On Tuesday February 2nd at 18:00 in Cajsa (Mannerheimintie 5B, 4th floor) we will have an Annual General Meeting of the Debating Society. At the meeting we will elect the new board, approve documents for the past year and have a chat about our future plans for the upcoming year.

After the meeting, we will have a regular debate session in the same room (bound to start around 18:30). The motion for the week is ‘This House Would Allow Mothers/Fathers In Prison To Be Accompanied By Their Children’.

As always, we’ll proceed to the bar post-debate to hang out in a great atmosphere and celebrate our new board!

The show debate proved to be quite a success and we hope we’ll see more new members join our club this semester!

Welcome to our first meeting this decade on Tuesday January 26th at 18:30 in Cajsa (New Student House, Mannerheimintie 5B, 4th floor). The motion for the debate is ‘This House Would Enforce Racial and Religious Profiling in Airports’. As always, you can come and watch us debate or take part in it – we’ll provide all the help and supported needed.

Just to give you a taste of what is going to happen this semester apart from our regular Tuesday meetings, here is the preliminary plan of socials, travelling plans and debate trainings:

-Bowling night
-Winter-swimming
-Boardgames night
-Sledging
-Trip to Tallinn (where we might meet up with Estonian debaters!)
-Workshop by Rich Penny coming up in February
-Training seminar and workshop by another debate celebrity in mid-April
-Debating competitions in Lithuania, UK, France and Germany (info will be posted on the list as the tournaments approach)
-Debate Summer Camp in mid-June (two days of fun and debating in a peaceful Finnish countryside!)

We hope to deliver all of those and more! Stay tuned

Spring semester is about to start and so are activities of our Debating Society! We are proud to welcome you to our show debate on Tuesday 19th January at 18:30 in Mannerheim-sali (Mannerheimintie 5A, top floor). Come and watch our experienced members engage in a heated and entertaining debate and feel free to voice your opinions afterwards! The topic for the debate is ‘This House Believes That All Taxation Is  Theft’.

No prior registration is needed, entrance is free, some drinks and snacks will be served after the debate. Come along!

This year our debating society was represented at Worlds University Debating Championship (WUDC) for the fourth time. We sent one team (Julia Toivanen and Anna Bessonova) and one judge (Ami Ganguli) from our institution. The winners in three different categories are:

MGIMO A (Russia) in EFL (English as a foreign language) Category

Tel Aviv A (Israel) in ESL (English as a second language) Category

Sydney A (Australia) in EPL (English as a Proficient language) Category

You can find the tab here http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tdw2qVR3Q7vfFT-aSF-7GGA&gid=2

The competition this year was hosted in Antalya, Turkey by Koç University. It was an amazingly well-run tournament in all possible ways! There were almost no delays in the schedule, the organizers worked really hard on ensuring everyone’s wishes were met and all their promises were fulfilled. We enjoyed exceptionally high-quality debates and fabulous socials. It was a truly fantastic 10-day experience in sunny Antalya in a company of great people.

Thank you Koç and we hope that our society will continue sending teams to future Worlds!