SFS-Q Students Clinch the Qatar Universities Debate League Championship

The Qatar Universities Debate League (QUDL) culminated in a year-end showdown that saw Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Q) scoop up the title for first place. This year’s Nationals Tournament involved an array of participating universities in Qatar, including Qatar University, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar alongside Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar, among others.

Arwa Elsanosi and Eileen Francis, senior SFS-Q debaters, reached the final round in this test of analytic acumen, propelling the SFS-Q Debate club to a cumulative win while placing an honorable second in this final university-level debating match.

“Our students carried off the league win brilliantly,” said Sara Berhie, an SFS-Q Student Development Officer and debate coach at SFS-Q. “It was a hard fought year of debates on interesting and complex topics. At SFS-Q, we have enjoyed and fostered the culture of open debate because we feel that this type of spontaneous analysis helps to sharpen our students’ communication and synthesizing skills, bringing to life their classroom material.”

Reflecting on SFS-Q’s league win, Elsanosi explained, “This year, Qatar Debate introduced the new idea of the annual debate league. It made a difference because there was the sense that you could improve your standing the following week. Throughout the year’s matches and based on the updated league system, we always had the opportunity to increase our speaker points. This made us really happy about the changes. We even took extra time out to practice and prepare cases.”

SFS-Q presented three solid teams at the Qatar Universities Debate League Nationals Tournament, demonstrating the strength of its debate club and its promotion of a culture and tradition of discussion extending beyond a single debater or team. The future for SFS-Q debating continues to be bright, as freshman and junior students look set to take up the mantle of debate league champions.

“We try to be consistent with all of our teams, ensuring we get enough practice and exposure to debating so that we all have the same level of preparation. We don’t focus on one team alone,” continued Elsanosi.

This year, the SFS-Q Debate Club also ventured to Manila, Philippines for the World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) to test their debating mettle on a global stage, a year underlined by the recent Qatar Nationals Tournament. “It was intense,” concluded Elsanosi. “Our position was challenging, on a motion that states should take initiative in defining national cultural identity,” she added. “While we came up against many excellent teams in the spirit of friendly rivalry, overall, our SFS-Q team came out on top.”