Join

Welcome back! The Columbia Parliamentary Debate Society is back from winter break and will be holding try outs for the spring semester.  Regardless of whether you have never debated before, or have years of High School experience, if you have any interest in college-level parliamentary debate, we encourage you to attend our information session and to try out if you think that Columbia Debate is for you.

Information Session:
Columbia Debate will be holding an information session on January 17 from 9 to 10:15PM, location TBA. During the session, you will have an opportunity to hear about Columbia Debate, meet the team, watch a quick practice round and ask questions. Though attendance at the information session is not required, it is HIGHLY recommended and we look forward to seeing you there.

Tryouts:

Columbia Debate will be holding spring semester tryouts during the following times:

Monday, January 23rd from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. in Lerner 501

Tuesday, January 24th from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. in Lerner 501

To sign up, please view the schedule here and email columbiadebate@gmail.com to request an available slot.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkfzCAwy7k_OdF9iUjlIMTFSOWVNWlRaZDczXzhEY0E&hl=en_US&pli=1#gid=0

Tryout Procedure:

Please prepare a speech of no more than 3-5 minutes in which you argue for or against a point. Please, NO graduation speeches, and NO True Blood-themed speeches, etc. You get the point. Show us that you are passionate, and that you can convince us of something. There may be a short round of questions after you speak to see how you think on your feet.

Tryout slots will be 10 minutes each, so please make sure you are on time and ready to go!

Can’t wait to see you all there!

The Columbia Parliamentary Debate Society
We are the university’s only competitive debate team! We provide opportunities for team members to travel nearly every weekend to universities around the country to compete in debate tournaments. The team has been very successful lately, as a result of practices and practice rounds every week. In addition, the team assists other organizations such as the Big Apple Debate League (middle school debate), and has been involved in events hosted by organizations such as the NAACP. We’re always looking to grow as a team, engage with our community, and get our name out there. Plus, we love to have fun. We become great friends and party together, both at Columbia and the schools where we compete. If all of this sounds like it could enrich your college experience, consider trying out!