UD Debate Society: Swarthmore Tournament by

Date, Time, & Location

iantay1 — 2025-09-30 18:09:41 UTC

The debate tournament started on Friday, October 3rd and ended Saturday, October 4th. It took place at Swathmore College in PA. We left at 1:30 from Newark and got back to campus at 12:30am. The next morning we left by 7:30am and got back to campus around 2-3pm.

Event Description

iantay1 — 2025-09-30 18:11:22 UTC

There were 6 of us total: John and Moises were judges, India and I were partnered for debate, and then Daniel and Matt were together for debate. The way it works is two groups from different schools are chosen to debate each other; they are given the role of either Gov or Opp. As Gov you present a case and have to debate on the side of whatever the goal of the case presents. As Opp, you have to debate against whatever the goal of the case is. In the debate, there is a judge (and at this event 2 wings because it was a novice competition.) The judge weighs whether Opp or Gov supplied a better argument and the votes in favor of the group that debated better. After the ruling is revealed, the gov gives ranks and explains the strengths and weaknesses of both groups.

Reflection

iantay1 — 2025-09-30 19:16:53 UTC

As someone who plans to eventually enter the world of politics, its extremely important that I am able to not only identify and justify whatever ideology I uphold, but also have the ability to deconstruct my own and others' beliefs. In additon, the debate team in highschool and now college have helped foster an immense amount of confidence in my public speaking abilities.
This was the first event that I truly had to identify myself as a UD student and be representative of the school itself. Especially since it is somewhat of a requirement to spend some time with the group you debated against post-debate.
I knew before even applying to UD that joining clubs is a non-negotiable for me, so being able to stay connected to the Newark campus especially as an AAP student is really nice. Its hard to feel like a UD student while going to DelTech every day.

iantay1 — 2025-10-07 17:34:04 UTC

The presidents of the DSU debate society came on day 2

iantay1 — 2025-10-07 17:35:20 UTC

the Swarthmore campus is really cool, Moises and Matt are missing from this pic. Dude in the UD shirt is our President John Becker (super cool guy who could be heard on WVUD)