UM Debate Wins in North Georgia

On September 25-26, The UM Debate Team traveled to Gainesville, Georgia to compete in the intercollegiate tournament hosted by The University of North Georgia. The tournament featured British Parliamentary style debate. In this style, debaters must be prepared to debate without files or prepared materials 15 minutes after a motion is announced. Two teams argue in favor of the motion and two teams oppose the motion, with the four teams in the debate competing for ranks, with the best team ranked first, the next best team second, and so on. So the competition requires a nuanced strategy involving both clash and cooperation. Debaters prepare by practicing and by becoming well versed and knowledgeable on every possible issue.

UM sent 11 debaters to UNG, with five debating in English, and six in Spanish. Our Spanish Language team of Vicky van Eerdewijk and Victoria Ormaechea advanced into the final round, winning a Chicken trophy (the tournament is called the Chicken and the Egg, because Gainesville, Georgia is known for its Chicken farming industry). Vicky Van Eerdewijk won the award as the top Spanish Language debater in the tournament, Victoria Ormaechea was 2nd, Natacha Larnaud, 7th, David Mendez 9th, and in English, Liam Allen-McGoran won the award as 15th speaker. The team is coached by Director of Debate David Steinberg, Assistant Coach Randall Martinez, and visiting scholar, Haiyan Wu.