Any Blue Devils basketball fans worth their horns can recite the illustrious career of Coach K by heart. While Coach K may be retired, fear not, there’s an unassuming faculty member well on her way to pulling down equally impressive stats for Duke: Coach H, or Maha Houssami, faculty advisor for the Arabic debate team.
In five prolific years, Duke’s Arabic debate team has made four appearances at the United States Universities Arabic Debating Championship (USADC), winning back-to-back national titles in 2022 and 2023.
In 2022, the team traveled to Turkey for the biennial International Universities Debating Championship (IUDC) and returned to Durham with a top-eight finish. In 2023, Duke once again secured a place at the IUDC, where 600 participants from 50 countries will compete. In May, Majed Al Munefi, Zeinab Mukhtar and Ahmed Hadwan are making the trip to Doha, Qatar, to represent Duke and the United States on a global stage.
While trophies are one way a team can measure success, Houssami, a senior lecturer of Arabic in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, also acknowledges that the benefits last much longer than a wins and losses tally.
“One of my duties as an educator and program coordinator is to empower students intellectually and to inspire them as they further their journey with Arabic,” she explains. “The human exchange that is an integral part of learning a foreign language and the intercultural competence that is achieved along the way are pivotal for today’s college students.”
The road to the 2023 national championship wasn’t easy. Practicing around conflicting schedules and campus commitments was difficult. In addition, Lahrichi, who graduated from Duke in 2023 with a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies, is currently in Montana pursuing a Ph.D. and had to join training sessions via Zoom.
“In the midst of it all, the team beat 42 opponents from some of the most prestigious universities in the country,” she proudly shares. “Without a doubt, this is a testimony to our students’ excellence, devotion, composure and flexibility.”
The benefits of debate beyond the accolades
Saad Lahrichi, part of the 2022 and 2023 national championship team, had never participated in competitive debate prior to Duke. He thought the opportunity to join the team could help him meet new friends, enrich his language skills and improve his public speaking — he wasn’t wrong. At the 2023 USADC, he was named one of the top 10 best speakers.
“Through participating on the debate team, I developed my Arabic and teamwork skills,” he says. “I also became more self-confident and comfortable speaking in public.”
Junior Zeinab Mukhtar joined the Arabic debate team because she was fascinated by the topics and ideas being debated. The Public Policy major also believes that language study allows individuals to understand the stories and experiences of others — forming deeper human connections.
“As someone passionate about social impact, politics, international development and the state of our world in general, I found debate as a way to discuss these topics with peers who are open to conversations,” Mukhtar explains. “Hearing different perspectives is critical to coming to the strongest conclusion, and debate was an opportunity to put myself in a position I might not necessarily agree with.
“And I never know where learning a language can take me or how many amazing conversations, cultures and stories I'll get to know.”
When the team returns from Qatar in May, with or without the trophy, Houssami would like to see it become a recognized student group, harnessing resources on campus and in the Triangle to foster an inclusive and healthy debate culture at Duke.
“I want to attract students from across campus to participate in debate, where they can be challenged to think about critical global issues from different perspectives.”
Students who are interested in learning more about the Arabic debate team can reach out to either Houssami or team captain, Majed Al Munefi
