Princeton 1 (Greg Weaving, Xiao-Ke Lu) in Opening Opposition has won the Open category of the United States University Debating Championships 2020. Speaking against them were Chicago 1 (Devesh Kodnani, Brian Li) in Opening Government, Princeton 2 (Shreyas Kumar, Preston Johnson) in Closing Government, and Chicago 2 (Jaewon Park, Jay Gibbs) in Closing Opposition. They spoke on the motion “THBT it is in the interest of the US to take measures to significantly reduce its economic ties and connections with China (e.g. reducing investment and redirecting trade, and shifting away from yuan in its reserve currency basket)”. Chairing the adjudication panel was Niki Linganur. Paneling with them were Clarence Logan-Bronte, Da’Von Boyd, Klaudia Maciejewska, Marlene Pierce, and Templeton Kay. The backup judges were Josef Moscovici, Senkai Hsia, and Jevon Henry.

The Novice Final was won by UCLA 1 (Zach Wong, Jingyi Pan) in Opening Opposition. Speaking against them were Chicago 5 (Ishan Maunder, Andrew Kamen) in Opening Government, Regis 3 (Bella Willhite, Hans Gebauer) in Closing Government, and Morehouse 2 (Kimani Carter, Patrick Ohazurike). The Adjudication Panel was chaired by Alexander Beaumont. Judging with them were Clarence Bronte-Logan, Uphie Abdurrahman, Francois Brits, Isaac Botham, Micaela Lewis, Kiana Saint-Macary, with Greg Dubois serving as the backup judge.

The best speaker was Anish Welde, Penn 1, with an average of 81.5 speaker points.
The best ESL speaker was Ricky Huang, Bates 2, with an average of 79.75 speaker points.
The best novice Speaker was Evan Shen, Duke 1, with an average of 80.5 speaker points.

The Break:
1. Princeton 2 (Shreyas Kumar, Preston Johnson) – 32 pts
2. Chicago 1 (Devesh Kodnani, Brian Li) – 31 pts
3. Vanderbilt 1 (Erich Remiker, Will Newell) – 29 pts
4. Penn 1 (Anish Welde, Vignesh Valliyur) – 28 pts
5. Bates 2 (Ricky Huang, Zi (Sam) Huang) – 27 pts
6. Northeastern 1 (Dennis Su, Tanay Patri) – 27 pts
7. Princeton 1 (Greg Weaving, Xiao-Ke Lu) – 27 pts
8. Chicago 2 (Jay Gibbs, Jaewan Park) – 27 pts
9. Duke 1 (Nitin Subramanian, Evan Shen) – 26 pts
10. Hopkins 3 (Alexander Chang, Varihunan Mathiyalakan) – 26 pts
11. Stanford 1 (Enshia Li, Srijon Sheikh) – 26 pts
12. Hopkins 1 (Wingel Xue, Oliver McCammon) – 26 pts
13. Tufts 1 (Nicholas Devito, Kyle Cook) – 25 pts
14. Northeastern 2 (Andrew Avalos, Gabbi Shilcusky) – 25 pts
15. Regis 2 (Thomas Jones, William Reid) – 25 pts
16. William & Mary 1 (Mathew Wilson, Amelia Larson) – 24 pts
17. NYU 1 (Sania Irfan, Alfonso Tan) – 24 pts
18. Bard 1 (Gwen Stearns, Matt Caito) – 24 pts
19. Claremont 1 (Helena Ong, Naomi Tilles) – 24 pts
20. USAFA 1 (Shane Lindsay, Colin Jarrett-Izzi) – 24 pts
21. Tufts 2 (Aonkon Dey, Connor Akiyama) – 24 pts
22. Williams 1 (Hugo Ichioka, Daniel Kam) – 24 pts
23. HWS 1 (Bart Lahiff, Sarim Karim) – 24 pts
24. Penn 3 (Tori Borlase, Bezekela Mbofana) – 24 pts
25. Cornell 4 (Simar Kohli, Ben Goldberg) – 23 pts
26. Hopkins 2 (Harshit Bhasin, Muzamil Godil) – 23 pts
27. GWU 1 (Robin Gloss, Jonas Poggi) – 23 pts
28. Bates 1 (Samuel Melcher, Dylan Gyauch-Lewis) – 23 pts
29. HWS 5 (Liam Sullivan, Sreyan Kanungo) – 23 pts
30. Cornell 3 (Meg Kandarpa, Ahmed El Sammak) – 22 pts
31. Cornell 1 (Amaar Jeyasothy, Dylan Young) – 22 pts
32. UCLA 4 (Hatim Malek, Maya Singh) – 22 pts

The Novice Break:
1. Williams 1 (Hugo Ichioka, Daniel Kam) – 24 pts (Open Break)
2. HWS 5 (Liam Sullivan, Sreyan Kanungo) – 23 points (Open Break)
3.Chicago 4 (Rohan Kapoor, Devang Laddha) – 22 points (Withdrawn)
4. Chicago 5 (Ishan Maunder, Andrew Kamen) – 22 pts
5. UCLA 1 (Jinyi Pan, Zach Wong) – 22 pts
6. Duke 2 (Nick Bayer, Gavin Gwaltney) – 21 pts
7. Regis 3 (Bella Willhite, Hans Gebauer) – 21 pts
8. Tufts 3 (John Youssef, Katrina Hotaling) – 21 pts
9. Swarthmore 1 (Megan Wu, Annette Kim) – 20 pts
10. Morehouse 2 (Kimani Carter, Patrick Ohazurike) – 19 pts
11. GWU 2 (Cayden Monteiro, Darian McCrary) – 19 pts

Open Speaker Awards:
1. Anish Welde, Penn 1, 81.5 avg speaks
2. Devesh Kodnani, Chicago 1, 80.25 avg speaks
3. Vignesh Valliyur, Penn 1, 81.12 avg speaks
4. Nitin Subramanian, Duke 1, 81.12 avg speaks
5. Shreyas Kumar, Princeton 2, 80 avg speaks
6. Preston Johnson, Princeton 2, 80.75 avg speaks
7. Evan Shen, Duke 1, 80.75 avg speaks
8. Brian Li, Chicago 1, 80.62 avg speaks
9. Will Newell, Vanderbilt 1, 80.5 avg speaks
10. Zi (Sam) Huang, Bates 2, 80.38 avg speaks
10. Erich Remiker, Vanderbilt 1, 80.38 avg speaks

ESL Speaker Awards:
1. Ricky Huang, Bates 2, 79.75 avg speaks
2. Muzamil Godil, Hopkins 2, 78.5 avg speaks
3. Aonkon Dey, Tufts 2, 78.5 avg speaks
4. Sarim Karim, HWS 1, 78.38 avg speaks
5. Sreyan Kanungo, HWS 5, 77.88 avg speaks

Novice Speaker Awards:
1. Evan Shen, Duke 1, 80.75 avg speaks
2. Brian Li, Chicago 1, 80.62 avg speaks
3. Ricky Huang, Bates 2, 79.75 avg speaks
4. Xiao-Ke Lu, Princeton 1, 79.12 avg speaks
5. Meg Kandarpa, Cornell 3, 78.88 avg speaks

The US University Debating Championships 2020 were hosted by HWS University, convened by Eric Barnes and directed by Reed Herter. It took place October 3rd – 5th and featured 147 teams. The tab team included Chuan-Zheng Lee, Alex Murray, Steven Roy & Étienne Beaulé and the tab is available here. The Chief Adjudication Core included Buzz Klinger, Marlene Pierce, Brian Wong, Niki Linganur, & Alexander Beaumont. The tabulation system was tapered, to weight points teams received.

Motions:

R1: Infoslides; A zoning ordinance (ZO) is a rule that defines how property in specific geographic zones can be used. ZOs detail whether specific geographic zones are acceptable for residential, industrial, or commercial purposes. ZOs may also regulate lot size, placement, density, and the height of structures. ZOs are typically created and enforced by regional governments (cities, municipalities, villages etc.) and exist alongside environmental regulations.

THW abolish all ZOs in the United States of America

R2: THW convert marriages into renewable contracts with agreed upon terms and conditions that are revisited every few years.

R3: Infoslide: A bail-in provides relief to a financial institution by the institution (i.e. a bank) using the money of its unsecured creditors, including depositors and bondholders, to restructure their capital so it can stay afloat. In effect, the institution is allowed to convert its debt into equity for the purpose of increasing its capital requirements. A bailout, however, involves the rescue of a financial institution by external parties, typically governments, using taxpayers’ money for funding. Bailouts help to prevent creditors from taking on losses while bail-ins mandate creditors to take losses.

THW prefer Bail In’s as opposed to Bail Outs as a means of Economic Recovery from the Coronavirus Pandemic.

R4: THO the narrative that experiencing the original version of a work of art is unique to the appreciation of that work.

R5: THBT the US should prioritise democracy promotion (i.e. actively fund resistance groups, provide media attention & political backing etc.) in Eastern Europe as an official foreign policy objective.

R6: Infoslide: For the purposes of this debate, an eternal after-life is one wherein after your physical death your conscience survives in some form for eternity, whereas with re-incarnation the sub-conscious of the deceased individual is transferred to a newly born individual.

THBT re-incarnation is better for the individual than an eternal afterlife

R7: Infoslide: Progressive prosecutors, as they are generally known, have been elected on platforms that included abandoning cash bail, declining low-level charges, not pursuing marijuana cases and closely scrutinising police conduct, in efforts to reform a system that they say over-incarcerates and disproportionately punishes poor, minority communities.

THBT Progressive Prosecutors do more harm than good to the progressive movement.

R8: Infoslide: The Gulabi Gang, is a Vigilante group which originated in Uttar Pradesh, India- with most members coming from lower castes and income backgrounds. Formed as a response to the widespread domestic abuse & violence against women in the nation, it features mostly women members but has some male members. The group uses public shaming, outcry and occasionally battery against those accused of crimes against women.

THS the existence of female vigilante groups (ie the Gulabi Gang, the Red Brigade) in developing nations

OF: THS Western universities setting up campuses in authoritarian states (e.g. NYU in UAE, Nottingham in China) etc.

QF: Infoslide: Image rights are the authority to license who and how an image is used, and the ability to negotiate fees for it’s portrayal

THW grant places (cities, states, etc) image rights over their representation in commercial works

SF: THO the ideal that one ought sacrifice themselves for the greater good

Novice SF: THBT history curricula should be structured around the lives of ordinary individuals, as opposed to leaders/icons/politicians/the elite.

Novice F: Infoslide: Honjok culture originated in South Korea and encourages people to embrace solitude and independence. This looks like the increase of single person households, changing attitudes towards romance, family and a move away from communal activities.

THS the embrace of independence oriented cultures e.g. Honjok Culture

Final: THBT it is in the interest of the US to take measures to significantly reduce its economic ties and connections with China (e.g. reducing investment and redirecting trade, and shifting away from yuan in its reserve currency basket).