President: Auguste McNally

VP (Treasurer): Ollie Bardsley

VP (Externals): Tom Watson

VP (Comps): Jehiel Pather

VP (Internals): Sidharth Manoj Kumar

Secretary: Lachie Doyle

Events and Media Director: Nathan Choi

Women & Gender Minorities Officer: Maya Anderson

PoC Officer: Brendan Nguyen

Novice Development Officer: Liv Bishara

Immediate Past President: Gautama Desaraju

President: Gautama Desaraju

Externals (VP): Auguste McNally

Internals (VP): Bennett Roebuck-Krautz, Abhinav Mohanty, Chloe Kneebone

Treasurer (VP): Anson Chan

Competitions (VP): Nathan Choi

Women and Gender Minorities Officer: Lara Fosbery

Novice Development Officer: Markus Yap

Secretary: Hazel Sung

Events Director: James Greenup

Immediate Past President: Conna Leslie-Keefe

President: Conna Leslie Keefe

Externals (VP): Hazel Sung

Internals (VP): Aleisha Lawrence

Treasurer (VP): Siena Seeto

Competitions (VP): Robert Willingham

Women's Officer: Ansh Deo Singh

Novice Development Officer: Auguste McNally

Secretary: Gautama Desaraju

Events Director: Matthew O'Dea

Immediate Past President: Aroon Parthasarathy

President: Aroon Parthasarathy

Externals (VP): Jacky Chai

Internals (VP): Karthik Pande

Competitions (VP): James Greenup

Treasurer (VP): Branko Stajic

Secretary: Aman Mohamed

Wom*n’s Officer: Conna Leslie-Keefe

Novice Development Officer: Aleisha Lawrence

Events Director: Zoe Morris

Immediate Past President: Kat Cheng

President: Kat Cheng

Externals (VP): David Wu

Internals (VP): Georgia Cooper

Competitions (VP): Jacky Chai

Treasurer (VP): Aroon Parthasarathy

Secretary: Symeon Ziegler

Wom*n’s Officer: Tilda Stafford

Novice Development Officer: Aman Mohamed

Events Director: Sophie Mok

Immediate Past President: Romaan Dulloo

President: Romaan Dulloo

Treasurer: Guy Suttner

Externals: Kat Cheng

Internals: David Wu

Competitions: Michael Xu

Secretary: Aroon Parthasarathy

Events: Madison Lawrence

Development: Anna Ho

Wom*n's Officer: Georgia Cooper

President: Jerson Balaton

VP Externals: Vishnu Natesh

VP Internals: Jason Dong

VP income/Treasurer: Katie Sun

Competitions Director: Simone Tai

Secretary/Arc Liaison: Michael Xu

Development Officer: Katherine Cheng

Events Director: Leah Mercier

Women’s Officer: Faith Limantono

President: Kendall Shepherd

Vice-President (Internals): Andrew Manton-Hall

Vice-President (Externals): Jerson Balaton

Vice-President (Treasurer): James Manton-Hall

Women's Officer: Katie Sun

Secretary/Arc Liaison: Nicole Sung

Development Officer: Simone Tai

Events Director: Vishnu Natesh

Immediate Past President: William Berthelot

William Berthelot President

Andrew Manton-Hall   Vice President (Income/Treasurer)

Anne Wang   Vice President (Externals)

Arlo Alexander-Meylan (Until Semester 1 Week 8)/Jeremy Low Vice President (Internals)

Danielle Santos Secretary/Arc Liaison

Nadhirah Daud Events Director

Tess Gordon Women’s Officer

Romaan Dulloo Development Officer

Phillipa Reeves Immediate Past President

Sujneet Johal First Year Representative

President: Phillipa Reeves

Pippa is a 4th year Arts/Law student. She has previously held the positions of VP (Externals) and Secretary/Arc Liaison Officer on the Debsoc Executive and as a debater she has broken to the finals at Easters, Australs and Women's. As President, Pippa aims to ensure thesociety is inclusive, fun and even more competitive at intervarsity tournaments. She vows to match IPP Nakul's use, if not love, of spreadsheets.

Vice-President (Internals): William Berthelot 

Will is a 3rd year Arts/Law student at UNSW. In this portion of his bio, normally a breaking record at debating tournaments would be outlined, however his most recent finals success was at the Northern Region Year 5 Spelling Bee. Nonetheless, Will has debated at Australs twice, Easters once, and will be debating at Worlds in Greece later this year assuming he makes it out alive from the ATM line. He will be running our weekly internals sessions and this website, so please direct all signature requests, compliments and gifts to him. He is also an equity officer.

Vice – President (Externals): Eloise Kneebone

Eloise is a 3rd Year Economics/Law student. She has broken at Easters and Women's in 2015 and debated at Worlds in 2016. Despite this, Eloise maintains that her biggest contribution to the debating circuit has been her incredible karaoke skills, which has earned her the title of "UNSW's Beyoncé". As Externals VP Eloise organises all UNSW's tournaments and round robins - so if you have any complaints that a tournament is not functioning exceptionally well, please send all complaints to williamberthelot@gmail.com.

Vice- President (Income/Treasurer): Julian Vertoudakis

Jules is a 4th year Economics/Law student who indulges his inner pedant by occasionally attending debating events. As Treasurer, his economic policy is informed by his eerie similarity to the Greek politician Varoufakis, believing that only fiscal stimulus focusing on food, drink and fun times can stop the members of Debsoc falling into depression. He has relished the opportunity to travel with the society, having broken to the semis at Easters, the quarters at Australs and attended Worlds in 2015.

Secretary/Arc Liaison: Anne Wang

Anne is a 2nd year Arts/Law student at UNSW. She broke at Easters and debated at Women’s in 2015 and adjudicated at Worlds in 2016. She coaches high school debating, was once adjudicated by Fred Nile and loves playing devil’s advocate. Outside of debating, she can do a mean impersonation of the train announcement voiceover and enjoys playing her favourite sport, debating. Anne is ready to get excited about Arc forms, Google Drive and Orgsync and ensure we secure subsidies for tournaments in her role as Secretary/Arc Liaison. She is also an equity officer.

Events: Kendall Shepherd

Kendall is a 2nd year Commerce/Law student. During her first year with Debsoc she broke at Easters and debated at both Australs and Womens. Aside from debating and telling everyone about her love of all things rice related, Kendall spends most of her time insisting that despite her shortness she really is old enough to be at uni. As Events Director, she makes sure the drinks, food and fun keeps on flowing throughout the year.

Women’s Officer: Alicia D’Arcy

Alicia is a 3rd year Arts/Law student. She recently debated at worlds and broke at Womens’ in 2015 after two very near misses at Womens’ 2014 and Easters 2015 (#notbitter). Importantly, Alicia loves the df, hence earning her the self-appointed title of “Dancing Queen”. Even more importantly, she loves #gurlpower and that’s why Alicia is the Women’s Officer this year. Any questions related to tearing down and/or dismantling the patriarchy please direct them to her via private message, snapchat or pinterest. 

Immediate Past President: Nakul Bhagwat

Nakul is a fifth year Arts/Law student who enjoys the travel and income that debating provides. You can usually find him at any outlet which sells coffee thinking about how to make Debsoc more efficient. Despite frequently claiming that he is "retired", Nakul will undoubtedly debate at plenty of tournaments in 2016. Outside of debating he is a keen footballer and full-time procrastinator.

President: Nakul Bhagwat

Vice President (Income/Treasurer): Nick Gerovasilis

Vice President (Externals): Phillipa Reeves

Vice President (Internals): Amelia Loughland

Secretary/Arc Liason: Lily Zhang

Events Director: William Berthelot

Women’s Officer: Nadhirah Daud

Media/Marketing Manager: Mitch McBurnie

Immediate Past President: Alex London

President: Alex London

Vice President (Income/Treasurer): Oliver Fio

Vice President (Externals): 

Vice President (Internals): 

Secretary/Arc Liason: Pippa Reeves

Events Director: 

Women’s Officer:

Media/Marketing Manager:

Immediate Past President:

Sarah Greenbaum, David Ong and Georgia Hammond

President: Alex London

Vice President (Income/Treasurer): 

Vice President (Externals): 

Vice President (Internals): 

Secretary/Arc Liason:

Events Director: 

Women’s Officer:

Media/Marketing Manager:

Immediate Past President:

Sarah Greenbaum, David Ong and Georgia Hammond

Sec/Treasurer: Kenneth Fernandez

Vice President: Natalie Karam

President: Alice Lang
Alice shares interesting similarities with her predecessor, Tom Bowes.  Both came to the presidency having previously been Development Officer and Internals Coordinator, and both spent time on exchange in France.  Alice returns from Lyon in 2009 to rediscover English and to lead the Debating Society to greater heights.  Living on campus gives her plenty of time to stake out the best arenas for intellectual battle, and on hand to conduct it.

Vice President: Anh Tran-Nam
After barely surviving the experience of convening Women's last year, Anh is now ready to steer debsoc through a financial crisis, hopefully with the help of corporate benefactors.  There are (at least) three proud UNSW debating traditions Anh is committed to continuing – developing distinguished debaters, providing a friendly and inclusive debating environment, and breaking it down on the dance floor of intervarsity tournaments.

Secretary and Treasurer: Boris Waldman
Boris' motto is 'Money Money Money', by ABBA.  Yes, the entire song.  He likes to think big, especially when it concerns our bank account.  Boris' cunning financial brain will help Anh concoct profitable plans to make sure the Society can continue to give out nice subsidies and pay whatever we need.  Boris will also be involved in doing paperwork in his second role as Treasurer.  The pitfalls of wealth.

 
External Competitions Officer: Sean Lawson
Sean is a rather eccentric man.  However, far from being a fool, his oddness masks a mind which seems more machine than man; such is the speed of its operation.  Rumours of Sean actually being a robot started when people noticed he seemed to live on alcoholic beverages, like Bender in Futurama.  This intriguing quality allows him to manage the demands of conducting our externals programme - conducting trials, organisational logistics, correspondence etc. - whilst ignoring the emotional toll.

Co-Internals Officer: Mariel Barnes
Whilst Sean focuses on organising external things, Mariel knows where the real fun is - right here at DebSoc Internals.  Fun is what is promised in 2009.  Mariel will channel her past form as Socials Officer to make Monday nights the (debating) party it really should be.  Yes, no-one else in the universe has fun nights out on Mondays, due to restrictive social paradigms.  Not us.  We like to think different, and Mariel is the leader of our revolution.

Co-Internals Officer: Angela Kintominas
Ange also likes to party, but too much partying is bad for your health.  Or is it?  That's debatable.  Incorporated into the party that is Monday night will be lots of debating.  And debating about debating.  In conjunction with Mariel, she will be helping to deliver a fine menu of brain food to satiate the hungry minds of DebSoc.

Co-Development Officer: Jennifer Wu
Jen has many legendary tales to tell about high school debating.  Rumour has it she can make fun of any well-known school if you ask her nicely enough.  The fact that she is much too professional to contemplate such a dastardly act has not put paid to this vile rumour.  Whatever the truth, Jen's extensive involvement in school debating will stand us in good stead in school diplomacy.

Co-Development Officer: Zulpha Styer
Zulpha, sick of degenerates mispronouncing such her simple name, wanted to change her name to 'Z'.  That's what people call her anyway.  Unfortunately, it sounded the same as the name of the leader of the ACT Liberals, Zed Seselja.  Not being fond of the Liberal Party, she chose to ignore it all by endeavouring to be a cult figure amongst school kids.  Organising school debating tournaments with Jen seems like a perfect move for her.


Membership Officer: Alex To
Being Membership Officer involves running the O-Week stall and then spending the entire year filling out forms and being otherwise mangled in bureaucracy.  Alex will attempt to use his physical prowess and debating nous to manage the demands of this role.  Arc@UNSW may think they are the kings of the hill, but their headquarters is actually at the bottom of campus.  It looks like Alex won't be needing to move too many muscles to out-muscle restrictions and red tape.


Publicity Officer: Justin Rassi
In charge of promoting the virtues of DebSoc to the universe is Justin, a man small in stature, but powerful in terms of mental acuity.  Legend has it that he once wrote an essay by just looking at a printer and transmitting words through telepathy.  If he could do that with DebSoc publicity, no more will noticeboards be covered with posters about communist lectures, militant protests and cars for sale.  With Justin, DebSoc will gain its rightful place in noticeboard hierarchy.  On top.



Public Debates Officer: Ben Williams
Ben shares his name with the first winner of Big Brother Australia.  This interesting fact seems, at least tangentially, to indicate that public debates in 2009 will reach new heights in hilarity and ridiculousness.  Some say he will stage a Big Brother style event.  Others say he will...not.  All we know is that 2009 will be a good year for public debating.



Chief Adjudicator: Bart Cummings

Despite popular belief, Bart actually doesn't have the same name as the racehorse trainer Bart Cummings.  The first given name of the elder Cummings is actually James.  Rather than training horses, Bart will focus his attention on humans, establishing an internal training regime to whip the troops of DebSoc into a fine debating army to conquer the world of debating and beyond.  One day he will train the first human to win the Melbourne Cup.

Women's Officer: Su-Min Lim
Helen Reddy was a woman and wanted the world to hear her roar.  A sound almost as unpleasant as that horrible song itself.  Unlike Reddy, Su-Min doesn't need to roar, or sing silly songs.  The virtues of diplomatic and polite engagement with fellow human beings and avoidance of unproductive conflict are all the way forward in advancing the cause of women in debating.  However, Su-Min can roar if necessary.


Socials Officer: Dave Maher
Dave may appear to be a Bondi beach bum, because he is one.  However, his fast-working brain can process the best social venues in town and their applicability to various social situations and somehow produce a cohesive plan for fun.  Wherever the party is at, Dave will be behind it all.  If it's good, it's because of him.  If you don't like a party, it's probably because the party doesn't like you.  Where there's Dave, there's always good times to be had.


Immediate Past President: Tom Bowes
Tom has actually finished his debating career, having finished university.  Inexplicably, he has decided to continue to serve in an advisory capacity as the Immediate Past President.  This would ordinarily be considered insanity, but is a testament to the dedication Tom has to the world of debating, and more specifically, the Society itself.  Tom follows the philosophy of former Singaporean leaders: one is never old enough to retire.

Debsoc thanks Matt Kwan for his contribution to these profiles. 

President - Tom Bowes

Tom gave up a lifestyle on the French Riviera to take charge of DebSoc in 2008, his last year of university.  Tom aims to combine his party prowess, knowledge of the hottest local pubs, and his passion for finding space for debating in his leadership.  As a founding father of the Bowes-Cummings Medal, he is excited to be part of it again.  Goodtimes await!

Vice-President and Corporate Sponsorship Officer - Li Zhou

Li is one of the few Commerce students in UNSW with a conscience.  Perhaps he is the only one.  This means that he can use his debating skill to get money off rich people, without feeling bad.  Being hip, happening, and very brand-conscious, he knows exactly where to look for whatever he wants.  True men never have regrets, and Li Zhou is one such person.

Secretary and Treasurer - Nicole Batten

Nicole's experience in clubs bureaucracy, clubs management, and clubbing makes her perfect to tackle the weight of student organisational red tape and the burdens of financial management in her dual role as Secretary and Treasurer.  Her job is to keep DebSoc's money safe from the evils of thievery and everyone else.  One can never be too sure.

Externals Coordinator - Rose Grey

Having played an integral role in last year's Bowes-Cummings Medal competition, Rose is back with a new mission: to take over the world, one debating tournament at a time.  She is starting local, and hopes to send a heap of newcomers and old hacks alike to Easters, at Macquarie University, held over the Anzac Day weekend, oddly enough.

Internals Coordinator - Alice Lang

Coming from Canberra, Alice is very experienced in and knowledgeable about organisational efficiency.  She left Canberra as part of the ACT Government's aim to spread its goodness around Australia.  She brought her skills to DebSoc and is ready for the gruelling role of organising DebSoc's weekly internal debates.  Having attended Assumption Worlds, she knows what topics should never be used again.  A revolution awaits!

Chief Adjudicator - Su-Min Lim

With a menacing new title, Su-Min is back in 2008 to advance the cause of adjudicators worldwide, starting with UNSW DebSoc.  Adjudicating will be her life in 2008 - helping to organise adjudicators at internal and external debates, and at DebSoc events.  Some people think that debaters should get all the glory.  Not Su-Min. 

Women's Officer - Anh Tran-Nam

Some people like to start small.  Not Anh, despite her diminuitive stature.  One of the first things Anh did as Women's Officer was to bid, successfully, for the Australian Women's British Parliamentary Debating Championships.  This has given her lots to do until the Labour Day weekend.  She is excited, as should all UNSW female debaters, and she urges all new and old female debaters to get involved.

Development Officer - Boris Waldman

Boris combines Cossack charm, playboy fashion, and biting wit, to bring forth a powerful combination in the organisation of DebSoc's schools programme.  Having already taken on the responsibility of running the third UNSW Invitational Debating Tournament (coming up in February), he wants more.

Publicity Officer - Matt Kwan

Matt Kwan is the statesman of the Debating Society. Diplomatic and cool under pressure, he brings a wealth of executive experience and debating nous to his role as Publicity Officer. Managing and understanding the wants and needs of Debsoc's market are complex tasks, but Matt has done it all before. Working for the Liberal Party has not taught him nothing - he knows how to dump a letterbox like few before him. This is a man who combines vision with humility and should be regarded, though he won't say it himself, as one of the power brokers of the 2008 executive. [Written by Bart Cummings]

Membership Officer - Sophie Newman

Sophie's mild-mannered demeanour masks a strong drive to simply get things done.  Her role in 2008 is to recruit as many people to debating as possible, and then manage everyone though some complicated system.  Bureaucracy, red tape, meetings, Arc - all these obstacles stand in Sophie's path, but she is ready to knock them down. 

Public Debates Officer - Sharon Zhang

Sharon once went to UTS.  She defected to UNSW and never looked back.  When you can participate in so many public debates, why would you?  Sharon's aim is to revolutionise public debating here in UNSW.  She plans to use her NIDA training to find a way. [Sharon is on exchange in France for the First Session.  Bart Cummings will take over the organisation of public debates during this time.]

Socials Officer - Mariel Barnes

Socials are the heartbeat of any debating society, and Mariel is the pacemaker for UNSW DebSoc.  Driving the monorail gives her ample opportunity to seek out and investigate the latest party crazes of Sydney, and she can take this knowledge back to DebSoc for all to share in.  Social events will never be the same again.

First Year Representative - Dave Maher

David Maher is not David Marr, despite the phonetic similarity of their names. One is an upstanding pillar of society, the other used to host an ABC TV show. To the role of First Year Representative, Dave brings a sharp wit, a puppyish visage and an encyclopaedic knowledge of Harry Potter. There is no one better equipped to support new debaters. Expect big things. [Written by Su-Min Lim and Alex Fattal.] 

Immediate Past President - Bart Cummings

Bart has become the DebSoc guru, the beacon of light to which we all look to for divine guidance.  Jefferson Starship built a city on rock and roll, Bart built a city by reciting poetry.  He didn't need any help from anyone else.  No, when Bart casts his steely gaze over the desolate landscape that is UNSW, things instantaneously come to life.  Always on hand with Latin phrases and biblical quotes, he even sounds like a divine guru.  As the second half of the Bowes-Cummings Medal founding partnership, he was instrumental in all 2007 developments and hopes 2008 will be even better.

The President, Bart Cummings: No, Bart does not train racehorses. Instead, Bart likes to spend his time creating cunning plans for the establishment of debating as a tool to assist development of rugby players.  He believes debating can nurture a sense of controlled aggression, which is highly valuable in the field.  He cites Matt Giteau as a prime example. After working on his debating skills, he became a member of the Wallabies.  His debating skills also enabled him to exploit the new Work Choices legislation to his advantage by skilfully negotiating a multi-million dollar contract with the Western Force. Bart is still waiting for the Waratahs to give him a call. In the meantime, he'll be the boss of DebSoc and organise fun activities.

The Vice-President, Derek Wong: Derek is a very knowledgeable man. Some may say he knows too much.  However, this is not really a hindrance to his life as the Vice-President.  His vast and broad knowledge of things means that he can promote DebSoc to pretty much everyone in society.  Because he studies Commerce, he can talk with rich people, which means sponsorship.  Yet, his knowledge of socialist practices has enabled him to successfully garner support from that extreme quarter of society known as Labor Left student politicians, who, by some unknown devious plan, has managed to maintain a strangehold on student activities.  This means that instead of using their money to protest against nuclear powerplants, they can spend it on us.

Secretary/Treasurer, Simon Bruck: Simon's gentle demeanour masks a cunning mind, locked firmly into the gear of "money".  As Secretary and Treasurer, Simon will aim to battle against funding cuts, due supposedly to this VSU effect. He will also ensure that DebSoc does not waste money, using his knowledge of complicated financial schemes that Commerce students learn about.

Internals Officer, Tom Bowes: Tom is a man who likes to have fun.  This is why, inspired by the film Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, he went to France on exchange for a year. Although not quite achieving the fame of the protagonist, he was still a popular man in the underground rave scene.  He claims, however, to be against the use of ecstacy as a party drug.  Alcohol is already satisfactory.  Using his experience in subverting the French legal system, Tom will aim to provide exciting Monday nights in his capacity as the Internals Coordinator, but VSU has proven to be an excuse for universities to cut funding and keep all the money for themselves, and instead of dance music, we'll have to make do with singing whilst debating.

Externals Officer, Christina Trahanas: Christina has an unnatural fondness for attending meetings of all kinds.  She finds it a very attractive alternative form of socialising.  Why go clubbing, when you can already do similar things in meeting rooms?  She finds that AIDA meetings are especially enticing, and with the new AIDA Constitution being written up, she is very excited at the opportunity to represent UNSW at AIDA meetings this year, being the Externals Coordinator.  Christina is also the Immediate Past President, and this mentoring role has allowed her to teach Bart the sacred art of boardroom flirting.

Public Debates Officer, Alex Fattal: Due to a series of curious circumstances Alexander was brought up by both a pack of wolves and a team of Tibetan monks. This has left him with the ability to eat raw meat while maintaining inner peace. His long term goal is too be a new age capitalist hippy. In the short term he just wants to learn how to form coherent sentences. He also plans to organise heaps of public debates using only interpretive dance.

Development Officer, Matt Kwan: Matt's main claims to fame are referring to Samoa in four out of five rounds at Easters 2006, and turning "Eye of the Tiger" into a George W. Bush propaganda song. His role as one of the development officers is to organise Schools Day as well as establishing coaching seminars for schools. Having completed his first Working With Children check at the age of 17, he hopes to bring his vast experience in dealing with children to spread the inherent coolness of debate to the young 'uns. Like Michael Jackson, Matt will aim to ameliorate the lives of schoolchildren statewide and bring them closer to intellectual enlightenment. Unlike Michael Jackson, Matt will use his voice, and not other parts of his body.

Development Officer, Alice Lang: I am a fundamental third of the development team. Only when I point my finger to the sky and cry out 'EARTH!' can our powers combine to create the fabulous development officers which help to make the debating world a better place.  Solar panels can also do that, and I believe Alex is onto a good thing.  I also like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.

Development Officer, Su-Min Lim: Su-Min is on the run from the War Crimes Tribunal in Zimbabwe. When not engaged in acts of genocide she fills one third of the post of Development Officer. She hopes schoolchildren this year will learn something from debating, hopefully from us, and that debating can head to the grassroots of society.  She has never seen a man eat his own head, despite rumours to the contrary.

Socials Officer, Stef Orlik: Stef is a bubbly blonde with a passion for (Arthur's) pizza and chatting vivaciously with fresh and old wrinkled faces alike (preferably over a cocktail or two)! Whether it's mountaineering or hitting the local gay bar, her role is to make sure debaters like yourself are balancing work AND play!

Women's Officer, Zsofi Korosy (until March 2007): Zsofi's enthusiasm for life is good for DebSoc, as it forms a major part of her existence. She is particularly keen on encouraging women to ameliorate their lives by joining DebSoc, just like she did. As a result, Zsofi is now far more intelligent, cooler, and better at dancing. If women are not confident about debating, Zsofi will kindly help build confidence and inspire others to take the path to feminine enlightenment. 

Women's Officer, Emily Bek (from March 2007): Emily has now taken over this role for the remainder of the year.

Chief Adjudicator, Rose Grey: Rose was formerly Christina's second-in-command, so she has vast experience in taking charge.  This puts her in good stead to be Chief Adjudicator this year, where she aims to put adjudicators back in the place where they belong.  On top!  Yes, debaters may take all the glory, but adjudicators are behind every high score, and every debate victory, and adjudicators can take it all away if they want.  Rose knows all this, of course, and it is her job to spread this truth to as many as possible by training her cadres/adjudicators.   

Membership Officer, Nicole Batten: Hi! As Arc Officer, I am responsible for membership, so most of you should get the chance to meet me during O-week or the first few weeks of session. I am therefore the person you should refer your friends to once you find out how wonderful Debsoc is and recommend it to them. I also organize the rooms for internal debates, and as my title suggests, liaise with Arc. This includes making sure Debsoc gets any subsidies it is entitled to, which means our society has the chance to run a bit more smoothly financially and reduces costs for you. If you have any queries about starting in Debsoc I’m the person to see. I promise you I’m friendly!

Publicity and Publications, Laura Dawson: Laura was once a staffer for Sheik Taj el-Din al-Hilaly.  She quit because she found him impossible to promote - nobody seemed to like him.  Fortunately, this is not the case with her current job in charge of promoting DebSoc and publishing details of our inherent coolness.   Everyone loves DebSoc, just like everyone loves Raymond, and Laura intends to maintain and even improve the impressive status quo.

First Year Representative, Zulpha Styer: When she's not fielding questions regarding the phonetic subtleties of her name, Zulpha enjoys single-handedly sustaining the Chupa Chups company and trying to convince all Commerce students that Arts isn't actually that easy.  It was fundamentally necessary for her to get involved in debating, in Year 6 when she was 11 years old, to be precise.  This is because she was born in South Africa of German, Moroccan, Malaysian and Dutch descent and would spend the rest of her life fending off allegations of being a Savage Nazi Terrorist. She hopes that more first years will join her in celebrating the wholly un-PC and thoroughly enjoyable experience that is the goodtimery debating at New South.  Her one wish is that she can further indoctrinate her fellow first years with a passionate distaste for Liberals and a naive faith in the failure that is the UN.  This is the start of a beautiful friendship.

Debsoc People 2006

President: Christina Trahanas

The President's role is to oversee the running of Debsoc. In this role Christina aims to make sure that overseeing is done well in 2006. In her role as la President a this year she will aim to introduce the romance languages as the preferred languages of debates; black as the standard UNSW t-shirt colour for tournaments; and, obligatory fact sheets on Romania and Bulgaria and the EU 'Constitution' … if this fails (it probably will) she will need to resort to plan B – the development of Debsoc for the new, the 'middle-aged' and the old through plenty of debating, plenty of tournaments and plenty of chatter.

Vice President: Rosemary Grey

Rose's job as Vice President in 2006 includes chasing up sponsors, and helping with the organizational leg-work of most of the things Debsoc does. She also gets to cast the tie-breaking vote in the senate.

Secretary/Treasurer: Andrew Sudol

Part nerd, part sports nut, and part beach bum, Andrew has somehow found himself at the centre of Debsoc's organisation for 2006. Inspired by Enron executives and pyramid investment scheme managers alike, he will be using all his guile and boyish charm to minimise the impact of VSU on our finances over the coming year

CASOC Delegate: Amanda Foong

As best as we can tell, Amanda's role as CASOC Officer this year will be to deal with the paperwork that comes with running a club or society affiliated with UNSW's Student Guild. She hopes 2006 will be another fun and exciting year for debating at UNSW, and another fun and exciting year for filling out forms.

Chief Adjudicator: Lalita Kapur

The Chief Adjudicator's primary role is to make debaters cower in fear and deflate their over-sized egos. If their egos are actually of normal proportions, they should be reduced to a quivering and somewhat glutinous mass after adjudications. Well, not really. This year's Chief Adjucator aims to support new and experienced debaters by providing training and feedback on debates, as well as assisting adjudicators. We hope to run several friendly novice tournaments throughout 2006, and all and sundry are encouraged to debate and adjudicate!

Development: Alex Fattal

Alex has taken over the role of Development for 2006.  He will be aided by subcommittee members Bruno De Villenoisy and Matthew Kwan.  Please feel free to email us with any questions on the Schools Development Program.

Externals Coordinator: Zsofi Korosy

I am responsible for keeping the good times going at all the external competitions, amidst a mix of fine debates and fabulous social events. Easters is first, at ANU in April, and I am looking forward to seeing a grand fiesta of first timers there. The Australasian debating championships will be held in New Zealand over the winter break, and Worlds will be in Canada in December. Women's is also happening again, as well as a raft of other local competitions. UNSW has always had a strong presence at all these competitions, and has a history of dance-floor domination, and 2006 promises to be no different.

Internals Coordinator: Derek Wong

What a pleasure it is to be Debsoc's internals co-ordinator for 2006! Internals debating will be in two different styles this year.  In session 1, it will be the traditional three on three (a la the high school) format and in session 2 we will move onto the dynamic British Parliamentary style!

Internals is a great place for both old and new debaters to hone and develop their skills for tournaments.  Naturally, it is also the place to be to make new friends, not to mention pizza!  Feel free to come and debate/observe. Contact Derek at derek.wong@student.unsw.edu.au

Membership Officer: Aaron Manahan

As one of many quality recruits of 2005, Aaron's job as membership officer is to continue the influx of enthusiastic new members. He will spearheaded recruitment during O-week and now his job is to keep track of who's in and who's paid with some sort of magical database or something. If you're reading this, you've been sucked into his web of lies and that means he's done his damn job.

Publications: Sean Lawson

My job is to edit and publish the second-rate Debsoc newsletter/rag known as 'the Voice'. In 2006 I aim to bring awkward jokes, obscure references and confusing sarcasm to the task of informing everyone about the vital news and business of the UNSW Debate Society.

Publicity: Simon Bruck

I'm so excited to publicise the debating community in 2006. Look forward to more pictures, updates of our accomplishments and info on our events right here on this website, and also on our library noticeboard.  But most importantly look forward to more eye catching, new member enticing coloured text.

Public Debates: Bart Cummings

Bart brings a wide range of experience in public humiliation to his role as Public Debates Coordinator in 2006. He believes it is good for the soul. Everybody should have a crack at debating the issues of the day before a semi-interested audience this year, and Bart promises to organise as many debates as possible.

 Social Officer: Li Zhou

Hello all you freshmen! This is Li, your social officer for 2006. While others will be chasing you for various things (mostly money), I'm the nice one that organises fun and exciting events we can all enjoy. In the past we have had moderately priced Thai dinners and free spontaneous karaoke on buses but this year I'll be aiming for reasonably priced Thai restaurants and maybe a drink or two at some fancy bars. I have always believed that a soiree is more than just some beers down at the Roundhouse (editor's note: However, beer at the Regent is always a great idea).

Womens Officer: Rose Grey

Rose has taken over the role of Womens Officer. Rose will bring knowledge and experience to her role supporting the development and encouraging the participation in debating of 51% of the population.

Immediate Past President: Gillian White

Having retired from her previous position after doing a brilliant job in that role, Gill now takes on the mentoring role of Immediate Past President, which we assume involves a smaller workload and lower profile and thus a well earned rest from the rigours of running Debsoc.

1st Year Representative: Sephora Sultana

 Hello everyone, particularly 1st year's. I am Sephora and as the First Year Rep. of 2006, I will be making sure that all first years are having a good time as new members of the Debating Society. My hope is to encourage more people to become involved in our Society and to maintain their involvement throughout the year. Feel free to approach me if you are a First Year and have any problems.