Debate: End of Year Updates, Graduating Members and More!
by Carleton University Debating Society
Constructive Points
1) The 2008 North American Championships to be held at Carleton
2) Your New Executive for 2007-2008
3) National High School Seminar held in Ottawa
4) Graduating Members
5) End of The Year
1) On March 24th at the CUSID AGM, The Carleton University Debating Society
beat The McGill Debating Union on a vote of 15-8 for the rights to host the
2008 North American Championships. The tournament will be hosted at Carleton
University on the weekend of January 25th-27th. This will be the largest
tournament Carleton has ever hosted and will feature the top teams from
across both Canada and the United States. Planning for the tournament will
be beginning over the summer and we strongly encourage all members of CUDS
to become involved in planning activities. Please check CUSIDnet and the
website for more details as the become available.
2) After an epic 5 and a half hour AGM, your new CUDS executive is as
follows:
President: Adam Coombs
VP Administration: Jordan E. Charbonneau
VP Communication: Andrew Lawrence
VP External: Blair Stein
VP French: Alexander Grinton (aka:Grinton)
VP Internal: Garnett Genuis
Xerxes TD: Alex Bourbonniere
North-Ams 2008 TcoD's: Blair Stein and Andrew Lawrence
Tournament Selection Committee: Ian Freeman, Jordan Charbonneau, Andrew
Lawrence, Adam Coombs and the Novice Rep
Novice Rep and Equity Officer will be chosen at the start of the 2007-2008
school year. For any concerns regarding forum moderation please contact
exec(a)carletondebate.org.
3) CUDS will be involved in hosting the 2007 High School National
Debate Seminar, a prestigious national debate event happening in Ottawa from
April 26-28 as per the following schedule:
http://www.csdf-fcde.ca/english/national_seminar/spring_seminar_schedule.php
We really need people to help out on those days, in whatever way you can.
No experience with debate is necessary, and you will have the opportunity to
watch some of the best high school debaters in the country in action. If
you are interested in helping for all or part of that time, please contact
Garnett Genuis, the Chief Adjudicator at ggenuis(a)gmail.com.
4) The debating year is closing, and along with the end of debating comes
the end of university. CUDS has several graduating members this year, and we
would like to thank them for the contributions that they made to the club.
All will be missed and we wish them luck in their endeavors beyond debating.
1) Padraic Ryan: Padraic has been involved in CUDS for four years and for
his time here has served as our Vice President Fundraising, Vice President
External and our resident lumberjack impersonator. Padraic also became the
first CUDS member to serve as CUSID president. In regards to debating
results, Padraic placed 107th at 2003 Winter Carnival but has since gone
onto break at Worlds, North-Ams, Nationals, BP Champs, Yale IV and Hart
House Invitational. He became the first CUDS member to win a tournament by
winning The Winter Carnival Invitational this year. He was also the top
Canadian speaker at 2007 UBC Worlds, Yale IV and the top speaker at SoDales
2007. Padraic intends to take a year off but will return to the CUSID world
to be the CA for RMC Leger and Equity Officer for Carleton North-Ams 2008.
He also will still be on CUSIDnet to express his disdain for professional
sports.
2) Mike Powell: Mike will be leaving Carleton (he says he really is this
time) after 7 years. In his time here Mike has served as Vice President
Debate, CUDS President (twice) and Resident Old Guy. Mike was a member of
the first Carleton team to break at a title tournament with his
quarter-final appearance at Dalhousie Nats in 2003. Mike also broke at the
Father Roger Guindon Cup at U of O and SolDales Invitational and has the
proud distinction of being one or two places off of winning speaker hardware
at many tournaments. Beyond that, Mike has helped Carleton debaters to run
incredible tournaments, become better debaters, prep cases and generally
enjoy their time here at CUDS. Finally, Mike was the tournament director for
Carleton Nats 2006 and organized what was generally considered to be the
best National Championships ever. He now leaves Carleton for the large and
scary real world and will be sorely missed by the club. However Mike will be
returning to be our tabs director for Carleton North-ams 2008 and will
continue to rack up his record number of posts on CUSIDnet.
3) Josh Prowse: Josh is CUDS' resident dirty hippy and fan of co-operative
games. While at CUDS Josh served as Vice President Communications and
Secretary Treasurer. He has also disappeared for long stretches of time to
go on Katimavik, work and travel the world. Josh debated at 2007 UBC Worlds
and was one of four Carleton speakers to place in the top 20 at the 2006
Father Roger Guindon Cup at U of O. Josh also was the Tournament Director
for the 2007 Lord Dorchester Cup which was the largest invitational in CUDS
history and went off without a hitch. He is also responsible for what will
hopefully become a new CUSID tradition, that being RFDs for open rounds.
Josh is departing Carleton for the real world and will be back in Ottawa at
some point... we just don't know when.
4) Mark Rubenstein: Mark is the resident UN Society mole within CUDS. Mark
has served as chair of the Carleton North-Ams 2008 bid committee,
Co-volunteer coordinator for Carleton Nats, the equity officer for the 2007
Lord Dorchester Cup and VP Beard. He was also the first CUDS member to judge
at Worlds and debated at multiple tournaments in his short two years with
us. Mark is off to either grad school or law school next year and will be
debating wherever he goes to school meaning he will be back to debate at
Carleton North-Ams 2008.
5) Many thanks for everyone that came out throughout the year and
contributed to CUDS. While meetings are officially over, many of the
residents of Ottawa have expressed a desire to keep debating over the
summer. If you want to keep debating and are staying in Ottawa, please
contact them on the CUSIDnet forums. Once again, a big thanks to everyone
that came out this year, and we look forward to seeing everyone next year.
We will be sending out information about next year's debating when the new
school year comes around.
***Please do not reply directly to this email. If you have any questions or
comments, please direct them to vpcom(a)carletondebate.org ***
17 years
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Debate: AGM, Executive Platforms
by Carleton University Debating Society
CONSTRUCTIVE POINTS
1. Annual General Meeting
2. Executive Platforms
2.1 President, Andrew Lawrence
2.2 President, Adam Coombs
2.3 Vice President Administration, Jordan Charbonneau
2.4 Vice President Internal, Garnett Genuis
2.5 Vice President Internal, Daniel Westlake
2.6 Vice President External, Blair Stein
2.7 Vice President French/Francais, Alexander Grinton
2.8 Vice President French/Francais, Yannick Veilleux-LePage
2.9 Xerxes High School Cup Tournament Director, Alexander Bourbonierre
1. The Annual General Meeting of the Carleton University Debate Society
will take place on April 5, at 7:00. As a reminder, all Members in Good
Standing have voting rights. A Member in Good Standing is defined as having
attended either four meeting in the past two months, or having attended one
external tournament in the past academic year. If you fit this bill, be
sure to get out to the AGM to vote.
2. The platforms of the people that have decided to run for executive
positions so far will follow below.
2.1 President, Andrew Lawrence
I think we've all learned a lot of things this year, and some things that I
have observed have led me to enter my bid for the the presidency. This is
not a conclusion I came to lightly.
I'm going to begin with a bit of meta-platforming, and talk about my overall
philosophy before I move to the issues and my relevant experience.
I believe that our society is facing new challenges. We face new scrutiny,
and a new position on campus. Stable funding, while not making us an
elephant in the room, has certainly brought us place where we will be
subject to particular scrutiny from other organizations, in the very least
CUSA. Like it or not, there are particular expectations and perceptions that
we are going to have to deal with, and how we meet these could have a
serious impact on our society. This has been demonstrated by our dealings
with CUSA recently- How the VPI of CUSA percieved our society has had a
direct Impact on our CUSIDnet and Equity policies.
With this in mind, I believe that how the role of the president needs a new
direction. In the past, the presidency has been reactive- mostly
communicating to other organizations after after they've contacted us. I
think this needs to change, and that the president should henceforth be
proactive and actively work to maintain positive relationships with other
campus organizations on a regular basis.
This became quite clear to me during the last CUSA council meeting. When the
complaints against the society were being discussed, you could sense the
displeasure in the room, not only with the incident, but with our club. I
believe that this is a problem, and something we can reasonably expect to be
a major issue in any future dealings with the student union.
I think it was quite telling when Garnett got up to speak at the council
meeting, he started his introduction with something like "I know that you
only hear from us when things aren't going bad, but debate is a really fun
society...".
I intend to change this. I want the world to hear from us when things are
going well, when we are doing all the positive things that we do. I want the
rest of campus to know what we already do, that we are a great society with
a lot to contribute. I think this is a crucial step for our society that
must be diligently pursued, because other people knowing just how great our
society is will be tremendously important if we ever are unfortunate enough
to face a similar situations as we did these past two years.
And here is how I'm going to do it!:
1. Building Bridges on Campus
The first thing to be done is to make sure that as a club, that we stay
current in student affairs while maintaining a non partisan stance. This can
come from simple things like showing up to Clubs and Societies, CUSA and
community events, and sending along our symbolic support for Student
Initiatives and programs, or dropping by in the CUSA office on a regular
basis.
When we can, we should also participate in these events, or even, as Garnett
and I did this year with MOSAIC this year, take part in the organization of
these events. As president, I will continue and Increase participation in
these kind of events.
I think this is an Important part of changing perceptions of our society,
especially since the people who organize these events and seek club's
participation in them are often the same people who would be looking into
how we are running things.
2. Getting people to take notice
Our participation in moderating the "Does god exist?" Debate lead to several
new people showing an interest in our society. Having similar exposure from
our own events, like the one Josh organized at the beginning of the year,
ans Garnett and Myself in the second semster with better postering could
only have a similarly beneficial effect. I, as president pledge to work with
next year's VPI to Implement some of these Ideas. The more exposure we have
on campus, the better. This could also help with practicing for out rounds,
being in potentially similar situations.
I pledge to work with the VPI to make see at least two public debates a
semester, and make sure that they are well publicized.
I also pledge to Increase our prescene by better displaying our results. We
did fantasticly well this year, and there was little campus exposure to show
for our results. Last year, when Mike and Jo won worlds, the Charlatan ran
an article on their victory, and if I recall, failed to mention Padraic and
Garnett (at least in any significant way). I will make sure that our student
and university papers are aware of our results, and will write letters and
articles myself to get the exposure we deserve.
3. Keeping it clean
It is not the president's role to run all the administrative details of the
club. I do think, however, that it is the president's role to make sure that
those responsible for running the administrative details are doing their
job, and are doing it properly. Mark mentioned some concern over VP's taking
responsibility for their areas, and as president I would do my part to make
sure that everyone is taking their responsabilities seriously.
Things can't seem shady if they are done, in plain sight and by the book. I
pledge, as president, to make sure that all VP's and Officers of the club
are giving due diligence to their portfolios.
Also under the heading of keeping it clean, I pledge to go to equity
services to learn what I can, through whatever training or Information they
offer, to better understand equity and equity issues, to ensure that actions
and sayings from myself and the rest of the executive can only be taken as
they are meant. I pledge to do this no matter what the outcome of the AGM is
on equity issues.
I also will seek Equity Service's cooperation at novice training day. And
enforce whatever policy comes out of the AGM with utmost vigilance.
4. Keeping it fun
There has been some concern about socials at our club, both their
accessibility to novii and, some aswell over how we can manage to relax and
unwind. I'm commited to keeping things accesible, and fun.
In this case, I think actions speak louder than words. This year as VPI i
made a considered effort to encourage socials involving members of our club.
Often hosted at my house. These, I think, were largely successful. Without
going into specifics, I believe I managed to keep things accessible to those
who had certain issues. Including hosting a Hanukkah party to keep things
diverse. Also, and perhaps more importantly, without going into specifics
many novii were present and enjoyed these events. I will continue to do my
best to make sure our socials are accessible, diverse, and successful.
5. Recruitment, Retention and Training
Recruitment
I've allready mentioned raising our campus profile through public debates,
and getting the word out about our society. I also pledge to
-Be an effective representative of our society at the prelude table, and
getting as many people to sign up as I can.
-Take advantage of departmental rescources
-Do two weeks worth of Class talks
I think we should not only increase our physical prescence on campus, with
more tables and events, but also use the Carleton Online community to our
advantage.
- I pledge to use facebook, and other online mediums as a recruitment and
retention tool.
Retention
As outlined in my earlier topics, I think that retention is an Issue that
encompases lots of different spheres of debate life. It encompasses
tournaments, socials, and our debates. To quickly outline some proposals
-Keep Socials fun, and many of them. Host them myself
-Encourage Novice attendance at these events
-Send as many people as we can to tournaments
-Have a stronger focus on raising the aggregate and average level of debate
skill in our club.
Training
The president is the person in charge of conducting meetings. As such, I
intend to use these responsabilities to structure our day to day meetings so
that there is a larger focus on training.
I intend to do this by focusing on basic debate skills such as finding pros
and cons, how flow a round, and how to judge at the beginning of meetings in
the early year, as well as encouraging seminars from our more experienced
members of the club. I can't promise anything on behalf of Ian, Garnett,
Paddy, Mike or Adam or any other experienced member, but I can promise that
I will work with them and encourage them to help out. And I can promise that
I will do my part by contributing what I have learned.
I also intend to bring back case preperation sessions, hosted at a
convenient and relaxed place. I think learning to build a case is an
Important and Valuable part of being a debater, and pledge to do my best to
pass these skills on, and encourage others to do the same.
I will also use my responsibilities to encourage Pro-Aming in house, and use
the presidential spot on the TSC to push to make at least one tournament a
Pro-Am tournament in the year, regardless of whether that is an official
classification by the host of the tournament.
6. Tournaments
As president, I would use my spot on the Tournament Selection Comitee to
once again push my philosophy at tournaments, that the best way to improve
your debating ability and your have fun at debate is to attend tournaments,
so I will help fashion a budget that will send as many people as we can
while respecting budgetary concerns.
I also pledge to work with Incoming president Nick to try and get special
deals for CUSID as a whole, that could help our budget
I also pledge to work with the EDS, Queens and Others to explore Joint
transport possibilites next year, such as perhaps renting a bus together for
large tourments. We will have a lack of Drivers next year, and this could
help alleviate concerns over transport issues.
7. French
I'm a strong supporter of french debate. I pledge to work with the VPF to
secure special funding for french tournaments, and possibly have a panda
like event between CUDS and the FDS.
8. Gender and Diversity Issues
Gender Issues have been an important Issue for not only CUDS, but CUSID in
general. I have a two fold approach to dealing with this
Inside the school, I pledge to make larger recruitment inroads, and also I
pledge to talk with Service centers on campus such as the womyn's center,
the GLBTQ center and the international service center to find a role for the
society inside service center events.
Outside the club, I pledge my full support to those interested in hosting a
womyns tournament. I am good friends, and currently co-chairing a title
tournament with one such interested party. I pledge to help anyway I can,
especially if it means having this tournament in Ottawa. Having it just
across town would be invaluable in getting those interested in attending,
but hesitant to give it a try in a safe, supportive environment.
I also pledge to work with Incoming CUSID president Nick in any endevours.
We talked breifly during the Nats banquet about his plans for CUSID as a
whole, and I am optimistic about his endevours.
9. THe Highschool Community, and Community at large
I have strong links with the highschool community, and pledge to use them to
promote CUDS and highschool debate. I also have links to the National
Highschool debate association, the CSDF, and plan to use every opportunity
that this relationship affords.
I am allready capitalizing on this opportunity by hosting a day of a
national high school title tournament at Carleton.
As a personal project this year, I also helped a carleton student start a
debate club at an ESL program at a school. I intend to continue to ursue
projects like this, raising both the good standing of Carleton in the
community, but also our karma.
I will also continue to encourage and participate in Events such as the
Glebe Center Debates organized by Garnett.
Experience
I am a highly experienced Executive member on debate societies, being the
second longest serving exec member in our society. I am also a decently
skilled debater, a tournament organizer, and every other facet of debate
life. Debate has been my life for the better part of a decade.
2.2 President, Adam Coombs
Adam Coombs for CUDS President
This is to announce that I will be seeking re-election for the 2007-2008
school year. Below is a bit about me and my plan for next year. Included is
where I intend to focus the club., where the club needs to improve, and
build on those where we are already strong.
Background Info
I am currently a second year history student and this (obviously) was my
second year of University debate. I served as president of CUDS this year
and prior to that was a member of the org-com for Carleton Nats 2006. In
high school I debated for five years and was president of the Holy Trinity
Debating Union for two years. I feel that this experience in both the
organizational side and competitive side of high school and university level
debate will allow me to serve as an effective president.
Achievements
This year CUDS has been extremely successful. One of the main parts of my
platform last year was to raise CUDS' campus presence. This has been
acheived in two ways. The first was the successful staging of two show
debates this year. The other was a new practice that I began this year which
was issuing press releases to highlight our achievements to CUSA, our
Faculty sponsors, The Charlatan and the broader Carleton community. Another
important element of my presidential platform last year was to bid for
North-Ams 2008. As we found out nearly two weeks ago, Carleton will be
hosting the 2008 North American Championships. We managed to present an
excellent bid with awesome buttons and double th number of votes McGill got.
Carleton will now become only the fifth Canadian university to host
North-Ams since the tournaments inception. Finally as promised,this year has
seen successful pro-am teams being fielded at tournaments from Yale to
North-Ams to Queens Nats. I intend to build of off these achievements and
make 2007-2008 another banner year for CUDS.
Platform
1) Building Skills and Opportunities to Debate
At the end of the day we are a debate club. We attend external tournaments,
host our own and have in-house debate. It is the last where I wish to focus
on in a second term.
Training
In order to ensure competitive success in the future we need to focus on
internal debater development. This means building from our successful Novice
Training Day with EDS and taking advantage of a number of skilled debaters
in our own club such as Ian and Garnett. Also, there are CUSID aids which
can be used in debater development such as the fantastic In order to ensure
competitive success in the future we need to focus on internal debater
development. This means building from our successful Novice Training Day
with EDS and taking advantage of a number of skilled debaters in our own
club such as Ian and Garnett. Also, there is the CUSID Central Style Guide.
In order to further help novice development, in-house meetings need to be
productive and experienced debaters should debate with less experienced
debaters to help further skill development. This has been something which
has seriously lacked in the past two years, and something I intend to fix.
If re-elected, I will:
* Build Upon our successful joint Novice Training Day with EDS
* Implement monthly training workshops at regular debate meetings hosted by
senior debaters
* A focus on both British Parliamentary (BP) and Canadian Parliamentary (CP)
Debate
* Hold pre-CP tournament case building sessions to help those attending
* A focus on running French rounds in-house
Tournaments
Tournaments are an important part of the debating experience. Next year I
will seek to use the resources we have to send as many people as possible to
tournaments. This means sending teams to both French and English Nats, BP
Champs and Thailand Worlds. I think tournament participation has a direct
correlation with retention: they are a tremendous experience, allow people
to get to know other club members much better- just think of the times that
you've heard about cool van rides. Equally importantly, it is through
involvement in CUSID that people improve.
In terms of tournament selection procedures, I think it is important that,
for some tournaments, we seek to pair experienced debaters with less
experienced ones. This strategy worked at Guindon and if elected I promise
to designate certain tournaments as Pro-Ams where experienced debaters are
partnered with less experiences debaters. This strategy was particularly
effective for McGill at Guindon and Queens and Winter Carnival.
Next year CUDS should work with Ottawa U to host the Pierre Elliot Trudeau
Cup. Due to organizational difficulties the tournament did not materialize
this year and owing to the lack of French tournaments, the failure of the
PET Cup to take place is problematic. CUDS can lend our organizational
experience to the EDS/SDF to help ensure that PET happens.
If re-elected, I will:
* Continue to send teams to title tournaments: English and French Nats,
Leger, Thailands Worlds, BP Champs
* Expanded Pro-Ams at non-title tournaments
* Allow for the maximum amount of people to attend tournaments, not the
maximum amount for some people
* Expand attendance at French tournaments
* Contact EDS/SDF to offer our organizational assistance to a 2007-08 PET
Cup
* Work towards the best Xerxes Cup
* Encourage CUSID to host a Women's Tournament
Hosting North-Ams 2008 at Carleton
After mounting a successful bid for North-Ams 2008, the focus has to turn to
hosting the best North-Ams in memory. My experiences helping to run both
Nats '06 and The Lord Dorchester Cup will help to make Carleton North-Ams
'08 a great tournament. I will meet with the co-TD's Blair and Andrew before
exams end and begin to plan out how to proceed. We will also seek to solicit
sponsorship over the tournament and to have an Org-Comm in place by the time
September rolls around.
If re-elected, I will:
* Work with Tournament Directors right away to begin putting in place the
measures needed for a successfully event
* Begin promoting NorthAms to Carleton immediately
* Work along side Ian to prepare our club for judging North American style
2) Creating a Stronger Relationship With the Carleton Community
Equity
Although we have made huge strides in terms of creating a better and more
equitable environment, we still have a long way to go as incidents this year
have shown us. I believe that not only does CUDS need to improve on this
front it could and should be the leader in this regard at Carleton and
CUSID. I am committed to working with next years Equity Officer, CUSA, CUSID
National and Regional Ombudsman but as well Carleton Equity Services. We
must expand out membership to better reflect Carleton, but also strengthen
the procedures and institutions we have put in place already.
If re-elected, I will:
* Work with the new Equity Officer, CUSA, CUSID National and Regional
Ombudsman and Equity Services to build a model club for equity and
diversity.
* Implement new measures recommended at the AGM by the 2006 Equity Officer
and Diversity/Equity Committee and mandate that all debaters wishing to
attend external tournaments must attend a briefing by Equity Services.
* Have Equity Services present at Novice Training Day
Raising Campus Profile
A strong campus-profile is important: in reminding people that we exist, it
helps attract new members and garner additional funding, while at the same
time contributing positively to campus life. I think we do a lot of this
well already - we have perhaps the best debate website in the country, a
great prelude table, and have been reasonably successful in getting campus
media, be it The Charlatan or Carleton Now, to talk about our achievements.
However despite this success, more can be done. One thing that is needed to
raise our campus profile is a co-operative and respectful relationship with
CUSA. In order to continue as a successful club it is imperative that we
have strong personal relationships with the CUSA executive. I have been
responsible for dealing with CUSA this year and have formed those
relationships that are so imperative for good relations. We can also raise
our campus profile by having a co-operative relationship with CUSA as we
have already begun to do so by partaking in the Mosaic and Fair Trade
debates. If elected, I promise to work with the VPI to further raise our
campus profile by partaking in events such as Mosaic.
If re-elected, I will:
* Host at least 4 public debates a year (2 per semester)
* Work with CUSA executive to implement equity policy
* Offer our services to other Carleton clubs who host debates and
discussions
3) Promoting Debate Within Carleton and Outside
Recruitment
In order to help recruit more people to CUDS we need to greatly expand our
recruiting efforts. This means having a table at Prelude as well as speaking
to first years classes and putting up posters for our meetings. In order to
help recruitment of women we should be doing class talks to class that are
traditionally female dominated, such as English and Women's studies. Also we
can take advantage of departmental resources to aid in recruiting by talking
to departments such as the French and Political Science departments.
If re-elected, I will:
* Will continue our strong showing at Prelude
* Implement a wide ranging class-talk program for the first two weeks of
class
* Have a wide ranging recruitment campaign that is long lasting
* Have tables in the atrium weekly in the lead up to club and societies days
and then monthly throughout the year
Media Attention
This year CUDS has achieved tremendous success and has had success in being
recognized by both internal and external media outlets. Through issuing
press releases after every accomplishment, I have managed to secure some
media coverage and even managed to get Ian a spot on Rogers Daytime. Despite
this success, more can be done. First, I will arrange a meeting with the
Charlatan's head editor to discuss increasing debate press coverage in the
Charlatan. This way when we start the year off with a bang, the Charlatan
will be covering it. Also in order to increase external media coverage I
will work on developing a relationship with Carleton Communications which in
the past has been very successful in garnering media coverage for CUDS.
Finally seeing as Carleton is hosting North-ams, I will work with the VP com
to ensure that this tournament gets the media coverage that it deserves.
If re-elected, I will:
* Continue solicitation media attention from Carleton media
* A stronger web presences at carletondebate.org
* Strong promotion for our events
High School Connections
In order to help recruitment of high school debaters to CUDS, the club needs
to be more actively engaged with the high school debate community in Ottawa.
Since over 50% of Carleton students are from Ottawa this can be a great way
to attract new debaters to our club. CUDS can build on our successful high
school tournaments by hosting a high school training seminar in BP. Many of
the top high school debaters in Eastern Ontario are interested in learning
BP and we can serve to increase our community profile and attract potential
debaters to Carleton through initiatives such as this. I feel that I am in a
position to accomplish this because I have extensive connections with the
Ottawa and Ontario high school debate community. As President I would use
those connections to attract new debaters to our club and encourage club
growth.
If re-elected, I will:
* Create a Outreach Commitee aimed at helping to promote debate i n local
high schools
* Aim to have the largest Xerxes Cup ever
* Work with OSDU to ensure maximum exposure for CUDS amongst High School
Students.
I look forward to your questions and hope I can count on your vote at the
AGM. Please feel free to contact me through e-mail (adamo14(a)gmail.com), MSN
(same as e-mail) or on my cell at 613-286-1094.
Conclusion
-I have the experience for the job and the desire to take on the
responsibility associated with it
-I will make an effective representative of the club in CUSID
-Ideas for improving the level of debate within the club and helping
Carleton improve its reputation within CUSID.
2.3 Vice President Administration, Jordan Charbonneau
[image: Post]<http://www.cusid.ca/community/viewtopic.php?p=171921#171921>Posted:
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Hey guys, I don't like to make these things any longer than they have to be,
so I'll give you what you need to know.
I am in 3rd year Public Affairs and Policy Management. I have been on the
executive since January, 2005, serving as Secretary-Treasurer and, with the
position title changes of Annual General Meeting 2005, Vice-President
Administration.
I'm seeking re-election for this position for a few reasons:
I) I want to still be involved with debate, and I think being on the exec is
the best way to do it. VPAdmin is the position most suited to my tastes, and
the best way I think I can contribute to the club.
II) I'm familiar with the system. When I first became Sec-Treas., there was
little structure to speak of. I have developed a system that, albeit
paper-based, has been more than sufficient to keep track of important
numbers.
III) I want to make more changes. My platform this year is to convert all
CUDS financial matters to electronic databases, allowing for easier access
to and safer storage of data. This way, when I leave next year, the
hand-over of power will be smooth and seamless.
That's the VPAdmin side of things.
_______________________________________________
I'd also like to run for one of the positions on the Tournament Selection
Committee. I'm doing this essentially for one reason: I am an impartial and
balanced member of CUDS, and so I'd like to use these qualities to ensure
that the Selection process is as equitable as possible (we're all equal
remember).
2.4 Vice President Internal, Garnett Genuis
Hello everyone:
As we approach CUDS Exec Elections, its platform time.
Relevant Experience
-I am currently CUDS VPX and a member of the TSC
-I was president of my debate club in my final year of high school, and I
did a lot of work on recruitment and retention
-I am currently a Rez Fellow, which gives me many of the necessary
connections in residence to recruit for next year (note: I will not be a rez
fellow next year)
-I volunteer weekly at the Glebe Center, a home for the elderly. I have used
my position there to organize a number of public debates at the Center
Platform
Broadly speaking, I see four main goals for the VPI. Recruitment, retention,
public debates, and social events.
1. Recruitment
The objective of recruitment, as I see it, is to honestly present what
debate is in as favourable a light as possible to as many students as
possible. To do this, we need a presence at C&S Days, particularly those at
the beginning of the year. This has been done fairly well in past. But we
also need more of a presence in residence. I would like to get members of
the club at as many floor meetings as possible at the beginning of next
year. All rez fellows hold at least two meetings in the first month of
school – and usually both are in the first two weeks. Making brief pitches
about the debate club at those meetings could be a great way to give us the
recruitment edge we need. Recruitment doesn't just happen at the beginning
of the year, but it is obviously most successful then because September is
when people are looking to fill their theoretical 'activities quota.' Once
it's full, they are unlikely to join debate, even if they think it's cool.
Obviously it is important that we try to balance are gender numbers through
recruitment. First of all, it's clear to me that the more recruitment we do,
the less likely we are to have a skewed sample. If we only recruit 1 girl,
then she's more likely to leave – but if we recruit 4 girls, they are less
likely to feel out numbered and more likely to stay. I strongly support any
initiatives to partner with EDS in order to increase the number of women at
CUDS events. This seemed to be a big success for novice training day.
Finally, despite our political differences, I have a very cordial working
relationship with Ashley Hunkin, current Womyn's Center coordinator and
CUSA's VPSS-elect. I would like to see if the Womyn's Center can help us
with recruitment – they probably know of some outspoken and debative women
on campus who they would be more than happy to send our way. As far as I
understand the center, working constructively to remedy gender inequality is
an important part of their mandate, and they would be more than happy to
help us out.
2. Retention
Obviously, we will do better with retention if we recruit more. I think a
certain degree of attrition is inevitable – people will join debate and then
realize that it's not really for them or that they don't have the time. We
should not regard every person who stops coming regularly as an indication
of failure. At the same time, I think we need to look at better ways to easy
people into debating. Right now, if someone has debated once, it is assumed
that they are ready to debate. I would like to see more debate/discussion
occur in a casual environment with people who don't appear ready to give a
seven minutes speech cold turkey. For those who were at novice, we need more
of 'the circle game' – essentially, round table discussions which encourage
people to think like debaters without being put on the spot too much before
they are ready.
This is potentially more of an issue for the TSC, but I would also like to
see more pro-aming. Ideally, I would also like to see pro-am hybrid teams
where we put a female novice from our club with a well-known female pro from
another club, so that the novice can (a) make connections outside of CUDS
which will make them want to go to more tournaments (b) identify a female
role model in the debate world and (c) get pulled into higher rounds then
they would otherwise be able to see.
3. Public Debates
Everyone says that public debates are needed. Even though it is not part of
my position as VPX, I have organized 3 public debates already this year – 1
on campus and 2 off. Again, despite political differences, and I have a very
good relationship with many people inside CUSA and am keen to partner with
them when organizing events. We can and should obviously organize public
debates on our own, but there are many advantages to working with CUSA when
possible (potentially better venues, less organizational muscle required
from our end, easier advertising, etc.).
I would like to have a public debate in September in residence this year in
partnership with RRRA. Although I have yet to speak to the incoming
executive about this, I think many of them would be very interested. (I have
many contacts throughout the organization, given that I have regularly
attended RRRA counsel meetings since October.)
Finally, I would to see us debating regularly at the Glebe Center. This is a
good way for CUDS to give back to the community and for us to gain
experience debating in front of people. Also, when we seek sponsorship for
events such as Northams, volunteering in the community will potentially
reflect very well on us.
4. Social Events
This is a relative no-brainer. CUDS should have a social atmosphere, and we
need to include novices in that atmosphere as quickly as possible in order
to help with retention. It's great that we go to Mike's Place often, and we
should keep doing that – but not everybody is comfortable with the bar
atmosphere and we should look at having other kinds of social events as well
(bubble tea runs?). I will be getting a house near campus next year, and am
happy to open it for debate social events at any time (provided that they
aren't too debaucherious in nature).
2.5 Vice President Internal, Daniel Westlake
This is to announce my intention to run for VP Internal at this year's AGM.
Posted below is my platform.
Experience:
I have been involved in debate in some fashion or another since I was in
grade 9. In high school I served as President of my schools debate club and
had an important role in recruitment. Working within a high school that had
less of a reputation for debate, I have dealt with a number of challenges
when it comes to getting people to come out to debate and keeping them
within the club. I also spent two years in high school working on my
school's yearbook, serving as head editor in my last year. Though this
experienced I learned a vast amount about organizing a large project that
requires a large amount of time and effort, but also tact for dealing with
people who are involved in a variety of aspects of school life. At Carleton
I have been involved in debating since the day I got here. I have attended a
variety of tournaments including Nationals and Worlds, and have been
responsible for organizing this year's Xerxes Cup high school tournament. I
am committed to finding ways to bring new people into the club and to making
sure that a variety of interests and personalities are not only accepted by
the club but embraced by it.
Ideas:
Debate Bombing? This is a tactic stolen from the realm of swing dancing and
the idea of Lindy Bombing. Essentially what it involves is finding high
traffic areas at the beginning of the year and holding a number rounds, the
idea being that people walking by will get to see what exactly debate is and
will take a look at it. I think that this can compliment recruitment efforts
such as the prelude table. While having a table is great, I believe that
this will help the debate club to stand out from a lot of the other clubs
that are on campus. I think that when people see what debate is, and that it
can produce both interesting and entertaining ideas that they will become
more attracted to the club.
Campus Presence. When we moderated the God debate we saw a couple of new
people show up at our meetings directly after. I would look around campus to
see what other opportunities there are for us to become involved in public
debates across campus. I am committed to seeking to work with other clubs in
order to foster a greater presence on campus. I have connections within many
of the political clubs on campus and am an active member of the campus NDP.
I think that club relations with these clubs can be built up and exploited
so as to improve the club's image on campus. Not only do I think that this
will help us become more visible on campus, but I believe that it will us
help our abilities as debaters.
But I'm Already a Member of the Club. I think that this club by its nature
is not simply a debate club but also a social club. I am a full supporter of
the social activities that we have done regularly in the past. I have always
advocated that the club look at developing a diversity of social activities
as opposed to relying on the regular run to Mike's Place. Not that there's
anything wrong with Mike's Place, but I think the club will benefit from
catering to a variety of social interests. The dodge ball game at Dorchester
showed that debaters do have in an interest in doing things other than the
traditional social and I am committed to actively canvassing members to see
what social events cub members are interested in. One of my central goals is
to ensure that all members in the club feel welcome in whatever activities
the club undertakes. I think that by diversifying club activities we will
diversify club membership and develop a stronger club.
I hope that I can count on your vote on the 5th. Feel free to PM me, post,
e-mail, talk to me, send smoke signals, or otherwise communicate any
questions to me.
2.6 Vice President External, Blair Stein
Hey everyone! I want to run for the position of Vice President External for
the 2007-2008 school year. I'm not entirely sure how this platform thing
works, so someone please stop me if I'm doing this wrong...
Here is a little bit about me...
I have been debating recreationally since the fifth grade (really!) and,
although my high school didn't have a competitive team, I ran a recreational
club where I organized some in-house mini-tournaments and a training day
with another school. I also beat Ashbury once. It was awesome.
I'm a first-year Journalism student who has been very involved with CUDS
this year. Not only did I serve as Novice Rep, but I was volunteer
co-ordinator at the Xerxes Cup as well as Tournament Deputy Director at the
Lord Dorchester Cup. I pioneered the use of loot bags as a judging
incentive, which, I feel, was a huge part of our successful NorthAms bid.
Incidentally, I will be Tournament Co-Director for NorthAms, which will
probably be the best one ever.
For those of you who don't know me well, I am full of enthusiasm, energy and
dedication to CUDS. My extreme love for all things CUDS would be an absolute
asset to the position of VP External.
Here's a little bit about what I want to do...
I admit, I'm not entirely clear on the distinction between VPI and VPX. I
understand, however, the specific duties in the realm of VPX, and I will go
above and beyond expectations concerning those. There are a few things that
I want to change in CUDS overall, though.
1) Visibility on campus and in the community
CUDS has been really visible on campus this year, but most of that has been
relatively negative. I propose that we strengthen ties with campus media,
especially The Charlatan, to ensure that we get the publicity we deserve.
For example: All of Carleton, and all of Ottawa, knew when the Ravens won
the national basketball championship. We have the best debater in North
America. Who knew about that? Let's get The Charlatan, and maybe even the
Citizen, to cover our successes. Let's call the Rogers Community Cruiser
during Xerxes. Let's get ourselves out there. Let's get NorthAms in the
news. It's a pretty big deal.
I also want to see some more show debates, both on- and off-campus. Bringing
in guest speakers is nice, but showing off what we can do is better.
2) Running the best NorthAms ever
Part of next year's success will come with running the North American Debate
Championships. This, as I have mentioned before, is a big deal. I'm
reallyexcited. As Tournament Co-Director, I want to make sure that the
rest of
Carleton, and the rest of the city, knows what's going on.
3) Ties with EDS and FDS
Sure, U of O is our rival in every other sport, but it's not the case in
debating. We already have a really close relationship with EDS and, to a
lesser degree, FDS, but let's make it stronger. Our joint Novice Training
Day is fun, as is Debatathon and Panda, but let's do more. I suggest show
debates between schools (how fun would that be?) where we clobber them.
Perhaps also some Panda-like debate-offs during the slow tournament season.
Maybe even a mini Pro-Am tournament.
4) Training lots of novii
I want to see aggressive recruitment. I want Xerxes to become a recruitment
tool. I will personally work the table at the Club Fair during frosh week.
This should all be obvious. We hear over and over again that "CUDS has a
retention problem." Let's change that by working extra-hard to make sure
that everyone feels comfortable in the club...
5) Female presence within the club
Part of the negative press that CUDS has been getting is due to a small
female presence within the club. Having a female face on CUDS's executive is
part of the process needed to have a stronger female presence. I remember my
first couple of meetings with CUDS. There were few women and, I admit, it
was a bit intimidating. I have a vested interest in making sure that we try
our best to attract, and keep, female novii.
I hope you all consider what I have to say. As I said when I ran for Novice
Rep in October, I'm in love with debating and debaters and I will do
everything in my power to help CUDS be successful.
Love and loot bags,
Blair
2.7 Vice President French/Francais, Alexander Grinton
Version anglais suivirai.
English version to follow.
Moi, Alexandre Grinton, voudrait annoncer ma candidature pour le VP
Francais.
La base sur laquelle je cours a trois piliers simples comme suit :
1) Je suis qualifié.
Au delà de la compétence nécessaire de base d'être à l'aise en français,
j'ai beaucoup d'autres qualifications qui me rendent parfait pour cette
position. Parmi ceux qui sont ces j'ai beaucoup de conduite et d'expérience
d'organisation, y compris une expérience gestionnaire et ma participation
continue en tant que officier dans la marine. Le dernier me fournissant
beaucoup d'expérience continuelle comme officer, mais également précédemment
comme communicateur comme lequel j'ai organise des series de communications
et des réseaux. J'ai aussi passé six mois à bord du HMCS Tecumseh en tant
qu'auteur d'un Cox'n que le directeur financier pour les rangs juniors, dont
les deux me fournissant beaucoup de chances de faciliter en améliorant les
systèmes internes de bateaux.
2) Représentation.
Un espoir que j'en a, c'est de donner une voix dans les côtés de la Science
et de technologie de Carleton au commite executive. Il est évident que nous
ayons besoin de plus de recrutement pour le club, mais ce que je voudrais
fournir est un aspect visé à ceci. Actuellement le club a la participation
très petite de la science et de technologie, qui est d'être due prévu à la
tendance franc les matières d'être du côté politique, et ainsi je regarde
pour améliorer notre recrutement en science et en machinant des corps
enseignant pendant qu'une voix de la science dans un effort à se relient
plus facilement aux membres éventuels chez ces corps enseignant aussi bien
que pouvoir les atteindre plus facilement par arrangement quelles classes
pour aller aussi bien avoir accès plus facile à pouvoir parler à ces
groupes.
3) Améliorations du côté français du notre le club.
Je voudrais également regarder apportant deux améliorations simples au côté
français du club. Tout d'abord, il est tout à fait évident que la discussion
française reçoit moins d'attention que le côté anglais, et alors qu'il n'est
pas probable que ceci change, l'aspect français a besoin considérablement de
plus. Particulièrement pendant la deuxième moitié de la saison, quand les
tournois français de discussion s'approchent, nous ont besoin de plus de
discussions de pratique plutôt alors qu'un rapide fourre la session avant
les ressortissants. Ceci peut simplement venir de diviser le club en deux
salles de seperate un peu plus souvent, ou même de avoir une réunion
additionnelle une fois par semaine. La deuxième amélioration est auussi au
sujet du recrutement, parce que, étant à Ottawa, il y a une population de
langue française significative autour de nous, et j'estime que nous
pourrions facilement soulever la participation de club en montrant notre
côté français. Quelque chose aussi simple qu'une discussion française
d'exposition serait une excellente démonstration de CUDS à la communauté
d'étudiant de Carleton.
J'espère que c'a été assez pour vous montrer que je suis le candidat le plus
évident pour ce positition, mais si quelques autres questions se posent je
suis fluent en français, anglais, le code Morse et d'une manière plus
importante l'email.
English version:
I, Alexander Grinton, would like to announce my candidacy for VP French.
The basis on which I am running has three simple pillars as follows:
1) I am qualified.
Beyond the basic necessary skill of being fluent in french, I have many
other qualifications that make me perfect for this position. Among those
being that I have much leadership and organizational experience, including
managerial experience and my ongoing involvement as an officer in the Navy.
The latter providing me with much experience currently as an officer, but
also previously as a communicator in which I spent much time organizing
communications and networks. I also spent six months aboard the HMCS
Tecumseh as a Coxn's Writer the financial executive for the junior ranks
mess, both of which providing me with many chances to aid in improving the
ships internal systems.
2) Representation.
One thing I hope to provide to the executive committee is a voice within the
Science and Engineering sides of Carleton. It is obvious that we need more
recruitment for the club, but what I would like to provide is a targeted
aspect to this. Currently the club has very little science and engineering
involvement, which is to be expected due to the tendency fr the topics to be
on the political side, and so I am looking to improve our recruitment in the
science and engineering faculties as a science voice in an effort to more
easily relate to the prospective members within these faculties as well as
be able to reach them more easily by understanding what classes to go to as
well have easier access to be able to speak to these groups.
3) Improvements on the french side of our the club.
I would also like to look at making two simple improvements to the french
side of the club. First of all, it is quite obvious that the french debating
receives a god deal less attention then the english side, and while it is
not likely that this will change, the french aspect does need considerably
more. Especially during the second half of the season, as the french debate
tournaments are approaching, we need more practice debates rather then a
quick cram session before the nationals. This may simply come from dividing
the club into two separate rooms a little more often, or even having an
additional meeting once a week. The second improvement is once again about
recruitment, because, being in Ottawa, there is a significant french
speaking population around us, and I feel that we could easily raise club
involvement by showing our french side. Something as simple as a french show
debate would be an excellent demonstration of CUDS to the Carleton student
community.
I am hoping that this has been enough to show you that I am the most obvious
candidate for this positition, but should some other questions arise I am
fluent in french, english, morse code and most importantly email.
Sincèrement;
Sincerely;
Grinton, Alexander
2.8 Vice President French/Francais, Yannick Veilleux-LePage
Relevant Experience and Assets:
- Native Francophone with high proficiency in written and spoken French.
- I am Currently CUDS VPF
- Won public speaking French Nats 2007
- Broke Semi-Finals. French Nats 2007
- Won 1st place and top speaker at Western French Tournement 2007
- Broke Semi-Finals, French Nats 2006
- President of my high school parliamentary debate club
- President of my high school model UN club.
- It is also very important to note that one of the main reason we created
this position was to facilitate the communication between French club. This
requires a very high level of French proficiency which only I posses at the
present time.
Plans for the club :
- Marie-Anne (FDS Prez) and I, have been discussing and studying the
possibility of holding regular joint meeting between French debaters and
FDS. The venues would alternate between Ottawa U and Carleton in order to
maximized the amount of members and possibility of holding rounds.
- The past two years have given me the opportunity to create good
relationship with members of the French Dep. On numerous occasions have I
had formals and informal meeting with Doutrelepont (Chair) and Khordoc
(Assistant-Chair and my directed reading advisor) regarding the club. I
would like to use these contacts to further a couple of projects.
1) I would like to host high quality French round with invited guest from
the French dep. These guests would include prof and TAs, hopefully they will
not only enjoy this but will be able to increase the profile of the club in
their classroom and possible host in round debate class provided that we
give them some basic rule training.
2) I have been approached for a Ta position for next year. This position
would allow me to host numerous in class rounds and increase the profile of
the club that would be highly useful for recruiting.
3)This year I approached the French department for funding. After our
victories at BC, chance of funding next year are fairly high providing that
we continue to maintain positive relationship with the department
-As most people know. I am on the organization committee for the 2008 French
National Championship and will serve as Chief Adjudicator pending bid
approval. This will raise the profile of CUDS on the entire French circuit
of CUSID. This will also allow me to have a first hand say in tournament
policy that will help maximize the club participation.
Accomplishments in 2006-2007
-I would probably start by saying that the creation of the VPF was an
accomplishment by it self and was reserved very positively by other clubs.
-Since last year. Carleton has broken at every single French tournament it
has participated in. We have also won UBC Western French and won the 2007
French Nat public speaking. This has for effect to raise our profile as a
club who is taking French debate seriously
-We have started getting funding from the French department.
-Our participation in tournaments has double. We when to twice as many
tournaments this year and sent twice as many debaters to French Nats.
- Securing the proxies from Poly (unfortunately was not sent to use on time
by the poly exec) and the proxies from FDS. This one proxy would have play a
crucial role in securing our NorAms bid
Yannick.
I will be more then happy to answer any questions.
2.9 Xerxes High School Cup Tournament Director, Alexander Bourbonniere
My name is Alexander Bourbonniere, and I want to be CUDS official tournament
director for the Xerxes cup. I believe I have a lot to offer to this club
and the best way is for me to run an amazing Xerxes.
First of all, a little bit about me. I debated a lot during high school and
I was a Xerxes semi-finalist in 2005-2006. My recent experiences in high
school tournaments allows me to best respond to high school debaters and
what they are looking for in a tournament.
Past tournaments I have helped organize include High school provincial
Seminar, which I co-ran with Elizabeth Bingham. I have also organized
regionals for the Ottawa region a few months ago, which ran quite smoothly
and actually ended early.
I will also have the benefit of recently being elected to the OSDU board of
directors, which will allow to me have close contact with high school
debaters in Ottawa and across the province. I will have the contacts and I
am very willing to drive and track schools down in order to encourage them
to come. I think these initiatives I will be putting forth will most
certainly increase our numbers and show people we are committed.
I also know very many people with Carleton itself, which include scheduling
ladies, to ensure that the on going feud they have with us will not affect
our room bookings.
If I were chosen to be Xerxes Tournament Director, I will be running 5
rounds, hidden quarters, and a semi and final round. It will be CP style
because I believe it is what will be the easiest for debaters to warm up to.
I have not picked a date yet and must look at other OSDU sanctioned
tournaments in order to insure there are no conflicts. I also plan on
running a novice final in order to encourage novices to participate in
debating.
I also hope to promote Carleton and its debate club with more than just an
actual well run tournament. Almost every high school tournament has a campus
tour, which allows them to promote their University. I am very proud to be
at Carleton and will hopefully find willing enough people to give tours.
I believe I have the capacity, experience and connections to run a very
successful 2007-2008 Xerxes.
***Please do not reply directly to this email. If you have any questions or
concerns, please ask vpcom(a)carletondebate.org to address your concerns***
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