WUDC 2013: Key Results

Champions: #48 University of Monash B (James Beavis & Nita Rao)
Finalists: #2 University of Sydney B (Paul Karp & Dominic Bowes), #6 University of Auckland A (Stephanie Thompson & Ben Milsom), #24 University of Otago A (Alec Dawson & Kieran Bunn)
ESL Winners: #14ESL BRAC University A (Ratib Mortuza Ali & Aaqib Farhan Hossain)
EFL Winners: #5EFL University of Porto A (Ari da Cunha & Tiago Laranjeiro)

Top 10 Speakers
1. Pam Cohn (University of London Union A)
1. Chris Bisset (Monash University A)
3. Catherine Murphy (University of London Union A)
4. Madeline Schultz (Monash University A)
5. Paul Karp (University of Sydney B)
5. Christine Simpson (University College Dublin L&H A)
7. Dominic Bowes (University of Sydney B)
8. Elle Jones (University of Sydney B)
9. Mark Haughton (University College Dublin L&H A)
10. Seb Templeton (Victoria University of Wellington A)
10. Nita Rao (Monash University B)

Top 5 ESL Speakers
1. Martin Kiik (Harvard University C)
2. Arinah Najwa (International Islamic University A)
3. Syed Saddiq (International Islamic University A)
4. Karin Merckens (University of Leiden A)
5. Daan Welling (University of Leiden A)
5. Senna Maatoug (University of Leiden C)
5. Henk van Zullen (University of Groningen A)

Top 5 EFL Speakers
1. Ary da Cunha (University of Porto A)
2. Viktor Prlja (University of Belgrade A)
3. Rodolfo Mendez (Monterrey Institute of Technology A)
4. Radu Tiganas (University of Bucharest A)
5. David Lopez (Monterrey Institute of Technology A)

WUDC 2013: Open Break List; University of London #1

University of London Union A (Catherine Murphy & Pam Cohn) advanced into the elimination stage of the 2013 World Universities Debating Championship as the top-ranked team. This all-female, all-postgraduate pair harvested 24 points from nine rounds of preliminary debates. Both speakers broke last year as well but competed for their separate undergraduate institutions. Murphy debated for Trinity College Dublin while Cohn represented University of Durham. ULU is the umbrella organisation for students from around 20 schools in the University of London system. It has reached a number of WUDC finals but never won the title.

For the first time in WUDC history, 48 teams are eligible to break. The top 16 will wait when the 32 teams under them jostle for the remaining 16 octofinal slots. Two Southeast Asian teams --International Islamic University and National University of Singapore-- made the cut. A Turkish squad from Galatasaray University is also in. Powerhouses Monash University, Harvard University, Yale University, University of Queensland and New Zealand darkhorse University of Otago have 3 teams standing. Here is the full list.

1. University of London Union A (ENG) Catherine Murphy & Pam Cohn -- 24
2. University of Sydney B (AUS) Paul Karp & Dominic Bowes -- 22
3. University College Dublin L&H A (IRE) Christine Simpson & Mark Haughton -- 22
4. University of Cambridge A (ENG) Ashish Kumar & Rebecca Meredith -- 22
5. University of Sydney A (AUS) Elle Jones & Daniel Swain -- 21
6. University of Auckland A (NZL) Stephanie Thompson & Ben Milsom -- 21
7. University of Queensland A (AUS) Kirsten Price & Anthony Smith -- 21
8. Monash University A (AUS) Chris Bisset & Madeline Schultz -- 20
9. University of Oxford A (ENG) Clive Eley & Nathaniel Ware -- 20
10. University of Melbourne A (AUS) Daniel Golder & Tim Blair -- 20
11. University of Aberystwyth A (WAL) Ollie Newlan & Roberto Sarrionandia -- 20
12. St. Andrews University A (SCO) Ben Adams & Alex Don -- 20
13. University of the Witwatersrand A (SAF) Michael Maklin & Chris Wood -- 20
14. National University of Singapore A (SIN) Imran Rahim & Robin Teo -- 20
15. International Islamic University A (MAL) Syed Saddiq & Arinah Najwa -- 20
16. Victoria University of Wellington A (NZL) Richard D'Ath & Sebastian Templeton -- 19
17. Yale University B (USA) Michael Barton & Andrew Connery -- 19
18. Harvard University A (USA) Josh Zoffer & Coulter King -- 19
19. University of Oxford B (ENG) Matthew Handley & Natasha Rachman -- 19
20. University of Durham A (ENG) Ben Dory & Simon Tunnicliffe -- 19
21. Harvard University C (USA) Martin Kiik & Ben Sprung-Keyser -- 19
22. Yale University C (USA) Sesenu Woldermariam & Zach Bakal -- 19
23. University of Cambridge B (ENG) Freddy Powell & Jei Wei -- 19
24. University of Otago A (NZL) Alec Dawson & Kieran Bunn -- 19
25. University of Otago B (NZL) John Brinsley-Pirie & Kurt Purdon -- 19
26. University of New South Wales B (AUS) Angela Kintominas & Ben Williams -- 19
27. Harvard University B (USA) Julia Clark & William Ryan -- 19
28. Yale University A (USA) Max Dovala & Ben Kornfeld -- 18
29. McGill University A (CAN) Emma O'Rourke Friel & Sarah Balakrishnan -- 18
30. Trinity College Dublin Phil A (IRE) John Engle & Adam Noonan -- 18
31. University College Dublin L&H B (IRE) Michael O'Dwyer & Hannah Lucey -- 18
32. University of Queensland C (AUS) Helena Obermair & Thomas Ashby -- 18
33. Stanford University A (USA) Andrew Suciu & Emma Pierson -- 18
34. University of Queensland B (AUS) Emily Chalk & Alex O'Hara -- 18
35. Queen's University A (CAN) William Gibson & Kaya Ellis -- 18
36. Griffith University A (AUS) Jessica Musulin & Josh Taylor -- 18
37. University College Cork Phil A (IRE) Barry O'Gorman & Gearoid Wrixon -- 18
38. Monash University C (AUS) Stephen Moore & Nicole Franklin -- 18
39. University of Bristol A (ENG) Alice Coombes-Huntley & Imogen Parkes -- 18
40. University of New South Wales C (AUS) Pramudie Gunaratne & Justin Chan -- 18
41. Princeton University A (USA) Matthew Arons & Daniel Lewis -- 18
42. University of British Columbia A (CAN) Kaja Marinic & Vivian Dong -- 18
43. London School of Economics A (ENG) Yuan Yang & Jonathan Kay -- 18
44. University of Glasgow B (SCO) Graeme Cowie & Duncan Crowe -- 18
45. Bates University A (USA) Ben Smith & Catherine Djang -- 18
46. University of Otago C (NZL) Paul Hunt & Alice Sowry -- 18
47. Galatasaray University A (TUR) Engin Arikan & Akin Egemen -- 18
48. Monash University B (AUS) Nita Rao & James Beavis -- 17  

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

WUDC 2012: Main Semifinals - 3 Oxford, 5 Rest of the World

University of Oxford Union's Debating Chamber 

There is no debate. University of Oxford towers above the rest in varsity debating. Almost 400 teams from around 200 schools joined the 2012 World Universities Debating Championships but 3 out of 8 spots in tomorrow's semifinals went to one society -- Oxford Union.

Reigning champion Monash University from Australia earned two slots while the remainder went to University of Sydney, Stanford University and University College Dublin. Of course, there is a possibility that the final would be Oxford-free but few would place such a bet. The semifinalists include Euro 2011 champions and WUDC 2011 finalists Oxford A (Ben Woolgar & Hugh Burns) who topped this year's tab.



Match-ups:
SF 1: #1 Oxford A v #8 Stanford A v #28 Monash B v #29 Oxford C
SF 2: #2 Oxford B v #3 Monash C v #11 UC Dublin L&H A v #18 Sydney B