Draft:University of Western Ontario Debate Society

The University of Western Ontario Debate Society (UWODS) is the University of Western Ontario’s competitive intercollegiate debate team. It traces its roots to the founding of the Literary Society in 1896, arguably making it the oldest student organization at the University of Western Ontario. UWODS exists independently from the university and is distinct from the University Students’ Council and its clubs system. UWODS is a self funded, not for profit society.

UWODS has a proud history as a competitive debate society as well as a social club that encourages eloquence, confidence, and leadership. It has hosted many prestigious tournaments, including the Canadian Parliamentary National Championships, the British Parliamentary National Championships, the Leger Central Canadian Championships, and the North American Debating Championships. UWODS has also achieved many competitive successes in its history, including debating in the grand finals of the World Universities Debating Championships in 1998. A UWODS team also won the McMaster annual ProAm tournament in 2021.

Every year, UWODS hosts four high school tournaments and at least one university level tournament. Its annual high school tournaments are the Summer HST in August, Fall HST in November, and Winter HST in February. It hosts the Leger Central Canadian Championships annually in March.

Debate Format
The University of Western Ontario Debate Society focuses primarily on training its members in the British Parliamentary debate format, which is the global standard format for competitive debate that is used at the World Universities Debating Championships and most other prestigious tournaments. In British Parliamentary format, four teams of two competitors each debate against each other, two on side government (proposition) and two on side opposition. A debate topic, or motion, is provided by the chief adjudication team of the tournament and teams each get fifteen minutes of preparation time before the debate begins. A British Parliamentary debate round consists of one seven minute address by each competitor in which they provide their own arguments and engage with those brought by other teams.

UWODS also debates in Canadian Parliamentary format in the second semester of each school year. This format includes two teams, each consisting of two competitors. One debates on side proposition and the other debates on side opposition. Each speaker delivers a seven minute speech, and then one speaker from each side returns for a three minute reply speech. In Canadian Parliamentary format, debaters are allowed to bring their own motions, or topics of debate.

Governance
The club is run by an executive team consisting of seven core executives and many other ad hoc executives. The seven core executive positions are President, Vice-President Finance, Vice-President Logistics, Vice-President Training, Vice-President Equity and Internal Affairs, Vice-President Communications, and Member at Large, also known as Vice-President Events and Socials. Ad hoc positions include Projects Director, Finance Director, Logistics Director, Tournament Directors, and Novice Representative.

The seven core executives are elected at the end of year general meeting, which usually takes place in the first week of April, by a popular ranked choice vote. The ad hoc positions are hired later by the core executive team, except for the Novice Representatives, who are incoming first year debaters elected at the beginning of the new school year.

The governance of UWODS follows the club’s constitution, ratified in 2012 and last amended in 2024.

History of Debating at Western University
Literary Society

The history of the UWODS can be traced back to the founding of the Literary Society in 1896. The Literary Society originally fulfilled most social functions of the University, including that of the student government, student newspaper, and the host of both the “Freshman’s Reception” and the annual “Christmas Lit” celebration. As the University grew, the functions of the Literary Society began to be adopted by other societies and organizations and the Literary Society became more recognizable as the predecessor of the UWODS.

The Literary Society began to focus more on debate as its functions became lesser, especially under President Gord Ford and his executive team in the 1929-1930 academic year. This was the first year in which the Freshman’s Reception was organized by the Students’ Administrative Assembly (SAA) rather than the literary society. The relevance of the Society had been called into question in the preceding years as its responsibilities decreased. The 1929-1930 executive responded to this by introducing the Oxford system of debating, which is similar to that currently practiced by the UWODS, and working to popularize it and thus revive the society. This was rather effective: the society debated both internally and in external competitions with success and participated in the Inter-University Debating League, Canada’s main intercollegiate debate association at the time.

The society’s focus on debating continued in the next few years. At the close of the 1932-1933 school year, the Literary Society was formally dissolved and a Debating Society was organized to take its place as a club focused on debate. This was largely done as the Literary Society had developed past its original role enough that its operation was inefficient. It had become essentially a debate society which also managed the “Christmas Lit” event, and thus its purposes were seen as better served through transferring responsibility for the “Christmas Lit” to the SAA and establishing a new society specifically for debating. This is when the University of Western Ontario Debate Society first appeared under its current name.

Areopagus

Prior to the Literary Society’s greater focus on competitive debating, the Areopagus of the Western University was created. The Areopagus was founded on February 13, 1903 by Mr Baker, who began discussions to create a debating society, and Mr Colgrove, who wrote the society’s constitution and defended it at the February 13th general meeting. The first executive team consisted of Mr Colgrove as President, Mr Schaef as Corresponding Secretary Treasurer, Mr Grass as Recording Secretary, and Mr Elson as Chaplain. Dr William F. Tamblyn, a professor of English at the University, was recognized as the honorary president and continued to hold said office until the dissolution of the Areopagus a few years later.

The Areopagus was exclusive to male students. Its activities focused on debate, but meetings also frequently featured speeches delivered by members. Debate topics tended to focus on political issues of the day and included: “resolved that Newfoundland should be annexed to Canada,” “resolved that woman suffrage should be adopted by an amendment to the constitution of Canada,” and “resolved that the principle of divorce is injurious to the moral tone of any community.” Speeches also frequently addressed key issues, such as immigration and the Alaska boundary dispute, but also often regarded less serious topics such as the orator’s favourite book or poem. The Areopagus also held events, the largest of which was a banquet on December 9, 1904. The banquet was attended by 50 members and guests including the Vice Chancellor and Provost of the University.

There are no records of the original Areopagus after the 1906-1907 school year. It appears to have disbanded at this point or soon after.

Alumnae Association

The Alumnae Association, originally called the Woman's Club, was organized in 1909 to provide women a unique space for intellectual activities such as debate. This was created largely in response to their exclusion from the Areopagus, which they saw as an exclusion from serious debate at Western, as well as the student newspaper In Cap and Gown being renamed the Western University Gazette and taken under the control of male editors rather than the women that had previously operated it. The Alumnae Association was originally focused on debate and reading, but evolved into more of a general social club.

New Areopagus

The New Areopagus of the Western University was founded in 1915, presumably as an attempt to revive the aims of the Areopagus. Its stated aim was “the improvement of its members in controversy, eloquence and literature.” The New Areopagus focused more closely on debating specifically than did the original Areopagus. Its members debated topics including: “resolved that the Scotch have done more for the good of the world than have the Irish,” “resolved that cooperation should be substituted for competition in business,” “that party governments as carried out in Canada should be abolished.”

Dr W.F. Tamblyn was recognized also by the New Areopagus as honorary president. He was also very helpful in the creation of the society, including by allowing its first meeting to occur in his lecture hall. The first executive team of the New Areopagus consisted of Mr Payne as President, Mr Hunt as Vice-President, Mr Curran as Secretary-Treasurer, and Mr Thomas and Mr Miller as first and second year representatives, respectively.

There are no records of the New Areopagus after that of the elections of the 1916-1917 academic year executive, of which Mr Curran was the President.

Debate Society

The University of Western Ontario Debate Society was created at the beginning of the 1933-1934 school year to take over the Literary Society’s role as a university debate club. It has participated in the Inter-University Debating League and its successor organization, the Canadian University Society for Intercollegiate Debate (CUSID), since it was founded.

UWODS has been active in intercollegiate debate since its founding. In its early years it hosted the Inter-University Debating League for Quebec and Ontario in 1947, the National Federation of Canadian University Students Debating Finals in 1956, and many other prestigious annual tournaments. UWODS also has a history of hosting its own tournaments. The first major tournament that is recorded to have been founded and hosted by UWODS is the McIntosh Debate Championships, founded in 1954. They also hosted the Western Invitational Debating Tournament, founded in 1958.

The Debate Society also has a history of running events for Western students to encourage debating and speaking on campus. There was a notable attempt to expand debate in the 1953-1954 school year, when they hosted Freshman Debates to attract new members and instituted the McIntosh Debate Championships.

Especially since then, UWODS has sent contingents to tournaments around Canada and the world. In its early years, UWODS regularly attended tournaments in Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto. In 1955, UWODS debaters Ron Wonnacott and Steve Peitchinis debated the motion “resolved that the British Commonwealth is a myth” against Cambridge (the UWODS team lost by a split decision). UWODS continues to attend tournaments around Ontario and elsewhere, including in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Kingston.

In addition to competitive debate, UWODS has hosted debates and speeches for notable public figures. In 1963, it hosted a debate regarding the need for Canada to adopt a defensive nuclear role, in which former defence minister Douglas Harkness debated against E. B. Jolliffe, former leader of the Ontario CCF party. This event was hosted on the university campus and attended by about 300 people.

UWODS has also been a regular attendee at the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC) and the North American Universities Debating Championships (NAUDC), both of which are hosted annually. UWODS debaters Dave Orr and Brent Patterson spoke in the grand finals of WUDC in 1998 in Athens, Greece on the motion “this house believes that humanitarianism is a first world affectation.” UWODS also regularly participates in the North American Debating Championship (NADC), which they won in 1998. UWODS hosted NADC in 2023.

Unfortunately many of the records of UWODS’s history after 1960 have been lost.

Notable Alumni

 * Paul Wonnacott, a member of the Council of Economic Advisers under US President George H.W. Bush
 * Ronald Wonnacott, an author and co-author of many textbooks including an influential text on US-Canada free trade
 * Sinclair Stevens, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Regional Industrial Expansion
 * Grant Reuber, Influential economist and president and Chief Operating Officer of the Bank of Montreal as well as chairman of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation
 * Shirley Thomson, Director of the National Gallery of Canada and Director of the Canada Council for the Arts
 * Robert Bandeen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian National Railways
 * Geoffrey Stevens, journalist and author
 * Ron Atkey, Minister of Employment and Immigration
 * Derwyn Shea, clergyman for the Anglican Church of Canada and member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.