Ah the memories. Here’s a look back at 2008-2009:
Sept 5, 2008 - UTSU Clubs Day
We had a booth. We had fake protest signs. We had debaters yelling that we should abolish the monarch. And we had a lot of people give us strange looks. Our booth had a bristol board that looked like it was made by an 8 year old (but in fact was made by me, a U of T graduating student). Fliers were given out by hand, unless the gusting wind blew it away. Overall it was a fine day. We collected over 300 emails for the mailing list. This was for most of you the first interaction with the debating club. Nice to meet you.
Sept 9, 2008 - First Open Meeting
Our formal welcome to prospective members. Eager and ambitious students, with either none or little prior debating experience, came to join the big league. We thought we would make you feel comfortable by putting you in the Hart House Debates Room. You know the one- big historic room with a throne and pictures of former prime ministers on the wall. But you weren’t intimated. After all, you’re in political science. You write essays on geopolitics. You’re going to law school in a few years. Your oratory skills have won arguments against friends for years now. Then Richard spoke. damn…
No, I’m just kidding. But we did have a show debate on the American Election as a presentation to our new club membership. Most of you kept interested, and would try your hand at debating in a week.
Sept 10 - Wide Open House
Hart House’s own beginning-of-the-year clubs & committees day to introduce students to our groups. There was the rifle & revolver club that you would later lose its funding. There was the finance club that you were always a little suspicious of and now have good reason to be. [I get the feeling I'll have to edit this post later and write an apology.] And there was the debating club, with the same elementary-school-inspired bristol board and slightly water-damaged protest signs. “Write down your email here, and be sure to come back at 4 pm for our open meeting.”
Sept 10, 2008 - Second Open Meeting
Debates Room again. I forget the topic of the show debate. Something to do with climate change, I think. Anyway, come back next week and try your hand at debate.
Sept 20, 2008 - Novice Training Day
In the bulletin I wrote, “our first workshop of the year!” Alright, so it turned out to be our only one. (Well, we did have an in-meeting seminar on note-taking and probably some other small lessons here and there). Anyway, it started at noon on a Saturday in Sidney Smith Hall, and there was free pizza. Another memorable show debate that I now forget, a great seminar on BP by Ian, and practice rounds for everyone.
Oct 3 - 5, 2008 - Novice Tournament at Carleton University
Spit out that gum, youngster. It’s go-time. Our first external tournament of the year took place in Ottawa, which is minutes away from lawless Quebec. [Again, I'm going to have to edit this post and write an apology later. Je suis désolée]. We had 52 debaters sign up, but only room for 28 (by far our largest number of teams for an external tournament). We learned a lot about debating. We also learned that Carleton University gets kind of smelly in the fall and has tunnels in case U of O launches an attack. It was a fun experience for everyone. We also had a team reach the semi-finals.
Oct 7 - 8, 2008 - Elections
Three spots were up for election: Tuesday Novice Rep, Wednesday Novice Rep, and Internal Tournaments Coordinator. I think I voted for Pat Buchanan by accident. It was a tricky ballot.
Oct 17 - 19, 2008 - Hart House IV
Very big tournament organized by Monica and Emma. We had a deep judging pool. Panels in each room, with shadow judges [like in Peter Pan but not really]. Challenging but reasonable motions were assigned, including a motion on Scottish Independence. Heh, who’s going to know about that topic, eh? University College of Dublin went on to win the tournament. [I'm not suggesting anything, it was just a joke. Damn, another edit and apology to come.]
Oct 22, 2008 - UTSC Outreach
Not really considered outreach, but we did have to drive up there. Does that count, then? Some HHDC members went to University of Toronto Scarborough Campus for their new debating society’s welcoming event. We did a show debate on the criminalization of knowlingly transmitting HIV through sex. You know, just a hypothetical debate. It’s not like it’ll happen or anything.
Oct 24-25, 2008 - Yale IV
We paid a visit to the prestigious ivy-league university that somehow produced George Bush. Two Hart House teams made it to finals, and three Hart House debaters were in the top ten speakers list.
Nov 4, 2008 - US Election Night Extravaganza!
Hosted by the Hart House Debates Committee. The night started off with a panel discussion by three professors from the Political Science Department and one Ph.D. candidate. It was an interesting discussion for those of you who could actually hear them or see them, and weren’t bothered by the fact that it was winter outside but you were sweating indoors. It was a huge event! We packed the Maps room (yes, we have a maps room) and together watched the results come in on our big screen projector thingy. Spoiler Alert: Obama won. We also saw Oprah cry.
Nov 7-9, 2008 - Guindon Cup
At the University of Ottawa. Three Hart House teams in the finals. So of course we won. Richard was top speaker. A Hart House novice team made it to novice finals too! I think someone made an equity violation but it wasn’t one of us.
Nov 15, 2008 - Internal Tournament
In the bulletin I called it “our first internal tournament of the year”. Once again, it turned out to be our only one. It started an early 9:30 am on a Saturday. Magic wand pro-am; fun for everyone. Karaoke followed.
Nov 21-23, 2008 - BP Nats
At Queen’s University. Six of the top ten speakers were Hart House. We had one semi-finalist, two finalists, and one of our teams went on to win.
Dec 27, 2009-Jan 3, 2009 - Worlds in Cork
The Debates Committee sent three teams and three judges to the Worlds University Debating Championship 2009 in Cork, Ireland. I believe one of our teams got as far as Octo-finals. Impressive, very impressive.
Jan 6, 2009 - Second Semester
The first meeting of the new year. We switched over to Canadian Parliamentary. If you thought we didn’t have enough rooms for debating last semester, guess what happened when CP kicked in?
Jan 16-18, 2009 - McGill Winter Carnival
At McGill University in Montreal. I believe a Hart House team also won this one. By the way, McGill is the school you wished you went to instead.
Jan 23-25, 2009 - NorthAms
At Amherst College in Massachusetts. I read somewhere that we had a team in the top five. Couldn’t find a tabs result on cusid. I admit that I didn’t try very hard, though.
Feb 6-8, 2009 - Seagram II
At Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo. CUSID’s pro-am tournament of the year. Result: Four out of the five top speakers were Hart House. Four out of the top five teams were Hart House. Hart House won.
Feb 20-21, 2009 - Hart House High School Tournament
The Debates Committee presents our annual High School tournament. What a great way to end Reading Week: mandatory service. Three TDs produced a great tournament.
Feb 27-Mar 1, 2009 - Leger Cup
At Trinity College, University of Toronto. I don’t know what happened. No tabs were posted. I suppose I could just walk over to Trinity and ask.
Mar 20-22, 2009 - CUSID Nationals
At the University of Saskatchewan. We had three speakers in the top ten, two semi-finalists, and another Hart House tournament win. We’ve won five years running now.
Apr 7, 2009 - Elections & AGM
Our elections for the 2009-2010 exec and our annual general meeting. The torch has been passed to the same generation.
A lot of other things happened during the year. Nick continued his program at the Central Tech high school. Internal tournaments were proposed, announced, and canceled on more than one occasion. There was an equity questionnaire that no one filled out. The Debates Committee held several events: Dealing with Dictators, Fact or Friction, criminalization of HIV transfer debate, Foreign Aid & Trade, and Governor General Ed Schreyer. Obama was elected, and Canadians rejoiced. Harper was re-elected, and nobody cared. Parliament was prorogued in an exciting chapter of Canadian politics, keeping politicos on the edge of their seats until mid January when it turned out Canadian politics really is lame because nothing actually happened.
We had more novices this year than in years before. This also meant more diversity and more female debaters. Then we elected a new exec in April and somehow only one female got elected. Just a coincidence, I guess.
We bid farewell and good luck to two graduating law students who have contributed immensely to the Hart House Debating Club: Nick and Dash. Could it be that these two lawyers will one day prove to be our generation’s Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff (both former Hart House debating partners)? We look forward to your competing for the same job one day, to be leader of the future Liberal-Conservative-Human Party (in opposition to the governing Robot-NDP coalition). Oh, I look forward to the debates against the Jack Layton 3000, a robot-socialist hybrid.
Overall it was another good year for Hart House. Thanks for coming out. See you later.♦