Deree WUDC 1998 Debating Club background

DEREE COLLEGE

The XVIII World Universities Debating Championships will be hosted by Deree College, a division of The American College of Greece.

Since 1875, The American College of Greece has been committed to providing a quality education to an international student body. Deree College, the post-secondary division, is a nonsectarian, independent, coeducational liberal arts college.

The college offers extensive programs in Liberal Arts and in Business Administration to more than 5,000 students. Deree College enjoys a particularly strong reputation for its studies in business and economics. Its 18,000 alumni reside in 51 countries. Those in Greece are a visible force in business, academia and the arts.

Situated in Aghia Paraskevi, on the western slopes of historic Mount Hymettus, the College offers a magnificent view of the valley below and partial vistas of Athens.




DEREE DEBATING CLUB

The XVIII World Universities Debating Championships will be organized by the Deree College Debating Club.

The Deree College Debating Club promotes the rhetorical arts of debate, oral interpretation, and public speaking, and fosters a spirit of sportsmanship among its members.

Since its founding in 1987, the Club has managed to establish itself as one of the most active on campus. It has participated in and hosted a number of international competitions in addition to its activity on a national level.

In March 1990 the Club in cooperation with the American Whig and Cliosophic Society of Princeton University, organized the Deree College - Princeton University Debate Institute. This event was held at Deree College and attracted students from throughout Europe and the Middle East. It was the first event of its kind in this part of the world and it marked the beginning of vigorous debating activity.

The Club's most successful endeavor to date, was the organization of the Third European Debate Championships in February 1993. The competition attracted some of the most prestigious student debating societies in Europe. Only a few months after the official European unification ceremony, the Club provided a forum for its youth to freely exchange ideas in an effort to improve intercultural understanding.

Finally, the Deree College Debating Club is one of the leading debating societies in Greece, and has participated in all World's competitions since 1988. The Club's debaters have excelled on numerous occasions. Recently, in the 1995 World Debating Championships in Princeton, the Club's team succeeded in reaching in the ESL competition final round.


STUDENT UNION

The Deree College Student Union is an independent, non profit student organization with more than 4.000 members.

Since its establishment, the "Union" has played a decisive role in the extra-curricular life of the College and has contributed in the development of academic life off and on campus.

The Union is governed by a seven member body, the Student Council, which is elected directly by the members, every Spring.

The Union considers the organizing of the World Universities Debating Championships in Athens, as a major opportunity for enhancement of the art of rhetoric in the country where "Logos" was born and flourished. The Student Union has always contributed in the best possible way to the activities concerning debate since it acknowledges its immense importance an academic, personal and social level.


This is taken from the website of the 1998 Championships