This September, University of South Florida Judy Genshaft Honors College affiliate faculty member Raja Benchekroun led three USF students to the 5th U.S. Universities Arabic Debate Competition, in New York City.
The students, Amber Johnson, Taha Ahmed Feddoul, and Honors student Ghali Omar Boutaib placed 12th out of 39 national teams at the event.
For the first time, 10 teams were close to reaching the semifinals, requiring judges to calculate the teams’ points to determine who would advance. The USF team, just a few points shy of qualifying, won three out of four preliminary matches, losing only to MIT. In their final debate, they triumphed over Harvard University, and team member Boutaib received two “Best Speaker” recognitions in the competition.
Professor Benchekroun served as a mentor to the USF team and as a judge for the debates. She traveled with Johnson, Boutaib, and Feddoul to New York City, supporting them both inside and outside of the competition. Benchekroun was elated to witness the team’s strong performance and to see the results of their hard work.
"The competition was about learning how to work as a team, have difficult conversations as debaters, and address complex world issues from different perspectives as global citizens," said Benchekroun. "I was very proud to see them debate with full consciousness and a strong sense of responsibility."
Each team was expected to demonstrate proficiency in Arabic and knowledge of argumentation techniques to receive high scores and advance in the competition. U.S. university teams are awarded a fully sponsored participation grant by the Qatar Debate Center to participate in the USDAC championship after a rigorous selection process. After qualifying to join, participating faculty & debate trainers begin selecting a competitive team of students to represent their university in the Arabic Debate Competition. Only 40 U.S. universities had the opportunity to compete in the championship.
Last year, Johnson, Boutaib, and Feddoul competed in the 4th Arabic Debate Competition
hosted at the University of Utah. Benchekroun and the USF team hope to host a national
or regional edition of the competition at one of USF's campuses in the near future.
"We are so proud of the success of the USF team at the Arabic Debate Competition,
and grateful to Professor Benchekroun for her mentorship,” said Judy Genshaft Honors
College Dean Charles Adams. "It's a testament to our talented students' professionalism
and their ability to compete at the very highest level nationally."
