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The Victoria University of Wellington Debating Society (Inc.) or "Debsoc" as it is more commonly known, is a New Zealand University Debating Society. The society was formed in 1899, prior to the formation of Victoria University itself. VUW Debsoc is an Incorporated Society, run by a committee of eleven people who organise regular debating grades, tournaments, public debates and social events.
The Society meets each week during the university year on Wednesday nights in the Student Union Building, and attends tournaments during each of the mid-trimester and trimester breaks. The Society also organises the prestigious Plunket Medal Oratory Contest, the oldest prize for public speaking in New Zealand.
The 2008 Debating Society President is Christopher Bishop.
The VUW Debating Society is the most successful university debating society in New Zealand. It has won the Officers\' Cup for impromptu debating at the New Zealand University Games sports tournament for the last nine years. It is the current holder of the prestigious Joynt Scroll for prepared debating, and it has won this trophy more than any other university. It has won the NZ British Parliamentary Debating Champs in three of the four years it has been held. It is also the current holder of the "McLeod Trophy" for university debating at a novice level in the North Island ("Thropy").
In July 2007, Victoria were runners-up at the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships, with four speakers ranking in the top twenty at the tournament. Sayeqa Islam won the best speaker prize. The Society hosted the tournament in 2006. Victoria is the only New Zealand Debating Society to have won Australs, which it has done three times, in 1980, 1982, and 1998.
In November 2007, a team from Victoria (Christopher Bishop & Sayeqa Islam) won the Cambridge Union Intervarsity tournament, the first ever team from the southern hemisphere to win the prestigious tournament. The same team also finished as runners-up at the Oxford Union Intervarsity tournament, and the University College Dublin Vice-President\'s Cup competition.
2007 will go down as the most successful year in the history of the Debating Society. Victoria has recorded the following results:
In addition:
Each year in December the Society organises a New Zealand invitational tournament, open to international teams and adjudicators. The tournament was first run in 2004 as the "Victoria IV". In 2006, the tournament became officially known as the "New Zealand British Parliamentary Open Debating Championships", following a decision of the Annual General Meeting of the New Zealand Universities\' Debating Council.
Past winners from Victoria:
Past Best Speakers from Victoria:
The VUW Debating Society has won "Joynt Scroll", the New Zealand Universities Prepared Debating Championships, more often than any other Debating Society in New Zealand.
The VUW Debating Society has won the Officers\' Cup, the New Zealand Universities Impromptu Debating Championships, for the last nine years.
[more to come]
The Society has adopted the song \'Victoria\' by The Exponents as its unofficial anthem, sung on celebratory occasions like winning a tournament. At Joynt Scroll in 2003, each member of the Victoria contingent was presented with ownership of a line from the song that reflected their personality ("Reads Cosmopolitan and Alvin Toffler") or how the Society (jokingly) felt about them at the time ("Is he a customer that\'s really worth keeping?"). Each contingent member had their line printed on the back of the tournament t-shirts. An updating of the lines for new members occurred at Joynt Scroll 2007, held in Wellington.
Prominent debaters from the Society often go on to become Rhodes Scholars. Victoria University\'s two most recent Rhodes Scholars, Malcolm Birdling and Chelsea Payne were both Presidents of the Society, as have been a number of Rhodes Scholars before them, such as Alexandra Gillespie, and John Platts-Mills.
The Society has honours boards (maintained by the University) in the bottom foyer of the historic Hunter Building at Victoria University. The original wooden honours boards were maintained and restored when the Hunter Building itself was restored and renovated in the early 1990s. The honours boards list (by year) Victoria students who have won the Joynt Scroll, the Bledisloe Medal for Oratory, the Plunket Medal, and the Union Prize (now defunct).
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia
