The IU Arabic Debate Team ranked first in the nation this year. The team has been a part of IU for three years, but Iman Alramadan, IU professor and team coach, said this is the first time they’ve been number one.
“It was really a very stressful time to put together a team,” Alramadan said.
According to Alramadan and other team members, IU junior Fares Hajji was a crucial part of recruiting for the team and creating its culture this year. He was a part of the team the year before, retaining knowledge of the debate skills required to perform well and the determination it took to be a part of the team.
Hajji and Alramadan sought out students who stood out to them during the school year in her classes to join the team.
“Fares and I had a meeting,” Alramadan said. “We had this criteria and we agreed on them, that we need people who are really native speakers who are determined.”
Once the team was crafted, they had one month until competitions began.
IU junior Salima Al Battashi said they practiced every single day before the competition.
“We would meet up for hours and hours and hours and hours,” Battashi said. “And basically, what we did was we had like a topic, and we would just practice how the competition would go.”
According to the team, despite last-minute planning and their limited familiarity with each other, they said they knew they could win because Alramadan told them they could — and she was right.
After placing highly in regional competitions, the team traveled to New York City in September of this year.
The debate competition they competed in is a part of an organization called Qatar Debate. It is funded by the Qatari government and coordinates debates for countries across the globe. It also oversees debates for native and non-native speakers of Arabic from universities across the world. The IU team is part of the native speaker category, meaning all members speak Arabic as a first or second language.
“They have a bunch of championships, one in the U.K. that's been going for few years in Europe, in pretty much every Arab country as well,” Hajji said.
According to the Qatar Debate website, the championship IU participated in had 200+ contenders and hosted 38 universities, including Harvard and Georgetown. It was also the fifth debate to happen in the U.S. and the first ever championship hosted at New York University.
According to the team, the debate follows the British parliamentary style. During the debate there are several rounds. Each round reveals a new topic. One team debates the opposition which is the argument against the issue. The other team debates the proposition, the argument for the issue.
The teams are allowed only 20 minutes to prepare their arguments. These topics can be ethical, political or social issues. Each team is then given seven minutes to give their arguments. While constructing arguments, they cannot have access to the internet or cell phones.
Alramadan said when they arrived in NYC, her students got straight to work bonding and training with one another. Tasneem Al Balushi, team member and IU junior, said their work paid off quickly.
“Each round, we would just go and put 100% as soon as we leave the room, in 15 minutes, we win,” Al Balushi said. “We had to go through, I don't know how many rounds, six? But after each round, we just put the work and then it pays off. Then put the work and then it pays off.”
Alramadan said after a few rounds, one of the most experienced judges from Qatar Debate came to her and asked if her team had competed in an international debate before.
“I told him, actually, this is the first time,” Alramadan said. “The judge told me they have this structure and organization like they had participated in a global championship before, and that made me like, ‘okay, we are going to win, I'm sure,’ but I didn't share that with them until the end.”
The team says after they won, they felt pride for their school. Each member received a medal and a trophy to take home.
“How did it feel to win? Have you guys been to the IU Football games this year? I’ve been to every single home game and that’s exactly how it felt to win!” Hajji said. “I am glad we were able to put IU’s name up there.”
According to the team, the future for the IU Arabic Debate Team is still filled with more work. Since they won the U.S. competition, they will travel to Qatar for the International Debate Championship in 2025.
