For the first time in the four years that the Intercollegiate Debate Tournament (IDT) has been running, a debater from Glendon campus, Lothlorien Farley Cundell, along with her partner representing Calumet College, Marie Chen, have won the championship.
IDT is a tournament hosted each year by the York Debating Society (YDS) where debaters with little or no experience from York debate under their college name. The tournament boasted prestigious debaters, alumni, as well as future lawyers who gave feedback and adjudicated the heavily contested rounds.
Trophy donated by York's College masters for the Intercollegiate Debate Tournament
On Saturday, Sept. 22, debaters from Bethune College, Calumet College, Founders College, McLaughlin College, Glendon campus, New College, Osgoode Hall Law School, Stong College and Vanier College all competed in three rounds of debate.
The controversial final round over whether "This House Believes that Posing for Playboy" is immoral was hard fought. The following were the tournament finalists, not including the two winners, Allan Cocounato (McLaughlin), Michael Chan (New College), Kirin Saili (Stong), Samruddhi Thakkar (New College), Aida Ahmadi (McLaughlin) and Ella Galpern (Founders). Allan Cocounato was also the top speaker at the tournament.
The York Debating Society meets every Tuesday and Thursday at 5:30pm and is open to all York Students. The YDS will be sending eight teams of debaters, from Sept. 28 to 30, to the Central Novice Championships.
For more information on the club visit the York Debating Society website.