CPH Debate Club season to start

While university debate teams are very common internationally, the Copenhagen Debate Club (CDC) is the first of its kind at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) and in Denmark. They start their new season on Monday 9 September at CSS campus (Faculty of Social Science), led by Lucinda David, chief adjudicator at the World Universities Debate Championships 2012 – the Olympics of debating.

The club was founded by UCPH students Theis Dencker and Martin Schröer, after their own introduction to debating in other international platforms. They saw a need to promote critical thinking amongst students and the population in general and formed the CDC to address that gap.

“The basis of debating is not the promotion of one’s agenda or beliefs; instead, it is the advancement of critical analysis of propositions and claims, and the development of the ability to present one’s position in a clear, concise and credible manner” says Theis Dencker, the Copenhagen Debate Club’s current leader.

Both danish and international students welcome

The Copenhagen Debate Club, which has been in existence for two years, invites world debating experts to train its members, and sends its trained members out to international competitions and tournaments around Europe.

Club activities including training and competitions are carried out in English, opening it up to both Danish and international students. The club is also open to students from all faculties of UCPH at no cost.

Training sessions are held every Monday between 16.00 and 18.00, and at the end of semester championship is expected to conclude this season just before the Christmas break.

Guest speakers

The first session will benefit from an invaluable training session from Lucinda David, the debate director of the Lund Debate Society and one of the forces behind developing competitive, academic debating in Sweden.

For a preview of this key speaker, you can watch one of her recent Ted talk episodes here.

The panel of speakers at the training sessions consist of both UCPH faculty members and international experts.

“Professor Christian Kock of the Department of Rhetoric will be part of the panel of guest speakers, as well as experts from the Balkans and elsewhere around the world,” Theis reveals.

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