About
MUDS
The Macquarie University Debating Society is the
debating society of Macquarie University. Founded in 1993, Macquarie University
has a proud tradition in debating, having successfully competed both nationally
and internationally in debating tournaments. Macquarie had bestowed upon it the
honour of winning the World
Universities Debating Championships (Worlds)
in 1996.
At Worlds in Manila 1999,
Macquarie made it through to the semi finals. More recently at Worlds in
Sydney, Macquarie made the Octo-Finals. MUDS is ranked within the top 40 of all
universities worldwide. First semester
is done in Australian Three's style, while second semester is done in the
British Parliamentary style.
Since 2000, we have run three “Macquarie Schools’
Cup”s each year for Senior, Intermediate and Junior Divisions respectively.
Bringing up to 80 teams to Macquarie University each year, this introduces
students to the University and helps us in serving the community and fostering
debating within it. For younger years, we have been in partnership with the
Rotary Foundation of Epping in running the Epping Primary Schools Debating
Competition annually since 2003.
All students from around the campus are encouraged
to join and be active in the society. As a multi-disciplined society we are
able to bring together a wide variety of academic skills and ways of thinking
to ensure success.
MUDS caters for debaters of all abilities and
talents. We run programs aiming to bring out the fantastic speaker in everyone.
The Australian Championships, known as ‘Easters’ because it is traditionally held
over the Easter long weekend, is a novice tournament seeking to develop the
skills of those new to university debating. Not only do you get an excellent
chance to improve your skills, the tournament is a fantastic way to meet
debaters from all over the country, and especially your own university. In
2008, Macquarie University has the honour of the honour of hosting the tournament,
for the first time since 1993!
WEEKLY EVENTS: MUDS also has an internal competition which runs every Monday. This
may be held in either first or second semester (or both), and is also a great
chance to refine your skills. In addition to ‘Easters’,
MUDS also participates in the Sydney Regionals Competition in both first
and second semester. This weekly meeting brings together debaters from Sydney,
Macquarie, UNSW and UTS.
Macquarie also participates in the AustralAsians
Intervarsity Debating Competition (Australs
for short). This competition, bringing students from as far away as India and Japan,
is the next step in a debating career. A great deal of fun, Macquarie has done
very well. We were champions in
1994 and Octo-Finalists in both 2000 and 2004. In
2007, we sent three teams to Australs at
UT MARA Malaysia. In 2008, we travel to Ateneo
de Manila University, in The Phillippines.
Finally, MUDS also participates in the Worlds competition, held over the New Year
period. With nine preliminary rounds, a Comedy competition, a public-speaking
competition, a 32-team “break” to finals, but most importantly the best social
events ever, this is a fantastic tournament. It is no secret that the Aussies
do very well at debating (as a country we are ranked 1). (Worlds is done in British Parliamentary style),
positions are always competitive.
Enough said. Want to know more? Read Locquacissmi, attend Internals on a Monday
Night at W5C from 6pm as
everyone there will be happy to answer any questions you may have.