Students Compete in North American Women’s Debating Championships

Debaters return from Queen’s University, Ontario

Two King’s students, juniors Hannah Herman and Sarah Hicks, returned from the North American Women’s Debating Championship, hosted by Queen’s University in Ontario. At the competition, Herman and Hicks performed in the top eight teams, with Herman winning fourth top speaker.

Herman explained the impetus for the all-women tournament saying, “Because debate is such an old boys’ club in many respects, the tournament aims to integrate and inspire women within the debate community. It provides a safer, less intimidating atmosphere that’s still competitive. The tournament also serves as a context in which to discuss specific issues faced by female debaters, like gender biased judging.”

Hicks said that the tournament was a good opportunity for The King’s Debate Society to build relationships with international programs. “We formed great relationships with many of the debaters from the Queens University team,” Hicks said. “Most of them had never heard of The King's College. They asked us to come back next year and said they would make an effort to send teams to The Empire Debates.”

“The motions at this tournament had an interesting flavor,” Herman said, “My personal favorite was the debate about whether or not the state should prosecute domestic abusers without the victim’s consent.”

The Queen's University tournament comes on the heels of the successful tournament at The King's College, hosted in early January.

For Herman and Hicks, debate has been at the core of their King's education. The benefits of debating, Herman said, range from learning to argue cogently to making great friends at other universities to honing your speaking style. Her debate partner added that debate had helped her develop “a more modest approach to engaging in contentious ideas” and given her a strong community to be a part of.

The King's Debate Society will be attending the Northeast Regional Championships on February 23rd and 24th at Western Connecticut State University.

The King’s College educates students in the ideas upon which nations rise and fall. With a focused curriculum in the liberal arts tradition, students are prepared to help shape, and eventually to lead, the institutions of government, civil society, media, law, business, education, the arts, and the church. King’s is a Christian college located in New York City.

For more information about The King's College please contact: Matthias Clock
Communications Coordinator
212.659.3602