Welcome!
The Chicago Debate Society is the parliamentary debate team of the University of Chicago. We compete on the American Parliamentary Debate Association and British Parliamentary Debate circuits and send debaters to tournaments almost every weekend. CDS has consistently met tremendous success on APDA, qualifying teams to Nationals every year and routinely winning Speaker and Team Awards at tournaments. Additionally, we are offering BP opportunities for the first time this year. We welcome prospective members of all experience levels to drop by our practices every Wednesday at 6pm, Thursday at 6pm, and Sunday at 2pm in Cobb. For more information, please browse this website or direct any questions to our friendly officer board.
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News
Langfan
Congratulations to Alex Shura and Ava Sharifi for winning the 2018 Langfan Constitutional Debate Tournament and the $3000 grand prize! Congratulations as well to the runner-up team of Katherine Ottenbreit and Ben Koch who will receive a $1000 prize.
Nationals
CDS had an incredible showing at Nationals this weekend at Johns Hopkins! A HUGE congratulations to Jay Gibbs and Drew Harrington who made it to octofinals and Drew Harrington for winning 10th varsity speaker! Fantastic job to all of our debaters who made it to APDA Nationals this year.
USUDC
Jack Votava and Gregory Wong made it all the way to novice finals at USUDC!!! Congratulations!
Wellesley
Congrats to Alex Shura for getting to novice semifinals and being 8th novice speaker at Wellesley!
Princeton
CDS members were successful at Princeton both in the tournament and in APDA elections. Congratulations to Drew Harrington for being elected to the APDA board as a member-at-large, and to Rachel Blume and Ben Koch for reaching novice finals! Ben was also 5th novice speaker.
NAW*DC
Great job to our contingent at the North American Women and Gender Minorities Debating Championship! Fred Goldstein-Rose and Rachel Blume reached varsity quarterfinals, with Rachel winning 3rd novice speaker, and Grace Ryan and Kelly Mu were novice finalists!
Swarthmore
Ben Koch was 6th novice speaker at Swarthmore this weekend!
Temple
Jay Gibbs and Drew Harrington reached semifinals at Temple, meaning that Jay is now qualled for nationals! Congrats Jay!
Middlebury
Amazing job to Jaewan Park and Gregory Wong for getting to semifinals at Middlebury!
Stanford
CDS had a great weekend at Stanford, with Jay Gibbs and Drew Harrington breaking to octofinals, Andrew Hamilton and Kenny Loke advancing to quarterfinals, and Josh Neudorf and Nicholas Chung making it to novice semifinals. Additionally, Sam Lewis and Sagar Tikoo were the 16th varsity team, Andrew Kao and Jaewan Park were 15th, and Adi Ram and his hybrid were 14th. Great job to Jaewan for finishing as 2nd novice speaker, Ben Koch as 4th, and Josh as 8th.
TCNJ
Rachel Blume was the 8th novice speaker at TCNJ. Congratulations Rachel!
Tufts
Congrats to Zachary Lemonides and Andrew Hamilton for getting to partial octos at Tufts!
NorAms
Congratulations to Andrew Hamilton and Kenny Loke for breaking at NorAms this weekend!
NYU
Great job to Katherine Ottenbreit and Ben Koch for making to Novice Finals, and Jay C. Gibbs and Adi Ram for getting to Varsity Quarters at NYU!
Washington University
Fantastic job to everyone who competed at WashU, and congratulations to Maya Dutta and Charlie Marshall for winning the tournament!
Shoutout to Katherine and Daniel for making it to Varsity finals as novices! And great job to Andrew Kao, Sam Lewis, Zachary Lemonides, and Danny Goynatsky for breaking to semi-finals.
Congrats to Josh Neudorf and his hybrid for winning Novice finals, Alex Shura for making it to finals, and Jack Votava, Jaewan Park, Ava Sharifi, and Aya Somai for getting to semi-finals!
Here are the top speakers of the tournament from our team:
Novices:
1. Ava Sharifi (also 5th Varsity speaker!)
4. Josh Neudorf (also 10th Varsity speaker!)
5. Daniel Polissky
6. Gregory Wong
7. John Koobatian
8. Aya Somai
9. Carter Squires
10. Alex Shura
Varsity:
1. Zach Lemonides
2. Danny Goynatsky
3. Sam Lewis
4. Sagar Tikoo
6. Andrew Kao
8. Steven Krawczyk
Northeastern
Great job to Jaewan Park, Daniel Pollisky, and Ajay Chopra for being 7th, 9th, and 10th novice speakers at Northeastern this weekend! And congratulations to Jaewan and Carter Squires for breaking to novice semifinals!
Fordham
Congratulations to Madi Norman and Patrick Monaghan for making it to octofinals at Fordham this weekend, and to Madi for being 8th speaker as well!
Moody Bible
Our team had a great run at the Moody Bible Institute tournament this weekend!
Winning the tournament:
Andrew Hamilton and Daniel Goynatsky
Advancing to finals:
Joseph Wiltzer and Sam Lewis
Advancing to semifinals:
Rachel Blume and Ben Koch
Advancing to quarterfinals:
Apoorva Krishnan and Lee Harris
Jay C. Gibbs and Drew Harrington
Jack Kurila and Vishal Talasani
Novice Speakers:
10th Ava Sharifi
9th Rachel Blume
8th Olivia Padilla
7th Grace Ryan
6th Daniel Polissky
5th Alex Shura
3rd Colby Rogers
2nd Ben Koch
1st Lee Harris
Varsity Speakers:
8th Joseph Wiltzer
7th Sagar Tikoo
5th Charlie Marshall
4th Andrew Hamilton
3rd Jay Gibbs
1st Sam Lewis
American University
Drew Harrington broke to quarters at American University ProAms this weekend with his hybrid, meaning he is now qualled for Nationals! Great job Drew!
Novice Competition
Great job to everyone who debated in our novice competition, from both UChicago and other schools! The breaking teams were Rachel Blume and Ben Koch, Daniel Polissky and Katherine Ottenbreit, Ajay Chopra and Jaewan Park, and Colby Rogers and Samuel Sagawa. In the end, Ben and Rachel won the final round.
DC United
CDS had an incredible weekend! A huge congratulations to Jay Gibbs and Drew Harrington for winning the DC United Tournament! Jay also won top speaker of the tournament, and Drew won 8th speaker. In addition, Adi Ram and Andrew Hamilton made it to partial-octofinals.
Brown
Congrats to Liya Khan and Madi Norman for making it to octofinals at Brown University's tournament this past weekend!
Tufts
Congratulations to Josh Zakharov and Zachary Lemonides for making it to quarterfinals at Tufts, and to Josh for being 10th varsity speaker as well.
Williams
Another strong weekend for CDS at Williams College. Congratulations to Zachary Lemonides for his 9th speaker award!
Hopkins
CDS started the year strong at Hopkins this weekend! Both of our teams maintained a winning record in a very competitive field. Additionally, Zachary Lemonides and Andrew Hamilton reached the semi-finals, with Zach taking home tenth varsity speaker as well!