The Debate Society is off and running for Fall 2011! Learn more about how well AUDS is doing this year.
Recruitment
The Debate Society had another strong year of recruitment, and welcomes one of its largest classes of novice and freshmen debaters. Though the number of active debaters is often in flux for the first semester, there are more than 15 new members of the team. The novices have already done well; as teams, they’ve finished in the top five six times already this semester! In addition, they’ve shown up in the top ten speakers an excellent ten times. As the Novice of the Year (NOTY) competition starts in earnest, look for AU novices to start tearing up the league.
OTY Watch
After a bit of a slow start, AU is moving forward on all of the important “OTY” (of the year) races. These standings measure individual, team (2-person), and school rankings on a national and year-long basis. The Debate Society has been very successful, putting together two finals appearances and advancing to elimination rounds at five tournaments so far.
Last weekend, the team took its biggest step forward, winning the tournament hosted by the University of Pennsylvania. American’s “A” team of President James Schmitt and Director of Outreach and Development Stephen Hayes won all five of their preliminary rounds, defeating teams from Stony Brook, Rutgers, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, and Columbia and entered elimination rounds as one of the top two seeds. In quarterfinals, AU A defeated a team from Fordham University on a 2-1 decision. In semifinals, they defeated Princeton’s A team, also on a 2-1 decision. Finally, in finals, they defeated the same team from Columbia on a 6-1 decision, choosing the topic “The Supreme Court should not strike down campaign finance laws on the basis of First Amendment protections.”
The tournament, with 59 teams, was the largest ever won by a team of two debaters from AU, and the second-largest ever won by an AU student (Leah Storer won a 62-team West Point tournament in 2010). After the win, AU A is ranked 4th nationally, and is well-positioned to advance due to complexities of the ranking system.
Meanwhile, Stephen Hayes looks to take 9th Speaker of the Year (SOTY) after finishing as the second speaker at the tournament. If he can hold the position, it would be the highest individual finish for a debater from AU.
American University ProAm Invitational
Last and certainly not least, the Debate Society is looking forward to hosting its own tournament on November 4th and 5th. The tournament draws nearly 150 debaters from around the country, and usually draws about 25 alumni to help judge. This year, American looks to have one of its largest tournaments ever, after running an excellent tournament last year. If you’re interested in helping to house debaters, please contact us at debate@audebate.org.