1. AUSTRALS TRIALS - Next Sunday, 15th May, Law School (further details to come)

 

If you are interested in trialling for a spot on one of our Australs teams, please fill out an Expression of Interest form on the website (here: http://www.mudsonline.net/external-competitions). The form must be submitted by Friday 13th May at the latest.

 

What is Australs? Officially the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships, Australs in 2011 will be running from the 6th to the 14th July at Chung Ang University in Seoul, Korea! With 8 preliminary rounds plus finals, Australs is an amazing tournament designed to showcase some of the best university debating in the world. Apart from the high quality of debating and adjudicating you can expect, Australs also includes an expansive social calender spanning the entire length of the tournament. If you'd like to know more about Australs you can visit the website at http://www.koreaaustrals2011.com/. MUDS has 3 teams (of 3) and 6 adjudicator spots to fill, so if you're interested we highly recommend you attend trials. EVEN IF you think you may not get a spot, you should still trial if you're interested in attending. It is always a good idea to get some practice at trialling so that you feel more comfortable at future trials (eg: for Worlds or future Australs) and you can never predict the outcome of trials.

 

2. Weekly Meeting: Freehills Cup, Tuesday 10th May, 5:30 pm, Hercus Theatre, Physics Building

 

This week we will be holding rounds 3 and 4 of the Freehills Cup, so please ensure that your team is able to have enough people attend to debate, and don't forget about the adjudicator rule (every member of your team must adjudicate once!)

In addition, Kelly Butler will be making a very quick presentation on Reply speeches (part of the Australs debating style) before debates commences, so please be there right on time so you don't miss out!

 

Finally, don't forget to bring along $5 for dinner (this week SUSHI!) and give it to the amazing Ming Kang as soon as you arrive!

 

3. ADAM Committee 2011

 

'Another Day At Melbourne,' or 'ADAM,' is an annual debating tournament held in the Australasian 3-on-3 debating style. It is Australia's number one pre-Australs invitational tournament and regularly features a high standard of debating from universities around Australia and around the world. MUDS hosts this tournament on campus, for which we need a committee of dedicated and organised MUDSians! This year the tournament will run from Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd July (just after Semester 1 exams). If you're interested in the joining the organising committee, please email a brief description of why you'd like to be involved and any relevant skills or experience to muds@mudsonline.net.

 

 

The following committee positions are open for applications:

 

Convener x2 - generally run the tournament and ensure everything goes smoothly
Treasurer x1 - controls the finances of the tournament
Registrations Officer x1 - arranges team and adjudicator registrations
Logistics Officer x2 - organise all the food for the entire tournament (breakfasts, lunches and snacks)
Socials Officer x1 - organises social events for the Friday and Sunday nights and the Championship Dinner on the Saturday night
Tournament Director x1 - also known as the Tab Director, the TD will run the Tab (who debates who in each round) for the tournament

Please note: most of these positions will require you to be busy during the tournament itself, and thus you may not be able to debate or adjudicate at the tournament.

 

4. Invitation to attend a Panel Discussion hosted by the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences

 

There will be a Q&A-style event taking place next Friday, 13 May, hosted by the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences on a topic of interest to their Master of International Relations students. A panel of experts will discuss the current moves toward democratisation in North Africa and the Middle East, and consider if and when the international community has a ‘responsibility to protect’ populations from grave violations of human rights (as we’ve seen in Libya in recent times). I have attached a flyer with further information that was sent to MUDS about the event.

If you have any questions or would like to register to attend, please visit: http://graduate.arts.unimelb.edu.au/events/.

 

Thanks!

 

Emma Browne
MUDS Secretary