Resolutions

PRELIMS

Click here for prelim side split

Round 1 (topic area: Africa - Horn of Africa/North Africa/Sahel)

A. Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991. However, no UN member states currently recognize Somaliland as a sovereign state.
Resolved: The African Union should recognize the sovereignty of the Republic of Somaliland.

B. In 2011, Ethiopia began the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River. It is planned to be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa. Egypt, which is downstream of the dam, has objected to its construction.
Resolved: The construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will do more harm than good.

C. In 2021, Tunisian president Kais Saied suspended the parliament and began to rule by decree.
Resolved: The European Union should impose significant economic sanctions on Tunisia until Tunisia has a democratically elected parliament.

Round 2 (topic area: Housing)

A. On balance, the expansion of housing vouchers is preferable to the construction of new public housing.

B. State and local laws provide protection to renters that make it difficult for landlords to evict non-paying tenants. These laws do not compensate landlords for the lost rent, who must make up the difference in other ways to stay in business.
Resolved: This House would require the government to reimburse landlords for the impact of laws protecting non-paying tenants.

C. US state governments should implement a ban on single-family zoning.

Round 3

A. This House believes that a world in which no one can say anything which they believe to be false would be preferable to the status quo.

B. This House supports municipal ownership of professional sports teams.

C. This House regrets the post-1991 eastern expansion of NATO.

Round 4

A. Ecotage is the illegal tactic of inflicting significant property damage in order to sabotage ecologically harmful projects. It is not intended to directly kill or physically injure humans.
Resolved: Climate activists should significantly increase their use of ecotage.

B. The US federal government should require firms to offer part-time employees a full-time schedule if the employee requests it.

C. College admissions should not factor in the development of charity organizations by high school students.

Round 5

A. Modern products from construction/farming equipment to cars to iPhones depend on computer technology, software and complex electro-mechanical systems. Firms consider these to be proprietary and only provide information enabling servicing and repair to authorized dealers.
Resolved: The United States federal government should require businesses to release information necessary for the repair of their products.

B. The English Rule requires that the loser in a civil lawsuit pays the winner's legal fees. In the United States, the winner usually pays their own attorney fees.
Resolved: This House prefers the American rule to the English rule.

C. NFL draft rules:

“To be eligible for the draft, players must have been out of high school for at least three years and must have used up their college eligibility before the start of the next college football season. Underclassmen and players who have graduated before using all their college eligibility may request the league’s approval to enter the draft early.
Players are draft-eligible only in the year after the end of their college eligibility.
Before the draft, NFL Player Personnel staff members confirm the eligibility of draft prospects.”

Resolved: The National Football League should significantly reduce its eligibility restrictions for younger players.

Round 6

A. This House prefers a post-COVID-pandemic world in which most high school parli tournaments are online to a post-COVID-pandemic world in which most high school parli tournaments are in person.

B. This House would require all criminal defendants to use public defenders.

C. This House regrets Ukraine’s 1994 decision to remove all nuclear weapons from its territory.

Round 7

A. Suppose that in the near future, humans discover an Earth-like planet called Arcanar. The Arcanarian society closely resembles what human society was like in Eurasia in 1500 C.E. When approached, the monarchs of Arcanar refuse all interaction and proclaim that they will kill any of their subjects who interact with humans or with human artifacts.
Resolved: Humans should take significant action to make Arcanarian society more closely resemble the human society of 2022 C.E.

B. The government of South Korea should abolish military conscription.

C. This House regrets the suspension of aid to Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover in 2021.

ELIMS

(Gov listed first)

Octas

A. Women’s liberation requires the abolition of capitalism.

Washington Diop & Jain VS Campbell Hall Eick & Varnell [2-1]

South Eugene Ramsey-Code & Reeves VS West County Christensen & Valencia [1-2]

B. China’s “zero COVID” policy is a mistake.

Los Altos Lingo & Kadiyala VS Stuyvesant Thompson & Riegel [1-2]

Los Altos/Mountain View Chatwin & Liou VS Irvington Kharbanda & Song [2-1]

C. The Federal Reserve is intended to manage US monetary policy independently of political interference. Its Board is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
Resolved: US federal taxing and spending policy should be managed by an agency modeled after the Federal Reserve.

Nueva Chatterjee & Jonker VS Ridge Narayanabhatla & Khan [0-3]

Menlo-Atherton Chen & Doran VS Nueva Sharma & Turner [2-1]

Evergreen Valley Thalamati & Kudva VS Berkeley Bultman & Teigen [0-3]

Quarters

A. The Olympic Games should be held at permanent sites (one for Winter Games, one for Summer Games).

Ridge Narayanabhatla & Khan VS Washington Diop & Jain [3-0]

B. The People's Republic of China should abolish all restrictions on internal migration.

Berkeley Bultman & Teigen VS Stuyvesant Thompson & Riegel [3-0]

Nueva Descollonges & Zhu VS Los Altos/Mountain View Chatwin & Liou [2-1]

C. Public inspection refers to algorithms being available to view. It does not make it legal to use an algorithm without the owner’s permission.
Social media algorithms are used to determine advertisement-user matching, post ranking, post reach, etc.
Resolved: This House would require all social media algorithms to be available for public inspection.

West County Christensen & Valencia VS Menlo-Atherton Chen & Doran [1-2]

Semis

A. The US federal government should abolish the mortgage interest deduction.

Berkeley Bultman & Teigen VS Menlo-Atherton Chen & Doran [4-1]

B. The UK government should release Julian Assange from prison rather than extraditing him to the US.

C. The Supreme Court of the US should rule that lower courts do not have the power to issue nationwide injunctions.

Ridge Narayanabhatla & Khan VS Nueva Descollonges & Zhu [2-3]

Finals

A. The US federal government should adopt a universal job guarantee.

Nueva Descollonges & Zhu VS Berkeley Bultman & Teigen [3-4]

B. In the 21st century, a world order in which the US remains hegemonic would be preferable to a multipolar world order.

C. The International Monetary Fund has done more harm than good.