The CUSID open letters are completed and are now available here for CUSID clubs to download and use.

These letters are written and signed by the President and the Regional VPs in order to aid in the fundraising efforts of CUSID member clubs. The letters provide a brief description of CUSID and what it entails, the general costs associated with running a university-level debate club, and a brief description of each region’s particular character. As such, there is one letter for each region and a French translation by the Director of French Language Debate for all three letters will be available soon.

CUSID congratulates Michael Kotrly (University of Toronto) on his appointment as the National Ombudsperson, Deborah Book (University of Calgary) as the Western Region Ombudsperson, Meredith Tapper (University of Western Ontario) as the Central Region Ombudsperson, and Jen Bond (Dalhousie University) as the Atlantic Region Ombudsperson.

CUSID also thanks the outgoing Ombuds Committee for all their hard work last year: National Ombudsperson Rahim Moloo (University of British Columbia), Western Region Ombudsperson Adam Barker (University of Victoria), Central Region Ombudsperson Jessica Prince (McGill University), and Atlantic Region Ombudsperson Pam Anderson (University of New Brunswick).

Good luck to the new Committee! To contact the Ombuds Committee, please visit the Ombuds Office page.

Due to some difficulties, cusid.ca e-mails have not yet been transferred and certain CUSID pages tentatively cannot be updated such as the CUSID Executive Contact page. To ensure that the current 2005-2006 Executive can still be easily reached, the following is a list of the full Executive and their contact information:

President
Jessica Prince (McGill University)

Interim Executive Director
Julieta Chan (University of Toronto)

Treasurer
Joanna Langille (University of Toronto)

Vice-President, Atlantic Region
Alexa Smith (Dalhousie University)

Vice-President, Western Region
Monica Ferris (Athabasca University)

Vice-President, Central Region
Paul-Erik “Dash” Veel (McGill University)

Directeur du d?bat de langue fran?aise/
Director of French Language Debate
Brittany Piovesan (University of Ottawa)

Congratulations to the winners of the 2005 CUSID National Debating Championships, the Hart House (University of Toronto) team of Michael Kotrly and Rahool Agarwal. This year’s event, hosted by the University of Alberta Debate Society in Edmonton, attracted over a hundred competitors from member clubs across the country. Facing the Government team of Kotrly and Agarwal in the final round were, on Opposition, Jess Prince and Alex Campbell (McGill University).

Ian Freeman (Hart House) won the public speaking competition, and Colonel Mittens (Hart House) was the Top Speaker over the six rounds before the break.

Congratulations are also due to the winners of the Championnat national de d?bat SUCDI from the previous weekend, Philippe Boisvert and Jason Rogers (McGill University).

Next year’s English-language Nationals will be hosted by Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario.

At the Spring General Meeting, the CUSID membership elected Jess Prince (McGill) as its President for the 2005-2006 season, and Joanna Langille (Hart House) as Treasurer. Elected at the French-language Nationals a week prior was the new Directeur du d?bat de langue fran?aise, Brittany Piovesan (Ottawa SDF).

They join Regional VPs Dash (McGill/Central), Alexa Smith (Dalhousie/Atlantic) and Nick Fowler (Alberta/West) as the new CUSID Executive. The next Executive Director will be elected in a by-election at the Fall General Meeting, with an acting one to be appointed in the interim.

CUSID congratulates Monica Ferris (University of British Columbia) for her election as the new Vice-President, Western Region for the 2005-2006 season, and Julieta Chan (Hart House, University of Toronto) for her appointment as the interim Executive Director.

Monica was elected in an online by-election held 6-13 May and replaces Nick Fowler (University of Alberta), who resigned the position 12 April. She will serve until the next CUSID West election to be held at a regional meeting in Spring 2006.

Julieta assumes her position in the absence of an ED on the current sitting executive, succeeding Nicholas Tam (University of Alberta). A formal by-election for the position will be held at the Fall General Meeting.

Please be advised that Ombuds Committee applications are now open, with a deadline of Wednesday, 25 May. See this CUSIDnet thread for details.