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10 April 2009

Arau Open Debating Championships 2009‏

Dear debaters.
We are proud to announce that the registration for the Arau Open Debating Championship 2009 is already open. This year it will be open to international institutions. So all of you are welcome to take part in this tournament.

For your kind information this tournament is divided into 2 category (Malay and English). So you are most welcome to send teams for both categories.

Here are some details about the tournament:
Team Cap: 60 teams (limited to 3 teams for each institution)
Date: 25th May 2009 - 30th May 2009
Place : UiTM Perlis
Debate Style : Australs(n=1)

*Registration of more than 3 teams for an institution will be considered.

Registration Fees:
1)For UiTM - RM 200.00 per debater/adjudicator- RM 150.00 per observer/officer
2)For Non-UiTM - RM250.00 per debater/adjudicator- RM180.00 per observer/officer
3)International Participants - USD 80 per debater/adjudicator- USD 50 per observer/officer

*food and accommodation are provided.

Any inquiry or further information, please contact:
Sabrina@Sab- 0194494453
or e-mail to us at arau_open09@ yahoo.com

Thank You ;)
Hope to see you guys :)
Sincerely,
Sabrina@Sab
Vice Project Manager,
Arau Open 2009.

9 April 2009

Istanbul Yeditepe Open 2009

It gives us great pleasure to announce ISTANBUL YEDITEPE OPEN 2009. It will take place in 26-27-28-29 June.This is the last big chance before Euros to improve your debating skills.

This time we urge you to come!! As many of you know we are bidding for EUDC 2010 and we want to show everybody how organized we are.
This will be huge!This will be different!This will not be just a debate tournament!

Here are the infos:
-Dates: 26-27-28-29 June Friday to Monday.
-7 Rounds and finals
-N-1 rule is valid
-Registration Fee: 75 Euros per person

JUDGING
Great feedback and fairly balanced judges are the most important things for a good debate tournament. Therefore, we are going to subsidize extraordinary judges from Europe to increase the quality of debating as we did before. If you want to participate, please contact us.CA:Will Jones DCA:Anat Gelber (two DCAs will be announced)

ACCOMMODATION
Club Doğa is situated where blue and green intersect.It is a first class holiday resort consisting of villas. For discerning the travellers club offers comfortable accommodations,swimming pool,fitness center,tennis court, table tennis,football field, billards,cinema,bicycle. http://www.dogatatilkoyu.com/

SOCIALS
-You will feel the Istanbul Spirit again.
-Free beer:)Parties until morning..
-Do not forget to bring something special to your culture for Global Culture Party (songs,clothes,etc.)

UNIVERSITY&CLUB
Yeditepe University (translated as the Seven Hills) is the biggest private university in the country. It has a population of 15.000 and it is located within the city as a metropolitan university. Yeditepe Debate Club is one of the leading debate clubs in Turkey with more than 100 members. The club gained several successes both in and out of Turkey and organised the biggest Turkish nationals ever with 104 teams.

Moreover now the club is bidding for EUDC 2010: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23443577607&ref=ts

TRAVELLING
http://wwww.thy.com
http://wwww.flypgs.com
http://wwww.easyjet.com
http://wwww.germanwings.com
http://wwww.corendon.com

Schedule:
25 June Thursday: Early comings and movement to Doga Holiday Resort.You can go to beach on Thursday.
26 June Friday: 3 Rounds-Bosphorus Cruise in the evening
27 June Saturday: 4 Rounds-Global Culture Party in the evening
28 June Sunday: Quarters-Semis and Grand Final-Beach Party in the evening
29 June Monday: Going to Beach or Swimming Pool and Leavings

Past visitors of our tournament:Isabelle Loewe-Daniel Schut-Jens Fischer-Andrew Fitch-Can Okar-Will Jones-Andrew Marshall-Rhydian Morgan-Oskar Avery and many others...You can ask them...

Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=1132975730466&f=1&e=-12#/event.php?eid=68730966699&ref=ts

Best Wishes,
Yavuz Yiğit
Prospective Convenor of EUDC 2010

Videos from US Universities

Alfred at Globaldebate has uploaded a number of videos from the recent US Universities Debating Championships.

For more details and to view the videos visit http://globaldebateblog.blogspot.com/

Asian Tournament Vote results

The vote on the future of the 2009 Asian Championships concluded yesterday. There are two associations involved in the vote Asian-Universities-Debating-Union and All-Asians. It appears that AUDU voted to continue with EWU as hosts while All-Asians voted against EWU as hosts. I'm sure there will be more clarification on this in the coming hours and days.

For the All Asian vote results see:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AUDC/message/1595

For the AUDU vote results see:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AUDC/message/1585

8 April 2009

More from EWU

While there was a lot of criticism of the previous Org Comm of AUDC 2009 I have promised to give balance to the reporting of the situation. Here is an e-mail that was posted to the AUDC mail list by Rashedul Hasan Stalin who was Convenor and Chief Adjudicator of the tournament. It gives some more information on his view. It is also important to read the clarification in blue below this mail.

Dear all,
My apologies to you for replying late. I was busy with my office and couldn't find time to read all the massages sent to this group. I just want to clarify some of the misunderstanding related to my affiliation with the EWU AUDC.

1) Right now I am not a part of the EWU Organizing Committee. After having the request from the AUDC Exco, The Orgcom of EWU AUDC previously decided to appoint Anika Rahman as the new convener. And this decision was communicated with our honorable Vice Chancellor of EWU and it was also informed to EWU Management Committee chair Prof. Anisul Haque.

2) After Ajrul, LP and Tj's visit (where they have requested me to serve as the convener or be a part of the Orgcom) we communicated this to AUDC Exco. AUDC Exco then suggested us from a formal mail to EWU VC and EWU Authority to continue with the existing setup meaning Me as the CA and Anika as the Convener.

This has created confusion in EWU Authority because previously EWU VC and the EWU authority got opposite information from the AUDC Observers. (Please see the Observer's reports published and uploaded in the AUDC file section).

3) On lying to the community: I respect to different of opinions posted in this group and I also admit some of our failures. Every one knows the fact that EWU AUDC Orgcom has difficulties managing the finances from the sponsors because of the global financial crisis. Previously GMG Airline gave us the commitment to be our sponsor and we promise you to give the 20 fully subsidy adjudicator position.

GMG also gave the full air tickets sponsor to the EWU AUDC bid committee members to fly for IIU AUDC in 2008. I think those who where present at the last AUDC Council meeting have the same assurance from our honorable EWU Vice Chancellor letter which was presented by the EWU Debating Club moderator Mr. Kamrul Hassan and later distributed to each and every voting institution. I only presented the Adjcore during the bid at IIU.

So, the commitment was not only from my side but from the EWU AUDC Orgcom and from the EWU Authority and from the honorable EWU Vice Chancellor him self.

4) On CA credentials: Based on the AUDC constitution latest amendment (Thanks to Sarfaraz Bhai to certify the Adjcore eligibility) EWU Orgcom proposes me as their CA based on my credentials which satisfy the AUDC Constitution and I respect and admire any decision for betterment of the EWU AUIDC to run smooth.

"It is not Stain's tournament" this is the tournament for entire South Asia, who is hosting AUDC for the first time in the soil of Bangladesh.

Finally, I would like to request all the member of the Asian Debating Community to support EWU AUDC 2009 and vote for them. EWU Vice chancellor is a dynamic leader and he has support from the most senior and experience faculty members of the university who have previously hosted many international student events in past.

Prof Kamrul Hassan also has the experience from two AUDC and we shouldn't have any confusion on the credentials of the present Orgcom members. They are dynamic and hard working people and they need your support.

Apologies to Logan, Jeson, and entire debating community of Asia for everything that happened. I hope people will understand our effort and judge us based on the outcome from EWU AUDC 2009 in future.

Thanks.
Rashedul Hasan Stalin


UPDATE: I have been asked to add the following clarification to the above post.

Please refer to Ms. Estelle Osotio's letter dated April 3, 2009 where she communicated the decision of Vice Chancellor Professor Mohammed Sharif, PhD to remove Mr. Rashedul Hasan Stalin from the positions of Chief Adjudicator of EWU AUDC 2009, and any position in EWU Organizing Committee, and to remove Ms. Anika Rahman from Convener or any other position in EWU Organizing Committee based on suggestions made by Management Committee (Comprising of EWU Faculty members).

As such I have been instructed by the Vice Chancelor to inform you that -
any communication from Mr. Stalin or Ms. Anika Rahman regarding EWU AUDC 2009 does not reflect EWU's official stand on that issue.


The Vice Chancellor is waiting to receive a formal response from the AUDC Executive Committee President by today Wednesday 8 April 2009, 5 pm.

Some good news for Asian debating.‏

It may seem like Asian debating is in a bit of disarray at the moment but what we should remember is this is just the organisational aspect of one tournament and not the quality of debating itself. Vipul Nanda from India has brought the following to my attention:

A team from National Law School, India comprising Uttara Gharpure and Aditya Verma broke 6th at the US National College Debate Championships that were just concluded in University of Vermont, USA.

They reached the quarter-finals before being knocked out of the tournament.

The tournament was eventually won by the Harvard team, and Middle Temple came second.

NLS GV (their team) broke 6th out of 121 teams. Uttara was 22nd on the speaker tab and Aditya was 35th, out of 240 odd speakers in that tournament.

In the current scenario, I think it shows that Asian debating in general still has a lot of talent.

EUDC Council 2009‏

Dear debating community,
EUDC is approaching with speed and so is the EUDC Council meeting.

I would like to ask any institution, country or individual who believes that there is something of importance that needs to be discussed and decided upon in Newcastle to send me an e-mail (posta.za.spelo@gmail.com) or contact me on Facebook (Spela Kunej) and inform me about issues they want to see discussed. This way materials can be prepared before traveling to Newcastle and delegates can find more info on which to base their decisions.

Up until now these are some of the issues that need to be discussed (or have been discussed before and should be decided upon) -
1. is there a need to split the Central & Eastern Europe region
2. the eligibility of individuals - specifying rules, should there be something like a 6 months grace period, should graduates be allowed to compete till the end of the academic year in which they graduated etc.
3. information regarding the EUDC council online, aka the web-site issue

Suggestions are welcome.You can find current rules in the EUDC constitution and in the Council decisions - links are attached.

Best,
Spela Kunej
Council President
Link to the EUDC constitution:
Link to Council decisions since the Constitution was adopted:

7 April 2009

Details of International Mace Final

Dear all,
It gives me great pleasure to announce the details of the ESU International John Smith Memorial Mace Final. The final will take place on the 24 April at 7pm in the Signet Library in Edinburgh
The draw is:
First proposition – Ireland (team to be confirmed)
First opposition – England, Oxford University (Jonathan Leader Maynard and Alex Worsnip)Second proposition – Scotland, University of St. Andrews (Daniel Berman and Tom Cahn)
Second opposition – Wales, Cardiff University (Matthew Clarke and Craig Sutherland)

The motion is:
This House believes that development aid to Africa does more harm than good

Attendance is free and there is no dress code, please contact myself rosie_unwin@esu.org or Rob Marrs debates@esuscotland.org.uk to reserve a place.

Details of the reception will be posted on the Facebook group as soon as they are confirmed.
I hope to see many of you there,
Best wishes,
Rosie Unwin
Programmes Officer
The English-Speaking Union
rosie_unwin@esu.org

Source: Britishdebate list

Hart House win CUSID nationals

Richard Lizius and Paul-Erik Dash Veel of Hart House, Univeristy of Toronto won the 2009 CUSID (Canadian) national championships. In the final they defeated Sophie MacIntyre & Jake Liang of McGill University.

Richard Lizius was also the overall top speaker.

Mary MacPhail and Robert Lees-Miller from the University of Alberta won the novice event.

Dan Powell of RMC Won the Public Speaking.

Vinay Kumar Mysore of McGill University was elected to be the 2009-2010 CUSID President.

Meant to post this last week but it slipped off the front page of my inbox and out of mind. Apologies to those who sent it to me last week..... and again this week after I published the results of the later US BP Nationals.

Org-comm of AUDC 2009 still want to host

The org-comm of AUDC 2009 have taken a considerable amount of criticism and I said in an earlier post if someone made a counter argument on what happened I would post it so here it is:

From AUDC Mailing list

Dear Friends,

Having at around a month of time in hand before AUDC, after getting the positive report by the 3 member observer team and the highest level assurance from the EWU Vice Chancellor, we believe it is important for the entire Asian Community to consider certain things before giving their consent by 8 April 2009, Wednesday.


Among many of the things said and discussed, the Org Com and the Management Committee (Comprising of Senior Faculty Members) feels, few of the following remainders to be brought into focus for better understanding of the current status quo.

Firstly, After having months of preparation and positive re-assurance by the observers' team as well as Executive Council; apart from few issues which are already been taken into consideration, We believe, being a Host institute having every measures been taken to hold AUDC, We deserve a positive assurance by upcoming Wednesday, 8 April 2009, 5pm Dhaka Time (GMT +6 Hours).

Secondly, Referring to the emails exchanged between the EWU Vice Chancellor and AUDC Council Chair Estelle as well as the Conversation with Latif Bhai, the Vice Chancellor along with his Adviser Committee and Management Committee both comprising of Board of Directors and Senior Faculty Members, has already confirmed the Possibility to host AUDC on the given schedule provided all the Teams Register on a given time. It is highly important to understand that the hospitality partners of the AUDC need to be paid in advance.

It must also be mentioned that EWU is still capable to host AUDC having 120 Teams or any less, as soon as the council reinforce quick payment of Registration which is been delayed due to certain unforeseen consequences.

Thirdly, we all know that the Mutiny which took place in 25 February 2009, resulted the closure of the Registration Process for about a month. This also includes the observers visit following the incident. Following the observers Report, Again referring to the VC's email to Estelle, East West University fully assured regarding the possibility of hosting AUDC in coming May. However, the Vice Chancellor proposed for shifting the tournament time by 1 month (in option B) in order to ensure that the participants are given time to register in a flexible time and make their travel arrangements comfortably.

EWU, under no circumstances, made any comment of not hosting the AUDC 2009. For which, we believe going for an alternative option was not necessary.

Lastly, it is a repetition but worth considering for better understanding of the level of involvement ensured by a great pool of experienced faculty members and the Vice Chancellor himself, we believe any sort of doubts should not stay among anyone any longer.

We hope, having all the things said above, the Asian Community will favorably Appreciate the necessity to hold this year's AUDC 2009 by EWU with the given level of effort already been put into making this tournament happen.

We strongly believe, this will not only solve the great financial loss that will cost those many participants who have already bought their tickets, but also will serve the great purpose of Unity among the entire Asian Community.


Regards

Sabera Haque
On Behalf of
EWU AUDC Org Com

Update on AUDC 2009

Here is the latest update on the AUDC 2009 Championships. CSB cannot now step in to host the championships at such short notice so the vote has changed to a straight yes/no on EWU continuing to host while there is also a call for anyone interested in hosting the 2009 tournament.

Also and equally as important they are still some way short of reaching the required Quorum of votes. If you are reading this from an Asian University affiliated with AUDC or All-Asians then please check with the head of your society if they have voted.


Dear Friends,
CSB officially met with their school administration today and apparently there has been a misunderstanding. While CSB's Office of Student Affairs has full support for CSB's bid in 2010, they are uncomfortable with the idea of hosting a tournament in 2009, much less with such short notice.

For this reason, Options C & D are no longer available.

What we now have to vote on is this:

1) Do we want the tournament to be hosted by EWU this May?
You may either vote YES/NO.

It is important for us to vote on this even without the existence of a clear alternative because the EWU VC has given us a deadline for choosing the EWU in May option. After all, they still have to continue preparations and they need every single day they can get if they only have a month left for organization.

While the vote is on-going, we would like to open the floor for interested hosts for this year's tournament. If you would like to bid, kindly send an e-mail to me (hunichi@yahoo.com) and Jason Jarvis (debatekorea@gmail.com) and attach all pertinent details with regards to the tournament you are planning: schedule, intended reg fee, debate venues, hotel, etc. Most importantly, do get a signed letter of authorization from your school and attach it to the e-mail as well. This is to ascertain school support and to avoid confusion later on.

If and when we do receive such bids, the Exco will publish them in the e-groups so that institutions may start their deliberations. But for now, the most pressing concern is, do we want EWU to host in May or not?

The deadline that we've been given by EWU VC was tomorrow, Wednesday. This was already an extension from the original deadline of Sunday. I have asked Latif to request the VC for another extension, so we should know when the deadliest deadline is.

I have also request Latif to ask the EWU VC what will happen in the event that 60 teams are not reached by April 15. Latif has been kind enough to contact the EWU VC on Exco's behalf-- but please do not misunderstand, this does not mean Latif is related to the EWU bid in any way. He is just communicating with the EWU VC in behalf of the exco. I will update you as soon as we have a reply from the EWU VC.

Currently, we have received 17 votes from 8 institutions. Quorum in the AUDC Union for this year is 34 votes or 21 institutions. We still have a long way to go to reaching quorum, so please cooperate and send in your votes. It will also be a big help if you help the exco remind other institutions in the Union to vote as well. If you are a member of the AUDC Union, kindly e-mail all your votes to me, hunichi@yahoo.com with " VOTE" as title (i.e. UPM Vote or NLSIU Vote). If you are a member of the All Asian Debate Community, kindly e-mail your votes to Jason, debatekorea@gmail.com. All e-mails received through my personal address will be forwarded to the exco for tallying.

As always, thank you all.
Sincerely
Estelle Osorio

Chair, AUDC Exco

6 April 2009

Harvard win US Universities

Final Results from US Universities BP Debating Championships:
Overall Winners: Harvard (7-2 over Middle Temple)

Top of Team Tab: Middle Temple
Top Speaker on Tab: Daniel Warents
Final Audience Winners: Harvard (62-61 over Middle Temple)
Final Celebrity Winners: Harvard (7-5 over Middle Temple)

Final motion was on Banning Handguns

US Universities Championships: Results so far.

The US Universities Debating Championships are currently in progress. Tuna at globaldebate has posted some results:

Semi Finals:
MOTION: THB the US should actively undermine the ICC.

OG 5. Yale EB
OO 1.Middle Temple WC
CG 17. Alaska HH
CO 12. Loyola-M KA
Judges: Josh Martin, Beth Connor, Steve Llano, Neil Harvey Smith, Kiran Malancharuvil, Loke Wing Fatt, Chris Jones

OG 2. Harvard BB
OO 3. Hart House FE
CG 7. Vermont NC
CO 14. Seattle KS
Judges: Steve Johnson, Emily Ravenscroft, Ian Lising, Scott Rodriguez, Chris Richter, Steven West, Rhydian Morgan

Quarter Finals:

OG 8. Cambridge NK
OO 1. Middle Temple WC
CG 17. Alaska HH

CO 25. Marianapolis SW
Judges: Alex Just, Scott Rodriguez, Loke Wing Fatt, Josh Martin, Steve West

OG 13. HWS HK
OO 29. St. John’s BP
CG 5. Yale EB
CO 12. Loyola-M KA
Judges: DReg, Ian Lising, Debbie Newman, Chris Jones, Jackson Miller

OG 15. Claremont LS
OO 2. Harvard BB
CG 10. Loyola-M FC
CO 7. Vermont NC
Judges: Chris Kolerock, Neil Harvey Smith, Steve Llano, Kiran Malancharuvil, Chris Richter

OG 6. NLSI GV
OO 14. Seattle KS
CG 27. La Verne MT
CO 3. Hart House FE
Judges: Rhydian Morgan, Beth Connor, Wayne Kraemer, Steve Johnson, Emily R.


Octo Finals
Motion: This House would impose an absolute ban on imported seal products.

OG 17. Alaska HH
OO 32. La Verne ZM
CG 1. Middle Temple WC
CO 16. Colgate SN
Judges: David Register, Neil Harvey Smith, Wane Kraemer

OG 31. Loyola-M FS
OO 2. Harvard BB
CG 15. Claremont LS
CO 18. Colgate CS
Judges: Steve Johnson, Alex Just, Eric Barnes

OG 19. Linfield SJ
OO 3. Hart House FE
CG 30. Regis MB
CO 14. Seattle KS
Judges: John Martin, Ken Johnson, Brenna Lampson

OG 13. HWS HK
OO 20. Williams AG
CG 29. St. John’s BP
CO 4. Wits
Judges: Debbie Newman, Jackson Miller, Rhydian Morgan

OG 5. Yale EB
OO 28. Claremont WH
CG 21. Vermont MF
CO 12. Loyola-M KA
Judges: Chris Richter, Beth Connor, Shawn Briscoe


OG 11. La Verne AP
OO 6. NLSI GV
CG 27. La Verne MT
CO 22. Claremont HS
Judges: Steve West, Steve Llano, Chris Kolerock

OG 23. Portland BH
OO 7. Vermont NC
CG 26. Claremont GP
CO 10. Loyola –M MC
Judges: Loke Wing Fatt, Scott Rodriguez, Chris Jones

OG 24. Portland WP
OO 9. UC Davis/RIT MD
CG 25. Marianapolis SW
Co 8. Cambridge NK
Judges: Emily Ravenscroft, Ian Lising, John Patrick

The Break:
01. Middle Temple WC
02. Harvard BB
03. Hart House FE
04. Wits
05. Yale EB
06. NLSI GV
07. Vermont NC
08. Cambridge NK
09. UC Davis/RIT MD
10. Loyola –M MC
11. La Verne AP
12. Loyola-M KA
13. HWS HK
14. Seattle KS
15. Claremont LS
16. Colgate SN
17. Alaska HH
18. Colgate CS
19. Linfield SJ
20. Williams AG
21. Vermont MF
22. Claremont HS
23. Portland BH
24. Portland WP
25. Marianapolis SW
26. Claremont GP
27. La Verne MT
28. Claremont WH
29. St. John’s BP
30. Regis MB
31. Loyola-M FS
32. La Verne ZM

Voting on Asian Championships

Just a reminder that there is currently an ongoing vote regarding the future of AUDC 2009. If you are reading this and are the representative of a college/university that is a member of AUDC or All Asians then you should already be aware of this vote. However I note that both Estelle (AUDC) and Jason (All Asains) have posted lists of institutions they have not heard from.

Therefore if you are such a representative and have not seen the ongoing discussion on the AUDC and All Asians lists I suggest you contact Estelle or Jason (check the mailing lists for contact details).

Your 4 options are:

OPTION A: Tournament will still be held in EWU, original dates of May 13-22.
OPTION B: Tournament will still be held in EWU, but with two additional months of preparation.
OPTION C: Tournament to be held in CSB, the next ratified hosts, but will be held in September.
OPTION D: Tournament to be held in CSB, but will be held during the original dates of May 13-22.

You have until Wednesday to vote.

5 April 2009

PIDC International Slots

Greetings! The Philippine Inter-collegiate Debating Championship (PIDC) 2009, the largest and most prestigious national tournament in the Philippines in the Asians format hosted by the UP Debate Society, will be held on April 15-20, 2009, at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, campus. For eight years now, the UP Debate Society has organized an Asian Parliamentary tournament that has served as an arena for competitive debate and public speaking, underscoring the youth's active involvement in critical discourse.

The PIDC 2009 Board of Directors is pleased to announce that we are opening 6 team slots for non-breaking, international teams in this remarkable national tournament. PIDC 2009 will provide a venue for students of all backgrounds and academic direction to test their ideas and opinions on some of the most important issues of our day. As it gathers over 300 participants from the Philippines and Asia, indeed, the tournament is one of the best realms for such enriching debates and outstanding adjudication. With the efficiency that comes with organizational expertise, the organizers of PIDC 2009 also seek to provide a remarkable experience that embraces fun and camaraderie alongside competitive debate. Participants will also be treated to three great socials events—Opening Night, Break Night Party, and Championship Dinner—which are also some of the most anticipated parts of PIDC 2009.

Please visit http://www.pidc-online.com and download the tournament profile for the comprehensive tournament information and registration details. For international teams, the submission of the Phase 2 registration forms through http://www.pidc-online.com is on April 8, 2009 (Wednesday) and you may pay for your registration fee at the on-site registration on April 15, 2009 at the UP Diliman Campus. The granting of slots for international teams will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

Should you have further questions or concerns about PIDC 2009, please do not hesitate to contact us at +639178862232, or send us a message at pidc2009@.... You may also visit www.pidc-online.com, our official website, for regular updates and announcements.

Thank you very much, and we look forward to seeing you at PIDC 2009.

Anna Arcellana
Communications DirectorPIDC 2009