Emily Meade ’14 makes her case in the final round of the team's annual intramural Novice Tournament. (Photo credit: Joseph Kibe)

In what has become an annual tradition, the team's novice debaters squared off Saturday in the team's annual Novice Tournament. Through three preliminary rounds and a grand final round, the novice debaters had a chance to demonstrate their freshly acquired debating prowess. The final round pitted the teams of Emily Meade ’14 and Emily Schwalbe ’14, on the government side, against Victoria Sliwa ’14 and Sarah Maneval ’14. (Video of the round can be found online on our Vimeo page, or by dropping bit.ly/bqdcnf2011 into a web browser.) On the issue of whether the international community should impose economic sanctions on Uganda, where local laws have facilitated the persecution of homosexuals, the team of Sliwa and Maneval emerged victorious, contending an internal resolution to the conflict would lead to better outcomes.

Victoria Sliwa also emerged as the tournament's top speaker, with Jack Stewart ’14, who partnered Amy Strada ’14 for the competition, in second. The top three teams and the top five speakers were awarded commemorative glassware to mark their achievements.

Five novice teams and one novice-varsity partnership participated in the team's annual intramural tournament. In addition to the three teams previously mentioned, Zaki Zakaria ’14 joined Evan Binder ’14, Alix Sentner ’14 partnered Kate Stillman ’12, and Stephanie Wesson ’14 accompanied Qasim Mahmood. The team's varsity members, along with coach Jan Hovden, adjudicated the competition, and Novice Director Andrew Wong ’12 headed up the — admittedly small — tabulation effort. The team's president, Ian Mahmud ’12 chaired the large panel in the final round.