An Najah Hosts a Virtual English Debate Tournament
The Office of International Development and External Affairs (IDEA)’s University Debate Society (NNUDS) held a local English debate tournament, ‘NNU Pro-Am Debate Tournament Palestine 2019.’ The tournament included participation of English debaters from Al Quds University and Al Quds Bard College in Abu Dis in addition to members of the NNDUS team.
As Pro-Am structured tournament, the majority of teams were made up of one novice debater (with four months or less of debate training or who has never competed in a tournament) and one experienced debaters (with more than four months of debate experience and has previously participated in a debate tournament).
The aim of this type of tournament was to help novice debaters advance their skills through one-on-one practice and mentorship experience with an experienced debater. The tournament was unique in that it incorporated virtual exchange technology in order to include high level, international adjudicators for each round of the tournament. The virtual adjudicators were U.S. based and included five members of the University of La Verne Debate Team in California and two members of the Cornell Speech and Debate Society in New York.
This structure of debate involves four teams competing against one another with two teams per side and two members per team. Each team aims to create the most persuasive case after only 15 minutes of preparation. The tournament included three debate rounds ranging in topics including whether or not women should be more involved in the Palestinian political resistance, whether developing nations are morally justified in implementing protectionist policies and a topic about marginalized people and international funding. Following the first three rounds, the four teams who's combined rankings were highest moved on to the Grand Final. These debaters were tasked with debating whether to prefer a world without government.
The first place team was Tayseer Alawneh and Rahaf Essam Aloudeh, both Novice speakers of An-Najah's NNUDS. The best experienced speaker award went to Dhalia Alayassa of the Al Quds Bard Debate Union and the second best went to Layan Malhees of NNUDS. The best Novice speaker was Manal Tuffaha of NNUDS, and Marah Adham AbuTaha, Deema Sous, Tayseer Alawneh, Rahaf Essam Aloudeh all tied as second place best Novice speakers.
The Chief Adjudicators who are responsible for creating the debate motions for the tournament included Iman Saraj of NNUDS, Zeina Melhem of Al Quds Bard Debate Union, Fares Abdullah of the University of La Verne Debate Team, and Alia Gilbrecht of NNUDS.
The An-Najah University Debate Society (NNUDS) was established in 2017 and has trained over 200 students and recent graduates in debate and argumentation. NNUDS has held two international tournaments and numerous smaller competitions and community training workshops. To get involved with NNUDS and apply to join their team, contact [email protected] or visit their site at www.facebook.com/NNUDSPALESTINE