The 2018 Lafayette Debates U.S. National Championship at La Maison Francaise will be held on Sunday, April 8. The Lafayette Debates at The George Washington University will be held on Saturday, April 7th, and will serve as the qualifier for Sunday's championship debates. In addition over four hundred U.S. college students will take on the Lafayette Debates topic area at the University of Rhode Island (February 17-18), the U.S. Universities Debate Eastern Championships (February 24-25), the Claremont Colleges (March 3), and the U.S. Universities Debate Western Championships at Pacific Lutheran University (March 23-24). Please contact us if you would like to register for or host a Lafayette Debates event at your school!
Qualifying for the Lafayette Debates Young Ambassadors Study Tour to Paris
The top eight teams at the Lafayette Debates at GWU will qualify for quarterfinals single-elimination rounds at the Lafayette Debates U.S. National Championships at La Maison Francaise to debate before panels of judges possessing topic and/or communications expertise. The four debaters advancing to finals and the top three speakers at the awards ceremony and not otherwise qualifying will be awarded study tours to Paris on which they will continue their exploration of the 2018 Lafayette Debates topic area, Revolution & Resistance, in meetings with French scholars, activists and thought leaders. Debaters must attend the championship round and awards reception to claim the study tour. The awards portion of the reception should conclude by 3:00 on Sunday.
Tournament Information
In commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the French Revolt & General Strike of 1968, the 2018 Lafayette Debates challenges students to grapple with the ethical questions raised by destructive, violent civil disobedience using the May 1968 Paris student protests a case study.
Topic
Sous les paves la plage
Topic Statement
In May 1968, protesting French students refused orders to disperse, ripped up cobblestones to hurl at police, and discovered underneath the cobblestones a thin layer of sand. The moment spawned the famous French protest slogan “Sous les paves la plage” (“under the paving stones, the beach”) and sparked massive general strikes and demonstrations widely regarded to have been the closest a Western democracy has ever come to political revolution.
Organized on the fiftieth anniversary of the 1968 French Revolt & General Strike and using the student protests of May 1968 as a case study, the 2018 Lafayette Debates challenge debaters to scrutinize the ethical questions raised by destructive, violent civil disobedience. Affirmative teams are asked to defend the slogan, “sous les paves, la plage” by arguing that the protesting French students of May 10-11, 1968, were justified in defending their assembly by tearing up and hurling cobblestones at police. Negative teams are asked to rebut this proposition.
To assist teams in their preparations a statement of facts contextualizing the May 1968 protests will be provided to debaters before the tournament. The topic touches on a robust body of literature relating to, among other things, civil disobedience, just war theory, and social protest. Students are encouraged to conduct additional, independent research beyond the statement of facts.
Timeline of the Protests
1967 Students at the Nanterre campus of the University of Paris protest prohibitions on dormitory visits aimed at preventing male and female students from sleeping together. (Nanterre had been built in the early 1960s as an extension of the Sorbonne, a college of the University of Paris in the heart of Paris’s Latin Quarter.)
January – March 1968 Protests escalate in intensity and scope.
Early May 1968 Nanterre dean shuts down campus.
May 3 1968 Students move their protest to the Sorbonne in Paris's Latin Quarter.
May 3 1968 Rector of the Sorbonne requests police clear the university’s courtyard of ~300 protesting students. Violence erupts. Students are arrested en masse.
May 4-9 1968 Student leaders organize a march and rally demanding the reopening of the Sorbonne, the release of the arrested students, and an end to a police presence in the Latin Quarter the students claim to be intimidating and oppressive. Sporadic violence and protests continue.
May 10-11 1968 - The Night of the Barricades - Nearly 40,000 students show up on March 10th for the march and rally. Police block the march and order the students to disperse. Students refuse and begin prying up cobblestones to use as weapons and erecting barricades for protection.
May 11 1968 ~2:00 am The order is given to clear the streets. Police advance on protesters. Violence erupts and continues until dawn. Nearly 500 students are arrested. Hundreds are hospitalized including more than 250 police officers. Major property damage to the Latin Quarter.
Lafayette Debates Young Ambassadors Study Tour
The Young Ambassadors Program is an annual study tour to Paris awarded to tournament champions on which debaters will continue their exploration of the 2018 topic area firsthand in discussions with French diplomats, politicians, academics and other French thought-leaders. During the tour the tournament champions serve as "Young Ambassadors" for their country. The study tour will be awarded to the top two eligible teams (finalists) and the top three eligible speakers (not otherwise qualifying by advancing to finals). Students must be U.S. citizens to qualify for the Young Ambassadors Study Tour.
Tournament Championship, Reception & Fees
The tournament championship and reception will be held at La Maison Française at the Embassy of France on Sunday, April 8th. The study tours will be awarded at the reception and students must attend to win. Fees for debaters and coaches attending the Lafayette Debates at La Maison Français are $100/person.
Housing
As of January, the following hotels are ~$100 per night and are withing walking distance and/or a short drive to GWU:
One Washington Circle Hotel
Hotel Lombardy
Hilton Garden Inn Washington
Hyatt Place Washington
The following options are both reasonably priced, conveniently located to GWU (10-15 minute drive, metro accessible), and are more likely to have reasonably priced rooms available if you are booking later in the Spring:
Crystal City Marriott
Crystal Gateway Marriott
Schedule
Saturday, April 7, The George Washington University
9:00 Check In & Breakfast
9:30 Welcome & Briefing
10:15 Round 1
12:00 Round 2
Lunch
2:00 Round 3
5:00 Round 4
7:00 Awards & Breaks
Sunday, April 8, Embassy of France to the United States
8:30 Check In & Breakfast
9:15 Quarterfinals
10:45 Semifinals
12:45 Eastern Championship
2:00 Tournament Reception
Format
Students will compete in teams of two students each. In each round one team will be assigned to defend the affirmative side of the topic and the other team will be assigned to defend the negative side of the topic. A topic and topic statement has been provided to guide students and judges. Students are also advised to carefully review the Judge Handbook that will be circulated to registered teams before the tournament.
Rounds will proceed as follows:
- 1st Affirmative Speaker: 6 minutes
- Cross examination by 2nd Negative Speaker: 4 minutes
- 1st Negative Speaker: 6 minutes
- Cross examination by 1st Affirmative Speaker: 4 minutes
- 2nd Affirmative Speaker: 6 minutes
- Cross examination by 1st Negative Speaker: 4 minutes
- 2nd Negative Speaker: 6 minutes
- Cross examination by 2nd Affirmative speaker: 4 minutes
- Preparation time: 2 minutes
- Affirmative Rebuttal: 6 minutes
- Preparation time: 2 minutes
- Negative Rebuttal: 6 minutes
Each speaker on each team must give two of the team's four final rebuttals during preliminary rounds.
