Past Projects
St. Ignatius Debates & Jesuit Cup
At the St. Ignatius Debates & Jesuit Cup outside of the traditional debate competition, GW Debaters had the opportunity to participate in a morning of service at the Los Angeles Mission where debaters cleaned, cooked, and served meals to guests and residents, followed by a site visit to Homeboy Industries, a non profit that assists formerly gang associated individuals in pursuing gainful employment.
Green Europe
The Green Europe Challenge was a transatlantic dialogue competition organized by The George Washington University French Embassy Center of Excellence in partnership with the Georgetown University BMW Center for German and European Studies. During the competition U.S. and European students from George Washington University, King’s College London, and Sciences Po Paris worked together in transatlantic teams to produce video responses to a lecture by Sciences Po Lyon Professor Jerome Blanc on the economics of sustainability and solidarity.
What We Owe Debates
The predecessor to Los Diálogos Panamericanos, the What We Owe Debates were an international bilingual debate competition focused on the Colombian peace building process, which took place both online and in-person at Universidad Rosario in Bogota, Colombia. The debates brought together competitors from universities across the United States and Colombia to debate issues related to the peace process in front of topic experts drawn from Colombian civil society, government, and academia.
Unpacking the Geopolitics of Technology Summit
In December of 2021, GWDebaters presented multimedia projects at “Unpacking the Geopolitics of Technology,” a conference organized by the Finnish Embassy and the Atlantic Council. Students presented video proposals of transatlantic solutions to pressing global issues, such as climate change, to an audience that included the Finnish Secretary of State and Ambassador.
Gender Equality Forum
In March of 2021, a group of GWDebaters presented a series of speeches at the webinar “Challenges to Gender Equality in 2021: An International Perspective.” This webinar was an opening event for the Generation Equality Forum organized by UN Women, the government of France, and the government of Mexico to develop a “Global Acceleration Plan” for gender equality. Our students presented to U.S, French, and Indonesian scholars of gender studies and over 200 Indonesian students on the youth role in the feminist liberation movement.
Las Vegas Food Security Debate
In Spring 2020 GW Debaters participated in the Lafayette Debates at Las Vegas, a debate competition which brought together students from US Universities to debate the issue of food waste in front of topic experts from Caeser’s Entertainment and the Three Square Food Bank. GW Debaters not only won the competition, but also had the opportunity to perform an afternoon of service at the Three Square food bank where they sorted over 600 bags of produce that would have otherwise been thrown out to be delivered to elderly citizens.
UNA-USA Case Competition
GWDebaters partnered with debaters from Cal Poly SLO to participate in the national United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) Case Competition, which challenged U.S. youth to create a case for UNICEF on harnessing technological innovation to help children through the pandemic. Finalists virtually presented their ideas to a panel of representatives from the U.S. Department of State, UNICEF, UNICEF USA, and the UNA-USA.
IWD at the French Embassy
For International Women’s Day in 2022, senior GWDebate member Anisha Sahni participated in a panel regarding cyber-harassment against women. Hosted by the Embassy of France in partnership with the Embassy of Belgium for the DC Francophonie Festival, this event featured the documentary #SALEPUTE, created by Belgian journalists Florence Hainaut and Myriam Leroy, to raise awareness on the abuse that women face online. This showing was followed by a panel discussion to reflect on the film and the experiences of women online that featured Anisha, Nina Jankowicz—author of How to Be a Woman Online—and Professor Jameta Barlow of GW’s Women’s Leadership Program.
DC Francophonie Festival
Director of Debate Paul Hayes and GWDebater Cynthia Yue moderated a conversation with Moldovan Ambassador to the United States Eugen Caras during the DC Francophonie Festival at La Maison Française. Following a screening of Călărași, A Land By The Gate Of Heaven, Ambassador Caras discussed cultural preservation, the future of young people, and support for Ukraine and the surrounding region through direct relief and transatlantic dialogue.
Human Rights Under Fire
In light of International Human Rights Day, GWDebate participated in the Human Rights Under Fire virtual event Ambassador François Croquette, former French Ambassador for Human Rights and current Director of Sustainable Urban Development for the City of Paris, and Ms. Laura Lohéac, Director of PAUSE–the French National program for the urgent aid and reception of artists and academics in exile. Presenting to an audience of young people from France and the United States, students opened the program with a public debate and deliberation engaging Université PSL students on the topic, "What is the greatest Humans Rights challenge facing your generation?"
NATO Debates
The NATO Debates 2019 was an international dialogue event put on by the GWU Debate & Literary Society with support from the US Mission to NATO in Brussels, Belgium across three days in the summer of 2019. During the three day program GW Debaters developed and administered a day of debates on transatlantic burdensharing judged by NATO scholars and officials, attended a day of scholarly panels reflecting on the program topic, and participated in a NATO simulation developed and organized by NATO Allied Command Transformation focusing on disputes over oil and gas resources in the Arctic circle.
MyFITE
MyFITE was a program which The GWU Debate & Literary Society participated in from 2016-2019 in partnership with the Institut Français, the Embassy of France to Indonesia and the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism. The mission of the Forum for International Tourism and the Environment is to raise awareness on the importance of sustainable tourism development, and as part of this program GW Debaters worked with students and tourism stakeholders around the world, in order to support the knowledge, commitment and skills needed in Indonesia for resilient communities, ready to address the challenges of 21st Century tourism growth.
CLS 21
From 2016-2019 GW Debate partnered with the French Embassy Center of Excellence and Georgetown University to host CLS21, a taskforce simulation on civil liberties and security in the 21st Century. Over the year’s topics ranged from the structure of NATO to European migration and participants presented their policy solutions to panels of elite French military officers from the Ecole de Guerre
EdG Talks
GW Debaters were invited to École de guerre in Paris, France to present in an academic conference on the topic: “NATO or Snapchat: Will Generation Z fight your wars?” The conference was a series of discussions by government leaders, academics, and military leaders to discuss the role that NATO will play in the 21st century. After listening to the peeches, GW Debaters served as respondents and concluded the program with a deliberative analysis and shared perspectives from Generation Z on the day’s discussions and the future of NATO.
Night of Ideas
In Spring of 2019 GWDebaters participated in the annual Night of Ideas put on by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the French Embassy in the U.S., an event which brings together an interdisciplinary group of thinkers and performers for evening of art, music and ideas. As part of the program, GWDebaters performed their arguments on the greatest challenges facing 21st century feminism before a large crowd in the Embassy’s main auditorium.
Embassy of France Screening
GW Debate participated in a panel at the Embassy of France following the French documentary Eloquentia. The film showcased a French competition surrounding public speaking, and followed a group of mixed race students who partake in the Eloquentia contest for the first time. GW Debaters had the opportunity to speak and answer questions from the audience regarding the importance of debate to civil society posing as an educational tool that should be widely accessible to students from diverse backgrounds.
iDebate Rwanda
GW Debate partnered with the Institute for African Studies to host iDebate Rwanda on the GW campus, during which GW Debaters worked in teams with Rwandan students to prepare for and compete in debates on conflict resolution in a post-genocide society. iDebate Rwanda is an organization that stands to change the lives of young Rwandans and East Africans by teaching them to think critically and to solve problems creatively through learning debate.
NanoMedicine Debates
In 2018, GW Debate helped organize and participate in the Innovate NanoMedicine Debates opening workshop at Adelphi University. At the event GW Debaters engaged the ethics of nanotechnology enhancements to human beings, and enhanced their knowledge of the topic by engaging in thoughtful discourse with topic experts and members of the debate community.
METI Debates
In 2018, for the first time, GW Debate expanded into Spanish language debates, helping to organize the METI Debates at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá in collaboration with GW Professor Derek Malone France. The METI Debates aim to promote scientific research, international cooperation, and collaboration in Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI) and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
Students Demand Action
In fall of 2018, GW Debaters worked with representatives from Students Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety to reach out to hundreds of college students and student organizations. This included text and email outreach strategy that garnered students from across the DMV to GW in order to discuss action for gun control. Their work culminated with in-person training on GW’s campus, where students led workshops to galvanize the grassroots base and educate on topics invaluable to Students Demand Action’s work.
Newseum Bill of Rights Day Debates
In 2017 GW Debaters participated in an exhibition debate at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. to celebrate Bill of Rights Day. The debate focused on free speech and safe spaces on college campuses, and took place in public at the Newseum with any museum visitor having the opportunity to watch. Ultimately, both teams were honored for their contributions, and neither was selected as winner or loser.
NASA Astrobiology Debates
Organized by the NASA Astrobiology Program and The George Washington University, the NASA Astrobiology Debates challenged students of all ages to research and debate the complex ethical and political questions raised by the topic, "Resolved: An overriding ethical obligation to protect and preserve extraterrestrial microbial life and ecosystems should be incorporated into international law."
GW DATA Hackathon
In Spring of 2016, GW Debaters helped coordinate a special GW DATA project in partnership with the French Embassy, a hackathon designed to produce an app that will help people pair French wine and food. After the hackathon, GW Debate worked with Embassy staff to host a public forum at which GW Debaters and other GW DATA students presented their apps to topic experts recruited by the Embassy.
Middle East Dialogue
In March 2016, GW Debaters held a public debate on the relationship between European refugee policy and extremism at the 2016 Middle East Dialogue: New Hopes and Aspirations. The conference was hosted by The Policy Studies Organization and The Digest of Middle East Studies and was focused on issues of social, political, and economic reforms as well as discussions about women’s rights and roles in the new Middle East, and ethnic and religious tolerance.
DC ‘68 Riots Project
Led by History PhD student and former GW Debate assistant coach Kyla Sommers, the DC ‘68 Riots Project created a documentary and interview archive on the 1968 DC riots. The project included the creation of an oral history archive of interviews with DC residents who lived through the riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The interviews and film explored the topics of why the riots occurred, what actually took place, and the impact it had on Washington DC.
Climate Change Negotiation
In anticipation of the historic 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change which took place in Paris in 2016 and saw the creation of the Paris Climate Accords, GWDebate worked with the GWU Sustainability Collective to host the COP 21 Climate Change Negotiation Simulation at GWU. At the event over 20 GW students participated as well as students from many other schools. Following the event, GWDebate worked with the French Embassy to arrange to have the simulation reception held at the French Embassy and to have French diplomatic and sustainability experts observe the simulation and provide feedback to the students, most notably then French Ambassador to the US Gérard Araud.
DuPont SSTEP
In 2015 four GW Debaters were invited to perform an exhibition debate on space policy, law, and ethics at the 2015 DuPont Summit on Science Technology and Environmental Policy. During the debate, GW Debaters presented their arguments in front of a large public audience and panel of topic experts who filled the roll of judges. The exhibition debate culminated in an audience question and answer period where experts and other attendees probed the arguments presented by the GW Debaters and offered their own feedback and opinions on the topic of the debate.
GWU Veterans History Project
Let's Go: The George Washington University Veterans History Writing Project (VHWP) was a French Embassy Center of Excellence multimedia project commemorating the liberation of France. As part of the VHWP, a group of GWU student-veterans and student-leaders from GW Debate traveled with the veterans of the 29th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army to the historic “final landing” in Normandy, and were featured in the creation of the World War II Foundation documentary, "Omaha Beach: Honor and Sacrifice." After premiering at GW, Omaha Beach aired on public television. In addition, students created a documentary short on their experience, which premiered at GW along with Omaha Beach.
Mvubu Debates
The Mvubu Debates were an event hosted by GW Debate in partnership with the Civis Institute and Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication. The debates focused on the topic “Resolved: The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a desirable model for transitional reconciliation,” and engaged policy experts in Washington, D.C. and abroad as judges and observers of the debate series.
Elysee Treaty Debates
In 2013 to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Elysee Treaty, the embassies of France and Germany partnered with GW Debate to host a series of debates focused one treaty and its results. At the debates topic experts from both embassies and around Washington, D.C. were engaged as judges. Following the competition, finalists were invited to continue to engage with the topic on a study tour of Paris, Berlin, and Brussles where they met with topic experts and toured relevant historical and cultural sites.
War Powers Debates
In 2013, GW Debate collaborated with the Miller Center at the University of Virginia to host a debate tournament and public debate on the topic of Presidential and Congressional War Powers. As part of the program, debaters had the pleasure of listening to a keynote address from US Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia who also served as a judge, and were moderated in the final round by Former Virginia Governor Gerald L. Baliles, then the Director and CEO of the Miller Center.