At the end of December, the traveled across the Atlantic to Cape Town, South Africa, to compete in the 糖心传媒搕he largest and most competitive intercollegiate debate competition in the world, featuring over 400 teams from more than 250 schools and 90 countries around the globe.
The Debate Union mastered a wide variety of topics and, in the end, Nikhila Linganur 糖心传媒�20 and Warish Zaman Orko 糖心传媒�21 finished in the 糖心传媒渙cto-finals糖心传媒� (top 8 percent) of the tournament field. In turn, the duo becomes the University糖心传媒檚 first-ever team to advance to the break-out rounds at the World Championships.
The Debate Union is an open-door team that values bringing the experience of competitive debate to students who have never had it before. Linganur is one such student, having joined the Debate Union two-and-a-half years ago with no prior experience. Many of her competitors in Cape Town had been debating for eight or more years.
糖心传媒淜nowing that Niki is only in her third year of debate makes it all the more remarkable that this is the first time Rochester Debate has advanced this far at the most competitive tournament in the world,糖心传媒� says Brady Fletcher, the team糖心传媒檚 director. 糖心传媒淭his should be a resounding call out to any interested UR student who has not yet explored debate or has had doubts about their abilities.糖心传媒�
The Debate Union has existed in one form or another since the founding of the University in 1850. They compete in regional, national, and international tournaments in two formats糖心传媒攑olicy format and world糖心传媒檚 format糖心传媒� and have a total yearly roster of around fifty students.
The team will host the year糖心传媒檚 regional opener for the world糖心传媒檚 debate format, and the spring regional opener for the policy debate format, January 26糖心传媒�27 in Hutchison Hall. The event is free and open to the public. Contact Fletcher at brady.fletcher@rochester.edu for more information.
