This Blog has now moved to idebate.org/worlddebating - all future posts will be made there!

31 January 2009

AUT cancelled in favour of Asian Unity

I have to say I didn't think it would happen. Anyone who have watched the Asian Mailing lists will have seen a discussion on Asian Unity and in particular a number of e-mails which descended into childish insults. However it appears a lot of work was being done in the background and today MMU announced that they would be cancelling the AUT in favour of one tournament AUDC at EWU in Bangladesh. This is a remarkable gesture by MMU as they have put a lot of work into their tournament and I hope the Asian and international debating communities recognise this. Now the ball has passed to EWU and it is up to them to run a tournament worthy of Asian Unity and the spirit that MMU set.

Dear all,
We have been listening diligently and would like to thank everyone who has contributed to and participated in this discussion. It is the end of January and, as promised, we have come to a decision.


We believe that there is a general consensus that a united Asian tournament is a good thing. To that end, specific concessions have been made at the AUDC this year. At this stage, it would seem that there is no opposition to using the AUDC as a platform to create a unified Asian tournament. MMU believes that unity can only be achieved if all stakeholders are at a common forum to work their differences out and come to a compromise. Given that institutions can practically only attend one tournament, having two tournaments in two separate locations this year will do nothing to advance unity within the Asian debate community.

Therefore, for the sake of unity, MMU has decided that it will not be holding the Asian Unity Tournament. This decision comes at a heavy price to us but we will bear it because we acknowledge that large sacrifices need to be made when unity is what we are aiming for. We would like apologise to anyone that this decision may inconvenience or disappoint.

MMU would like to encourage all members of the Asian debate community to attend the AUDC this year and use it as the platform to create the unified Asian tournament.

We ask that the institutions that have traditionally exclusively attended either one of the tournaments as well as the administrative organs of both tournaments operate in a spirit of cooperation and flexibility. Unity means that no one gets everything they want, but everyone gets a little of what they want. Recognition of this is critical if we are to make any meaningful headway.

We recognize that there have been concerns with the hosting circumstances this year. Therefore, we encourage EWU to do what it can to make its tournament more accessible and keep its future participants informed, particularly by providing detailed information. Ultimately, we wish EWU luck. From our own experiences, we know that hosting a tournament is a large endeavour and a difficult task; we are ready to assist in any way we can.

We look forward to seeing everyone in May.
Warm regards,
Andrew "Ips" Gnananantham

President,
Voices MMU.
Convenor,
Asian Unity Tournament

27 January 2009

World Schools Draw and Motions

The 2009 World Schools Debating Championships start in Athens on the 9th February.

The draw can be found here.

Because there is an odd number of teams some countries have a bye round (e.g. Ireland in Round 1). The 8 Bye teams will debate each other in Round 0 to bring their number of debates up to 8.

The "prepared" motions are:
R1 This House believes that cultural treasures should be returned to their areas of origin
R3 This House would encourage the expanded use of civilian nuclear energy
R5 This House would legalise current technologies for choosing human embryos on the basis of their genetic characteristics
R7 This House believes that public services are best run by private companies

Grand Final: This House believes that governments should grant amnesties to all illegal immigrants

HWS / IDEA Round Robin (Worlds Style)

Applications are due in less than one week!
The HWS / IDEA Round Robin (Worlds Style)

16 top teams from around the world, invited to New York
* Applications due January 31!
{See the website below for application details}
{We will endeavor to ensure that all qualifyied teams are able to attend.}
* Tournament dates: April 10-11

Debate all 15 other teams in 5 BP rounds
* Pre-paired rounds, so completely fair pairings and no tab delays
* Break to finals, with $1700 (cash) at stake, plus awesome trophies
* Superior international judging headed by Neill Harvey-Smith

Worth a trip halfway around the world
* Compete in the US BP Championships (open to all) April 3 - 5
* Spend 2 days with the Yale Debating Society on April 6 & 7
* Attend an International Debate Gala in NYC on April 8
* Dinner at the home of HWS President Mark Gearan on April 9 (Bill Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff & Peace Corps Director)
* Great food and lakefront hotel at the Round Robin April 10 - 11

For more info visit: http://workserver.idebate.org/hwsroundrobin/

Convenor: Eric Barnes (Barnes@hws.edu)

25 January 2009

Debate in Second Life

The Lawrence Debate Union of the University of Vermont will be participating in the first formal academic debate conducted in a virtual online environment.

In cooperation with the St. John’s University Debate Society, LDU members will debate in the online environment Second Life on February 4th at 8:00PM ET. This is the first competitive academic debate conducted between two university debate programs within the Second Life environment.

The debate will be held on Emgeetee Island, a series of virtual classrooms created and maintained by Dr. Charles Wankel, Associate Professor of Management in the Tobin College of Business at St. John’s University.

The debate will feature four debaters and will be on the topic of limiting tenure for University faculty. At the end of the debate, judgment and critique by debating experts will follow, and then the floor will be open for comments and questions from the virtual audience.

Attending the debate is as easy as establishing an account and downloading the Second Life software, which is available at http://www.secondlife.com/. Those unfamiliar with the Second Life environment are encouraged to spend time becoming familiar with the program before the date of the debate.

For those already established in Second Life, the SURL for the debate is http://slurl.com/secondlife/Emgeetee/110/154/24.

Clicking on the link will transport you to the debate venue where you will be able to see and hear the debate live if you have the Second Life software installed.

Contact Alfred Snider at alfred.snider@uvm.edu or Steve Llano at llanos@stjohns.edu