auckland A (NZL) - 19
16. Imperial College (ENG) - 19
17. Monash University B (AUS) - 19
18. University of Oxford B (ENG) - 19
19. Cornell University B (USA) - 19
20. University of Birmingham A (ENG) - 19
21. Bates College A (USA) - 19
22. University of New South Wales B (AUS) - 19
23. University of Oxford C (ENG) - 19
24. Yale University A (ENG) - 18
25. Victoria University of Wellington A (NZL) -18
26. Ateneo de Manila University A (PHL) - 18
27. University of Glasgow A (SCO) - 18
28. Monash University C (AUS) - 18
29. University of Cambridge C (ENG) - 18
30. Yale University B (USA) - 18
31. Stanford University A (USA) - 18
32. BPP University A (ENG) - 18
33. University of Melbourne B (AUS) - 18
34. University of Melbourne C (AUS) - 18
35. Western University A (CAN) - 18
36. University of Queensland B (AUS) - 18
37. University of New South Wales A (AUS) - 18
38. Indian Institute of Technology Bombay B (IND) - 18
39. Bates College B (USA) - 18
40. University of Belgrade A (SRB) - 18
41. Hart House, University of Toronto A (CAN) - 17
42. University of Oxford A (ENG) - 17
43. University of Western Australia A (AUS) - 17
44. University of Cape Town A (SAF) - 17
45. University of Sydney C (AUS) - 17
46. University of Queensland A (AUS) - 17
47. International Islamic University A (MAL) - 17
48. University of Otago B (NZL) - 17

EUDC 2013: Key Results & Motions

Champions: #2 University of Cambridge A (Anser Aftab & Ashish Kumar) 
Finalists: #1 Trinity College Dublin A (Sally Rooney & Michael Barton), #8 University of Edinburgh A (Marlena Valles & David McCreath), #10 University of Oxford A (Matthew Handley & Natasha Rachman)
Best Speaker: Sally Rooney (Trinity College Dublin A)
ESL Champions: University of Lund A (Emilia Carlqvist & Peer Kluessendorf)
Best ESL Speaker: Viktor Prija (University of Belgrade A)

Motions
Open GF | THW give more votes to citizens according to their performance on a current affairs test
Open SF | TH regrets that the Western media has demonized Islamic terrorists, rather than portraying them as criminals with legitimate political grievances
Open QF |  THBT African countries should adopt English as the principal language of instruction in schools
ESL GF | THBT the state should not fund works of art that average citizens would not recognize as having artistic merit
ESL SF | THBT environmentalists should launch a campaign of sabotage and property destruction aimed at major polluting companies
ESL QF | THBT men should consistently call out and correct chauvinistic comments made by friends and co-workers
R9 | THW provide welfare in the form of basic goods and services rather than cash payments
R8 | THBT Barack Obama should not have granted legal immunity to officials who ordered the use of torture
R7 | THBT it is in China's strategic interest to cease all non-humanitarian assistance to North Korea until it verifiably ends its nuclear programme
R6 | TH applauds the rise of songs by female pop artists that glorify assertive  female sexuality
R5 | THBT Israel should allow members of the Jewish diaspora to vote in its elections
R4 | THW permit government agencies to conduct automated surveillance without court authorization
R3 | TH, as the Muslim Brotherhood, would sincerely offer to cease resistance, participate in elections, and respect a liberal constitution
R2 | THW require international development aid budgets to be approved by popular referanda
R1 | THW ban video games in which the player engages in brutal and immoral violence in a realistic setting

Cambridge Debaters from Asia Win Europe's Top Tournament

For the first time in history, a team entirely made up of debaters from Asia won the European Universities Debating Championship. Both represented their respective countries in previous  World Schools Debating Championships. Anser Aftab, who debated for Pakistan in WSDC 2007, and Ashish Kumar, who was part of the triumphant Singapore squad in WSDC 2011, entered EUDC 2013 as University of Cambridge A and left with the trophy. Asian debaters had won EUDC before but with European partners.

#2 Cambridge A in the final yesterday defeated #1 Trinity College Dublin A (Sally Rooney & Michael Barton), #8 University of Edinburgh A (Marlena Vallas & David McCreath) and #10 University of Oxford A (Matthew Handley & Natasha Rachman). In the ESL division, University of Lund became the first Swedish team to win that category. 

WUDC 2013: Monash Wins Again, Sets Records

Maritim Hotel Berlin - the venue of the WUDC 2013 finals

Monash reign continues in the World Universities Debating Championships. In an all-Oceania final at WUDC 2013, #48 Monash University B (James Beavis & Nita Rao) defeated #2 University of Sydney B (Paul Karp & Dominic Bowes), #6 University of Auckland A (Stephanie Thompson & Ben Milsom) and  #24 University of Otago A (Alec Dawson & Kieran Bunn).

This is Monash's third victory in a row. No other institution has done this before. It is also its fifth WUDC title, matching the record held by University of Sydney and University of Glasgow. The best speaker award also went to Melbourne-based Monash through Chris Bisset (Monash A) who shared the title with Pam Cohn (University of London Union A). Both speakers fell in the quarterfinals at the hands of Monash B.  

But what makes this Monash B triumph extra sweet is they made history as the first under-32 team that won WUDC. That would have been impossible had the council voted against the break expansion from 32 teams to 48. The landmark decision to expand the break list paved the way for a strong team with high speaker scores to compensate points dropped during the preliminary stage. #48 Monash B might have been last to break and only gathered 17 points from 9 rounds but they were the only team with that many points that broke, which means they had the highest speaker scores from the 17-point lot. Actually, Monash B's combined speaker score was even higher than #4 University of Cambridge A that had 21 points. Below #2 Sydney B, Monash B had the second highest speaker scores among the finalists. It was not suprising that Monash B whip Nita Rao got the 10th best speaker title.
 
The champions defeated the motion "This House Would Not Allow Religious Communities to Expel Members on the Basis of Views or Actions that Contradict Doctrinal Teachings" from Closing Opposition, the position from where they first won WUDC in 1999. Monash bagged the two previous WUDC titles from Opening Government.

NUS Wins SDO 2012, Bryan Gunawan in Final Panel

National University of Singapore A (Imran Rahim & Robin Teo) won the 2012 Singapore Debate Open last night, defeating teams from University of Cambridge, University of the Witwatersrand and a composite from Malaysia called "Karma" in the last debate. None of the 5 participating Indonesian teams broke into the elimination stage but Bryan Gunawan, a former Binus University debater who now leads the rapidly growing On That Point speech training company, advanced as a judge all the way to the grand final. Bryan also judged in the knockouts of Asian British Parliamentary Debate Championship and Hong Kong Debate Open this year.

Binus International pair Invi Atmanegara and Jaran Walia came very close from making a second international break in as many weeks after they collected the same points with the the last two qualifiers but had insufficient speaker scores to make the cut. They broke in the World Universities Peace Invitational Debate last week. Except from Karma, the other finalists also met in the 2012 WUPID final. 

WUPID 2012: Bipeds in Top 16, First From Indonesia to Break

Binus International Pool of English Debaters (Bipeds) became the first ever Indonesian institution that can break into the knockouts of the World Universities Peace Invitational Debate in Kuala Lumpur. Bipeds 1 (Invi Atmanegara & Jaran Walia) last night advanced into the WUPID 2012 quarterfinals after collecting 8 points from 5 debates and taking 15th position on the tab. They will meet strong teams from National University of Singapore, Australia's Monash University and the renowned University of Cambridge tomorrow. Their schoolmates Bipeds 2 (Wilson Salim & Melisa Irene) came short from following suit. Aulia Anggita and Egalita Irfan from Universitas Indonesia, who are the first Indonesians to progress into the main elimination stage of an overseas tournament this year, also competed in WUPID 2012 but missed the cut.  Last May, Invi and Jaran gave Binus International its first major international trophy after winning the EFL category of the 2012 United Asian Debating Championships.  

Break List of WUPID 2012

1. Victoria University of Wellington 1 (NZL)
2. National University of Singapore 1 (SIN)
3. National University of Singapore 2 (SIN)
4. University of the Philippines, Diliman 1 (PHP)
5. University of the Witwatersrand 1 (SAF)
6. University of Cape Town 1 (SAF)
7. University of Cambridge 1 (ENG)
8. Universiti Teknologi Mara 1 (MAL)
9. University of the Philippines, Manila 1 (PHP)
10. Monash University 1 (AUS)
11. Ateneo de Manila University 1 (PHP)
12. Universiti Teknologi Mara 2 (MAL)
13. International Islamic University 1 (MAL)
14. International Islamic University 2 (MAL)
15. Binus International 1 (INA)
16. National University of Singapore 3 (SIN)

Euro 2012: Key Results & Motions

BPP Law School (Harish Natarajan & Jack Watson) won the 2012 European Universities Debating Championships in Belgrade in their third consecutive grand final. The same pair reached the EUDC finals in 2010 and 2011 when they were debating for University of Cambridge. BPP Law School, a British institution specialising in professional legal training, had never made it to the last debate of the continental tournament before. Harish Natarajan will be the chief adjudicator in the 2014 World Universities Debating Championships in Chennai. The key results of the competition can be found below along with the motions.

Champions: BPP Law School (Harish Natarajan & Jack Watson)
Finalists: University College Dublin L&H A (Christine Simpson & Mark Haughton), University of Cambridge A (Ashish Kumar & Joe Roussos), University of Oxford A (Hasan Dindjer & Thomas Hosking)
Best Speaker: Maria English (University of Cambridge C)
ESL Champions: University of Leiden A
ESL Finalists: University of Tallinn A, Raphael Recanati International School A, Berlin A
Best ESL Speaker: Danique van Koppenhagen (University of Utrecht A)

Motions:

R1. THBT parents should choose not to send their children to private school
R2. THBT First Nations' peoples (e.g Native Americans in the US or Aboriginal Australians) who live in geographically seperate areas should be given comple autonomous self-government
R3. THBT the music industry should not facilitate the comebacks of artists who committed violent crimes
R4. THBT the Mexico government should remove all limits on law enforcement and the military in the fight against organised crime
R5. THBT the European Central Bank should unconditionally buy significant amounts of government debt from struggling Eurozone countries
R6. THW limit the amount that can be spent by corporations in any one course of litigation
R7. THW require the military to recruit soldiers in direct proportion to the socio-economic make-up of their country
R8. THBT the Palestinians should accept complete demilitarisation in return for a guaranteed sovereign state
R9. THW allow anyone to take up residence in any country provided that they will not be an economic burden on that country

QF (main) THBT Republika Srpska should secede From Bosnia Herzegovina
QF (ESL) THS life sentences without possibility of parole for serial re-offenders
SF (main) THBT schools should aggressively screen students, according to their abilities from a young age
SF (ESL) THBT militaries in newly democraticised Arab states should act as guardians of secularism
GF (main) THW amend the US constitution to prohibit any involvement by religious organisations in the electoral process
GF (ESL) THW retrospectively remove all amnesties granted to those who committed crimes as part of oppressive regimes

Chennai Wins Race to Host WUDC 2014

The Indian city of Chennai will be the host of the 2014 World Universities Debating Championships after receiving 55 votes, 19 more than rival Bangkok, in a landmark online voting process.  The main organiser is Chennai-based Rajalakhsmi Engineering College while Rashtriya Vidyalaya Engineering College and the National Law School of India University, both from nearby Bangalore, will officially support the undertaking. Chulalongkorn University was the sole school behind the Bangkok bid.

Indonesia, which holds 4 votes due to its Status A, chose Chennai and became the only Asian nation behind the winning bid outside home country India and its neighbour Pakistan. Other Asian countries, including the sub-continent's Bangladesh, went for Bangkok. Non-Asians overwhelmingly picked Chennai, which promises accommodation in a 7-star hotel and 5 parties with free flowing alcohol. Ireland is the only non-Asian country that backed Chulalongkorn's bid. Click here for the voting breakdown.

It was the first time that a WUDC host was decided via an online voting. No bid was floored at the 2012 Worlds in Manila, triggering a scramble to find institutions that dare to take on the challenge of organising a tournament that has grown into a increasingly demanding and lavish event in recent years. The two bidding parties, coincidentally all from developing Asian countries, collaborated with award-winning debaters from the first world to table excellent proposals to keep the most prestigious debating tournament on the planet alive. WUDC 2013, which will be held in Berlin, was decided in WUDC 2011 Botswana.    


 




Tournament
EUR350/pax rego, 360 teams (may rise to 400), institution cap at 3 teams and 2 judges
Adjudication
CA: Harish Natarajan (University of Cambridge/UK/Finalist EUDC 2009, 2010) and Michael Baer (Stanford University/US/Finalist WUDC 2012)
DCA: Ely Zosa (Ateneo De Manila University/PH/Finalist WUPID 2008, 2009), 3 more will be appointed, including at least one representing the ESL/EFL group.

Hospitality

7-star ITC Grand Chola, overflowing free alcohol, all dietary requirements will be available

Travel

Visa-on-arrival for Indonesians. Organizers promise help. Quickest flight from Jakarta takes 7 hours using Singapore Airlines.