IDEA-CAU Tournament a Success!

The IDEA-CAU Open held at Chung-Ang University last weekend was a great kick-off to the debate semester here in Korea. Seventeen 3-person teams competed in Asian Parliamentary Debate - including some universities new to the activity. Konkuk University and Korea Development Institute both fielded teams exploring a debate tournament for the first time. In addition to several new teams and adjudicators, Jason Jarvis was able to train Gina Kim and Dohhee Roh in how to run debate tab. Notice the picture of the tab and organizing team "working hard" watching YouTube on the projector and eating pizza....

Saturday featured 3 preliminary rounds with the themes Law and Crime, International Relations, and Sports and Entertainment. On Sunday, a 4th preliminary round with the theme Ethics was held followed by Quarters (Asian Affairs), Semis (Gender) and Finals (Democracy). After finals on Sunday evening, those still around celebrated with food and libations at a nearby restaurant.

The final round between an Ehwa-Kyunghee International swing team and Hanyang 1 was on the motion "This House Believes that the Best Cure for the Ills of Democracy is More Democracy." Debating as Government, the Hanyang team centered the debate on increasing e-government in order promote democratic participation and freedom of information. The swing team argued back by exposing the dangers of e-voting (hacking, proxy votes, ect.) along with proposing an alternative narrative to explain low levels of democratic participation: people are fed up with the behavior of politicians. The debate was a 3-0 decision for the swing team of Ah-young Kim (Ewha), Hanna Ko (Ewha) and Jya-hyun Lee (Kyunghee Intl.).

The top 5 speakers at the tournament were:

1) Ah-young Kim (Ewha - swing)
2) Roh Hye-won (Korea University Debate Club)
3) Hanna Ko (Ewha - swing)
4) Michal Vodrazka (Korea Development Institute)
5) An Hee-jin (EDiS)

Many thanks to Chung-Ang University for hosting this event. CAU has always shown a great commitment to promoting debate and last weekend's tournament saw this trend continue. Logan from CAU deserves much credit for organizing this tournament as well as tirelessly promoting debate throughout Asia. Damin Kim and Lee Chan Young did about 99% of the work for this tournament - next time you see one of them, buy them lunch and say thanks! Jason Jarvis' willingness to train people in running tab should not be forgotten - this sort of knowledge-sharing will help make debate even more sustainable and wide-spread in Korea. Finally, to all the adjudicators who spent yet another weekend on a college campus helping debaters refine their advocacy skills: you all help make this activity a reality, so my warmest thanks for your help.

Motions:

Round 1 (Law and Crime)
1) THBT naked walkers should be imprisoned
2) TH supports the use of juries for all criminal trials.
3) THW use electronic bracelets to monitor pedophiles after release from prison.

Round 2 (International Relations)
1) TH supports Kosovo's declaration of independence.
2) THBT multinational businesses have a responsibility to adhere to international human rights standards.
3) THBT Turkey should be a member of the European Union.

Round 3 (Sports and Enternatinment)
1) THBT states should not fund sports.
2) THW allow athletes who have undergone sex-change operations to compete as their current gender.
3) THW set a minimum age requirement to become a pop star.

Round 4 (Ethics)
1) TH supports the death penalty for human trafficking.
2) THBT monogamy does more harm than good.
3) THW ban pets.

Quarterfinals (Asian Affairs)
1) THW censure China for its support of the Myanmar government.
2) THBT ASEAN should abandon its non-intervention policy.
3) THW send more troops to Afghanistan.

Semifinals (Gender)
1) THW create quotas for women in parliament.
2) THW give fathers an equal amount of paternity leave as mothers.
3) THBT Britney Spears is a good role model for women.

Finals (Democracy)
1) THBT e-government promotes democratic participation.
2) THW tie foreign aid to democratic reforms.
3) THBT the cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy.