York Debating Society

This year, for the first time, York sent a full compliment of 3 teams and 2 judges to the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC) in Amsterdam! The competition is the highlight of the European debating calendar, and attracts some of the best debaters in the continent.

York performed admirably, with the top team of Nathan Paulson and Mark Schofield achieving 55th on the tab of 200 teams. Dan Chen also achieved chair-judge status on the second day. Many good times were had in the Dutch capital, and we hope to send a another 3 teams next year!

We were lucky enough to be invited for a complimentary meal at the Mirchiz restaurant in York. Never one to turn away a free dinner, we were more than happy to attend! The meal was excellent and a good time was had by all.

We also held our annual end-of-term meal, this year at Nandos! It was great to see a large turnout, and we hope to see lots of familiar faces back again next year. The evening was finished with a few drinks in the city centre.

Following on from our week 5 class on Points of Information, why not take a look at our guide to POIs and how to give them. Put together by our training officer Nathan, you can read the guide Points of Information here.

Points of information are a crucial part of a good debate. They involve timing, skill, and quick-wit. This will tell you everything you know about how to stop another opponent’s argument in its tracks. Come along to future classes to try debating and giving POIs yourself!

In light of the recent controversy surrounding the Vice-Chancellor’s expenses, we asked whether students should have the ultimate say in their University. Would it be better if students could elect the University administration? Is the current situation undemocratic and disenfranchising to students?

Unfortunately the weather turned against us but the rain failed to dampen the spirits of the debaters. Proposition argued from the point of Student experience directly affected by the University, and personal development which arises from responsibility. Opposition came back with the arguments that the Government is a larger stakeholder and should have more of a say, and that students should have the freedom to foster their own personal development.

The motion narrowly failed to pass, but all were glad to get back indoors aftwerwards! Our next event will be our summer social, look out for details shortly.

This week, instead of a public debate, we held a ‘hot air balloon’ debate in Rumours bar! The idea is simple, the debaters (in various characters) must argued for why they should not be thrown off a sinking hot air balloon. The characters included George W. Bush, Che Guevara, Paris Hilton, Pope Benedict XVI and Pinocchio.

The Pope argued from the point of truth and political development, Che Guevara from shared values, George Bush on power, and Pinnochio on virtue. The character who won the debate, and was kept inside the balloon, was Paris Hilton played by Ophelia who argued the economic and political benefits her character brings.

The next debate will be an outdoors debate in week 6. Look out for posters on campus, and the facebook event (you can join us by clicking the icon on the sidebar)!

Yesterday, York Debating held a social trip to the Spring Meeting of the York Racecourse! A fantastic day was had by all, with some great racing throughout the afternoon. Despite mixed successes at the bookie’s, all members came back happy and slightly more tanned. The night was topped off with a few drinks in the City.

Our socials are a great chance to meet members of the society, find out what we do, and generally have a good time. All students are welcome, and if you’d like to find out when they are just join us on Facebook (follow the links to the right).

The York Open 2010 was held last weekend with a fantastic turnout and brilliant competition. It was won by a team from Warwick, with a composite team coming top of the team tab. The winning team received £50 and a great social was had afterwards, finishing in Club Salvation.

The motions for the four rounds and final were:

• This house would make seeking an abortion grounds for temporary asylum
• This house believes that UK medical schools should only admit foreign students from countries where the demand for doctors cannot be met by the local institutions
• This house would allow proprietary license holders and their appointed agents to encode malwares, including but not limited to spywares and viruses within their products in order to protect intellectual properties.
• This house would take into account the criminal record of a defendant’s biological parents when sentencing.

More information about the York Open 2010 can be found on the York Open Page. Thanks to all those who helped out and provided crash to the competitors!

A fantastic debate was held yesterday, which saw the motion carried by a margin of just one vote!

We hold parliamentary debates to offer all the audience a chance to speak and contribute, which is guided by the debate that is had by the debaters. It is a great way of putting your views across without the pressure of giving a speech.

The proposition argued for a form of a single-alternative voting system with a directly elected leader. The opposition’s main argument was that these systems tend to subordinate the majority views while favouring the extreme minorities.

After the debate we held an extroadinary general meeting, and congratulations to Nathan Paulson, our new Schools’ secretary, and Ophelia Groth, our new Press and Publicity Officer.

Congratulations go to the three York debaters and one judge who competed at the Aberystwyth Inter-Varsity (IV) this weekend.

Chris Woods broke to the final of the competition as a speaker, and Matteo De Martino broke to final as a judge. The York team of Mark Schofield and Nathan Paulson came 6th on the results tab, which is an excellent achievement!

To find out more about competing with us at IVs, come along to our fortnightly classes. Details in our weekly e-mail, which can be subscribed to by e-mail debating@yusu.org.

Last night, York debating took part in a campus general election debate, live on radio! We were represented by Chris Woods, who’s role was to stimulate some debate and argumentation between the party representatives. It was a lively and energetic debate, and well worth listening to!

You can listen to the whole debate on URY player at http://ury.york.ac.uk/uryplayer.php?pod=127