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Debating Society (SWORDS)

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Welcome to Debating Society (SWORDS)

Hello, and welcome to the UOW Debating Society aka SWORDS!

Whether you’re new to university entirely, a few years in and wanting something new, a seasoned debater, or completely new to the activity, we’re very excited to have you on board!

We run our weekly Internals sessions on Tuesday at 5:30 on campus every week through the semester, where we hold a workshop looking at debating skills, followed by a practice debate where you can choose to debate, adjudicate or just watch! These sessions are super chill and welcoming, and we do our best to make sure they’re accessible for anyone to join in and not feel left out.

Throughout the year, there are mini weekend tournaments held by different universities around the country, National, and International competitions (including Brisbane, Jakarta, and Panama City in 2024) which we participate in, which are awesome opportunities to not only flex your debating skills, but socialise, meet new people, and travel!
As well as these competitive tournaments, we find balance in occasional fun tournaments based on particular themes (for example, we’re hosting a Star Wars tournament in May), or in holding pop culture weeks at our Internals sessions.
We also host many internal social events because what is debating without good friends?
On top of all this, we work with local schools and connect members with (paid) adjudicating and coaching work.

We aim to do our absolute best to create a safe, welcoming, and supportive environment at all our events. Our Internals sessions are always judgement free as we understand that everyone starts somewhere, we’re all trying to develop our skills and sometimes you just have an off day!
Novices will have support of older members when starting and attending competitions. We have a designated novice officer who’s job is to make sure that all the new people at the club feel welcomed and supported in every step of their experience at the club.
We also have 2 Equity Officers who oversee any complaints, concerns or questions regarding the conduct of our members.
We also have a Women & Gender-Minority (WGM) Officer who has a similar role, but specifically looks at the WGM involvement in the club, making sure people feel supported to get involved, and organising WGM events.
We are an inclusive society, offering pronoun introductions before each debate, hosting/attending women & gender minority tournaments, and have a 0 tolerance of homophobia, racism, transphobia, misogyny or any other inappropriate and discriminatory behaviour.
The TLDR is that we are trying our best to create the most comfortable experience for everyone so please don’t be nervous to join!

We would love to see you come and give debating a go, or at one of our social events!
You can best keep up with the club on our social media pages and other info in our linktree: https://linktr.ee/uowswords
Please sign up to our mailing list using the form on the linktree rather than the ‘Join Club’ option on the UniClubs site.

Upcoming Events

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