Abbreviation | UQDS or Queensland |
---|---|
Formation | MCMLX (1960) |
Type | University Debating |
Headquarters | Room E215 (Rod Laver Arena), Forgan Smith Building, University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus |
Membership | 250 approx. |
Official language | English |
Affiliations | University of Queensland Union |
Website | Official Website Official Facebook Group |
The University of Queensland Debating Society (UQDS) is the debating society of the University of Queensland. It has been recognised as one of the oldest and most active student societies at the University of Queensland and one of the most active and successful university debating societies in the world. [1] [2] [3] The UQ Debating Society was also a founding member of the University of Queensland Union. [4]
The University of Queensland Debating Society was officially established in 1960; however debating has been present at the University of Queensland since its formation in 1909. [5]
In 1932, the UQ Intervarsity Debating Society organised in Brisbane the first ever national intervarsity debating tournament with all six Australian universities at the time (Melbourne, Tasmania, Sydney, Adelaide, Western Australia, and Queensland). [6]
As was described in the UQ student publication, Semper Floreat, in 1937, "the Society offers a unique opportunity to undergraduates to express themselves on all sorts of heterogeneous topics, to deliver their pet heresies and to slander their friends in a comparatively sheltered academic atmosphere... So don't forget to roll along to the first debate with all your pet theories and subjects. If you have never spoken before you are like most of us—but don't leave it too late to begin. The sooner you start the sooner you reach perfection.'" [7]
In 1953, the UQ Intervarsity Debating Society won the Philippines Cup at the Australian Intervarsity Debating Championships. [8]
UQDS is made up of approximately 200 members and is open to all students and staff of the University of Queensland. This membership is drawn primarily from undergraduate students at the University of Queensland St Lucia campus, across the academic faculties from biomedical science to anthropology and from commerce to engineering, although the common degrees of the membership tend to be in law, economics, and politics. Graduate students are also members and staff members have been known to participate in the internal debating competition.
There is also a base of frequent attendants in the internal competition from Griffith University and the Queensland University of Technology. On occasion, senior Brisbane high school teams have been invited to participate too.
UQDS is affiliated with the University of Queensland Union and receives support from the University of Queensland Faculty of Business, Economics and Law. [9] The UQDS also has strong ties with the Queensland Debating Union and also the University of Queensland Law Society.
The UQDS is a constituent and voting member of the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Association and the World Universities Debating Council.
As of August 2012 UQDS is ranked 14th best in the World and 5th best in Australia, on 17008 points. [10]
As of 2011 UQDS was ranked 6th best in the World, with equal points with Monash University which was 5th, and behind the University of Sydney at first, the University of Oxford, Yale University and University of Cambridge respectively, at the World Universities Debating Championship. [11]
The University of Queensland Debating Society is a strong society in Australia–Asia debating circuit.
In 2012 Patrick Begley, Kristen Price and Lauren Humphrey ranked 2nd after preliminary rounds at the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships (Australs). Anthony Smith, Sarida McLeod and Alexander O'Hara ranked 6th. Lauren Humphrey was 5th best speaker with Anthony Smith and Kristen Price tied for 6th best speaker. [12]
In 2012 Thomas Ashby, Alexander O'Hara, James Rigby were the runners up of the National Intervarsity Debating Championships (Easters). The team also broke first into the octo-finals without losing a debate. Thomas Ashby was also the Best Speaker. [13]
In 2012 Kristen Price was a judge of the Grand Final of the World Universities Debating Championship (Worlds).
In 2011 Anthony Smith and David Stephens were runners up in the Grand Final of the Australian British Parliamentary Debating Championships (Sydney Mini).
In 2011 Kristen Price and Emily Chalk were the champions of the Australian Women's Parliamentary Debating Championships (Women's). [14]
In 2011 a UQDS team came tenth at the World Universities Peace Invitational Debate (WUPID). [15]
In 2010 Emily Chalk, Lucy Wark and Rebecca Conrick were runners up in the Grand Final of the National Intervarsity Debating Championships (Easters).
In 2008 a UQDS team were the runners up in the Grand Final of the National Intervarsity Debating Championships (Easters). [16]
In 2007 a UQDS team were the runners up in the Grand Final of the World Universities Debating Championship (Worlds) [17]
In 2007 a UQDS team were the champions in the Grand Final of the National Intervarsity Debating Championships (Easters). [18]
In 2007 a UQDS team were the champions in the Grand Final of the Australian Women's Parliamentary Debating Championships (Women's). [19]
In 2007 a UQDS team were the champions in the Grand Final of the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships (Australs).
In first semester, UQDS runs a weekly internal competition at the St Lucia Campus in the Australasian Style. This is largely for preparation for the Queensland Universities Debating Championships (Queensland Cup), the National Intervarsity Debating Championships (Easters) and the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships (Australs).
In second semester, the weekly internal competition is in the British Parliamentary Style which is in preparation for World Universities Debating Championship (Worlds).
During Market Day UQDS maintains a stall, has a Show Debate and has an introductory barbecue and an O-Week party.
UQDS also organises regular training sessions, normally before internal competitions and tournaments. Such training consists of matter seminars conducted by members with specialist knowledge, as well as basic and advanced sessions on debating strategy by experienced members.
UQDS provides adjudication for debating competitions of the University of Queensland Intercollege Council and University of Queensland Interfaculty Competitions. Also, the UQDS membership provides a significant amount of adjudicators to the adjudication corps of the Queensland Debating Union, the Queensland Greater Public Schools Debating, and the Brisbane Girls Debating Association (BGDA).
There are also social events, such as the Annual Dinner Ball, tournament send off parties, an annual casual dinner at Sizzler at Toowong Village, competition socials, and weekly dinners at the Pizza Caffe at the Schonell Theatre.
UQDS publishes The Pineapple Express (formerly The Pig's Head), the debating review and satirical periodical.
UQDS also run an annual high schools debating competition called the UQDS Schools Day.
The UQDS performs a number of show debates for different occasions. It regularly often performs show debates for the UQ Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, normally during the start of each semester, as well as for high schools in Queensland.
In August 2012 members performed a show debate for the National Science Week at the Queensland Museum. In October 2012 members performed a show debate for Open Access Week at the Queensland Brain Institute.
The UQDS is governed by the Constitution of the University of Queensland Debating Society as well as the Constitution for clubs and societies of the University of Queensland Union. In the UQDS Constitution are the substantive and procedural rules of the Society. Administrative arrangements, such as voting quorum and executive committee portfolios, are also listed.
The UQDS has conferred Honorary Life Membership via Annual General Meetings to Erin O'Brien, Evan Goldman, Kristin Price (2013), James Rigby (2017), Nicholas Salmon (2017), Alex Paterson (2018), Phil Gracen (2018), Tasman Bain (2019), Zachary Thomas (2019) and Ineka Tabrett (2023).
The UQDS is coordinated by an executive committee elected each year at the Annual General Meeting for a term of one year.
The University of Queensland is a public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone universities, an informal designation of the oldest university in each state. UQ is also a founding member of edX, Australia's leading Group of Eight and the international research-intensive Association of Pacific Rim Universities.
Intervarsity, Inter Varsity or Inter-Varsity may refer to:
Austral means 'southern', often in reference to the Southern Hemisphere.
Sunnybank Rugby Union Club is an Australian rugby union club based in the Brisbane suburb of Sunnybank, Queensland, currently competing in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition. It was established in 1969 and has won three premierships since it entered.
The University of Sydney Union (USU) is Australia’s largest independent student-led member organisation located at University of Sydney in Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
The University of Queensland Australian Football Club (UQAFC) is an amateur Australian rules football club playing in the QFA Division 1, Division 4 and QAFLW League competitions, overseen by AFL Queensland. UQAFC home games are played at the University of Queensland's Playing Field 2, on the corner of Sir William MacGregor Drive and Thynne Road, St Lucia, Brisbane.
The Otago University Debating Society (OUDS) is a debating society established in June 1878 and is the oldest society of the University of Otago, the first university to be founded in New Zealand. Echoing trends in Australia and the United States, in the latter decades of the nineteenth century debating was seen as an important talent for New Zealand's thought leaders, and was one of the three sports in the New Zealand University Games from 1902.
Semper Floreat is the student newspaper of the University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Australia. It has been published continuously by the University of Queensland Union since 1932, when it began as a fortnightly newsletter of only a few pages, produced by one editor.
The Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships (known colloquially as "Australs") is an annual debating tournament for teams from universities in the Australasian region. It is one of the world's largest debating tournaments, second only in size to the World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC), the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC) and one of the largest annual student events in the world. Australs follows the Australia-Asian Debating format (three speakers plus replies), rather than the British Parliamentary Style used at WUDC. It is held every year in early-July under the auspices of the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Association (AIDA). The host university is selected a year before at a meeting of the Council of the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Association.
Queensland Premier Rugby is a semi professional club rugby union competition in Queensland, Australia. Nine clubs play in the competition, eight clubs are from Brisbane, and one club is from Gold Coast.
The premiership has been contested in its present form since 1929.
The University of Queensland Rugby Club is an Australian rugby club, based at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Queensland. They currently compete in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition. They were formed in 1911, as rugby was adopted by the Sports Association at the University of Queensland as a major sport.
Rugby union in Queensland has traditionally been one of the most popular professional and recreational team sports in the state. Rugby union was introduced in the British colony's capital Brisbane in 1876. Initially it struggled to gain a foothold due to the popularity of Australian rules there until it got its break in 1882 with the first inter-colonial matches against New South Wales, and the formation of the Northern Rugby Union. Between 1885 and 1887 it became the dominant code after the leading schools association decided to play it exclusively and after 1890 spread virtually unopposed throughout the colony.
The UQ Law School is the law school of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Founded in 1936, UQ law school is the sixth oldest law school in Australia and the oldest operating in Queensland.
The United Asian Debating Championship (UADC) is an annual debating tournament for teams from universities in Asia. It is the largest inter-varsity Parliamentary Debate tournament in Asia, with over 600 participants. The UADC holds debates in the Asian 3-on-3 format Parliamentary Debating. The 1st UADC was hosted by Assumption University, Bangkok in 2010.
The University of Queensland Union is a student organisation established to provide service, support and representation to the students of The University of Queensland. The Union oversees approximately $15 million in revenue each financial year.
There are eleven residential colleges of the University of Queensland.
The World Universities Debating Championship in Spanish or Campeonato Mundial Universitario de Debate en Español (CMUDE) is the world's largest and most important debating tournament in Spanish.
The University of Queensland Art Museum is the art museum and public gallery of the University of Queensland in the James and Mary Emelia Mayne Centre at the St Lucia campus. The University of Queensland Art Collection is now the second largest public art collection in Queensland. The building was formerly known as Mayne Hall.
Colin Charles Lamont was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1974 until 1977, representing the electorate of South Brisbane.
The HWS Round Robin (HWS RR) is an invitational British Parliamentary (BP) debate tournament hosted annually by the Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. Participation in the HWS RR is considered prestigious among BP debaters as it is limited to exactly 16 teams that qualify via either an automatic bid given to the champions of major debate tournaments that happen throughout the year, or a competitive application to the tournament's selections committee, with auto-bid teams given priority.