The champions of Cambridge Women’s Open, left to right: Marina Tan, of Yale, and Bobbi Leet, of Stanford. photo credit: Marina Tan

Yale/Stanford LT (Bobbi Leet, Marina Tan) have won Cambridge Women’s Open 2017 on the motion that “This house regrets the idealisation of motherhood” from Closing Opposition. In Opening Government was Bad at feminism motions but trying (Lucía Arce, Rachel O’Nunain); in Opening Opposition was LSE sarah or yings (Sarah Tay, Ciara Mitchell); and in Closing Government was the accurately-named More Women Here than in Oxbridge Finals (Melda Eren, Valerie Lim).

Judging the final round was a panel of Rebecca Meredith, Gillian Tiley, redacted and Doireann O’Brien, chaired by Ameera Natasha Moore.

The top speaker was Tejaswini Krishnaprasad from Durham C, with an average of 81. The top ESL speaker was Lucía Arce (also the 2nd open speaker) with an average of 80.8. The top novice speaker was Anita Carroll, from Edinbabes, with an average of 79.

The Break

1. Durham KM (Tejaswini Krishnaprasad, Martha Muir) – 11 points
2. Bad at feminism motions but trying (Lucía Arce, Rachel O’Nunain) – 9 points
3. Yale/Stanford LT (Bobbi Leet, Marina Tan) – 9 points
4. LSE clara or ciara? (Ying Ying Seah, Clara Rupf) – 9 points
5. LSE sarah or yings? (Sarah Tay, Ciara Mitchell) – 9 points
6. Rochester (Swing Speaker, Oluwatobi Abubakare) – 9 points
7. We’ve both topped tabs (Chessy Whalen, Imogen Edwards-Lawrence) – 8 points
8. More Women Here than in Oxbridge Finals (Melda Eren, Valerie Lim) – 8 points

The breaking Judges were Ameera Natasha Moore, Rebecca Meredith, Rory Flynn, Gillian Tiley, Sophie Furlong, Isabella Craig, Nicole Liu, Doireann O’Brien, Raluca Vacaru, redacted.

The Chief Adjudicators of the Cambridge Women’s Open were Rebecca Meredith, Ameera Natasha Moore, and Rory Flynn.  The tournament ran over the course of a single day, with 4 preliminary rounds of 5-minute speeches and 10-minute deliberation time followed by to elimination rounds with 7-minute speeches.

The motions were as follows:

Round 1: This house prefers a world in which everyone is immediately forgotten after they die

Round 2: This house would ban the offering of plea bargains

Round 3: This house would prevent investors (e.g. wealth funds, private investors, government bodies) from investing in business opportunities that have no immediate likelihood of improving the human condition. (e.g. Elon Musk’s BFR, space exploration, sea exploration etc)

Round 4: In secular states, THBT self-identified supporters of the LGBT movement have a moral duty to abstain from marriage until gay marriage is legalised

Semifinal: This house supports a Catalonian state. (wording inexact)

Final: This house regrets the idealisation of motherhood

The tournament was tabbed by the team of Alex Murray and Joseph Sisson. The convenors were Maria Epishkina and Tatiana Kurschner.

anonym/jm.