A couple of months ago we planned out a full semester of exciting events for MUDS. Unfortunately, at that time we weren't expecting the Commerce faculty to withdraw all support for us. Unlike other Australian debating societies, MUDS does not receive any funding from the university, and thus, we rely upon academic faculties to book rooms for us, in order to avoid paying the exorbitant fees the uni charges (that we simply cannot afford). In spite of the phenomenal amount of work put in by our President Monique and others, it would appear that not a single faculty on campus is willing to book rooms for us. Even the Student Union, with whom we are affiliated, can offer us only minimal support - no other student society relies upon the large number of rooms that we do. As you can imagine, this is a disastrous situation, and one that has the potential to leave MUDS unable to operate.

 

If anyone has suggestions, or if you happen to have connections to any potentially sympathetic higher-ups at the uni, please let us know. We're getting a bit desperate.

In semester two, we switch over to the British Parliamentary-style of debating, as is used at Women's, Worlds, and all other major tournaments that occur in the second half of the year. For those unfamiliar with this style, our first meeting on Tuesday, 27th of July will be a demonstration debate. Even if you have debated in BP before, you should come along anyway and catch up with all your MUDS friends. It's really important during this difficult period that we maintain MUDS' reputation as a vital and active society, so please make the effort to show up. What else would you be doing on a Tuesday night anyway?

In a demonstration of how absurd our current situation is, we don't even have a single room on campus to do this, so the debate will instead be held at PA's. - which is fine for this night, but obviously not ideal for the future. As per usual, the start time will be 5.30pm.

Congratulations to Melbourne 1 (Seamus Coleman, Phil Barker, and Steph D'Souza) who reached the semi-finals of the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships. This made them the most successful Australian team at the tournament.

As per tradition, it is Monash's turn to host the annual Australs Send-Off Debate. If you're suffering from a bit of debating withdrawal, this is a great opportunity to see what will most likely be an extremely high-quality debate between Melbourne 1 (Seamus Coleman, Phil Barker, and Steph D'Souza) and Monash 1 (Victor Finkel, Kiran Iyer, and Ravi Dutta), as well as catch up with all your friends/enemies from MUDS and MAD.

When: Tuesday, 22nd of June, 6.00pm for a 6.30pm debate
Where: Racecourse Hotel, 895 Dandenong Road, Malvern East

No RSVP necessary.

ADAM (Another Day at Melbourne) will be running this year from the 25th to the 27th of June, and we'd highly recommend that you attend! For only $75 for debaters and $45 for adjudicators, you get five rounds of debating, plus quarters, semis, and the grand final, meals provided, great social events, and our famed championship dinner, including loads of wine. ADAM is debated in Australs-style (3-on-3 with reply speeches), so if you want to debate you'll need to get a team together.

If you'd like to attend, head over to http://muds.whypsloven.net/adam10/ as soon as possible and register. Rego closes on the 18th of June, however, there is a team cap, so you want to get in quickly. As a further incentive to do this, anyone who pays after the 18th will have an extra $5 added on to the price.

More info can be found at the Facebook event, and you can email any queries to the org-comm. at adam2010@mudsonline.net.

SCHEDULE
FRIDAY 25 JUNE
17:00 Registration
17:45 Welcome briefing
18:15 Round 1 topic release
18:45 Round 1
20:15 Pub

SATURDAY 26 JUNE
9:15 Roll call and briefing
9:30 Round 2 topic release
10:00 Round 2
11:30 Lunch
12:20 Briefing
12:30 Round 3 topic released
13:00 Round 3
14:30 Afternoon tea
15:00 Briefing
15:15 Round 4 topic released
15:45 Round 4
17:15 Day finishes

19:30 Dinner

SUNDAY 27 JUNE
9:15 Roll call and briefing
9:30 Round 5 topic release
10:00 Round 5
11:30 Lunch
12:00 Break announced
12:15 Quarter-finals topic released
12:45 Quarter-finals
14:00 Snacktime
14:15 Semi-finals topic released
14:45 Semi-finals
16:00 Afternoon tea
16:15 Grand final topic released
16:45 Grand final
18:00 Awards and thanks
18:30 Drinks!

Come along to PA's on Grattan Street for a casual dinner and chat with your fellow MUDSians. There will be a Free-for-All 'debate' where you can speak individually on a topic given on the night, so be prepared for some opinionated fun! You will be able to order meals and drinks and MUDS may provide a few drinks to get things started!

 

Where: Prince Alfred Hotel (PA's) on Grattan Street, upstairs.

When: Tuesday, 25th of May

What time: 6.00pm onwards

Following trials and team formation, MUDS is excited to announce our contingent for Australs:

 

Teams: Melbourne 1 Seamus Coleman Phil Barker Steph D'Souza Melbourne 2 Jen Ames Minh-Quan Nguyen Monique Hardinge Melbourne 3 James Wilson Rishada Cassim Kelly Butler

Melbourne 4 Alex Finkel Nick Liau Oscar Dang Melbourne 5 Daniel Golder Emma Browne Genevieve Stewart   Melbourne 6 Simone Hardinge Rebecca Hibbard Zac Gross

Adjudicators: Conrad Banasik Claire Roberts Tom Sutherland Michael Ciesielski Daniel Gibbons James Hutauruk Katherine Oliver Shermika Blackie Henry Guo Max Sandler Liam Hedge Michelle Bashta Laura Browne Simon To Zoe Anderson Justin Chen Steph Sandford Tim Blair

Come along this Tuesday at 6.15pm (topic will be announced at 6.00) to watch Australia's full? So's your face! (Phil Barker, Steph D'Souza, Monique Hardinge, and David Riglar) and Air Poland: the best in regime change (Zac Gross, Steph Morly, DMac, Genevieve Stewart, and Jen Ames) face-off in the Grand Final.

MUDS is supporting Free Debate’s Enabling Day, being held on the 22nd of May from 11.00-4.00pm, here at the University of Melbourne. Free Debate is an association which exists to foster free and fair debate, with a focus on helping the under-privileged, the under-represented and the under-prepared. They work with both under-privileged schools in the DAV debating program and adult groups, such as the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

 

The purpose of the day is to enable members of the debating community to become high level coaches, who may coach with free debate in the future (although there is no obligation to do so if you attend the day- so if you are at all interested, come along!). Sessions include: coaching methods; tips for coaching children/adult debaters/non-native speakers; coaching activities; project management and advanced coaching for high school debaters. The sessions will be run by some of Australia’s most accomplished debaters (and some ex-MUDSians!) including Rob Koh, Liz Sheargold and Kim Little.

 

If you’d like attend, please email victor@finkel.net, with the subject “Free Debate”, by Wednesday, 19th of May.

We are pleased to announce the org-comm for this year's ADAM tournament (which will be running from the 25th to the 27th of June).

 

Co-Convenors: Liam Hedge and Rebecca Hibbard

Chief Adjudicator: Amit Golder

Tournament Director: Michael Ciesielski

Treasurer: Tom Sutherland

Registrations: Emma Browne

Socials: James Hutauruk and Ruby Pryor

Logistics: Ming Kang Chen and Catherine Nguyen

Sponsorship: Kate Turnbull

 

Registration will be open soon!