Check out the Colbert debate video linked below.
From Scott Deatherage scott@urbandebate.org:
From Scott Deatherage scott@urbandebate.org:
Urban Debate NewsBlast
July 2008 Volume: III, Number: 1The results of the first Chase Urban Debate National Championship, hosted by the NAUDL in April...Sean Eastwood, from Central High School in Kansas City, who was named the Top Speaker at the Chase National Championship...The inaugural NAUDL Annual Dinner, held on April 5 at the University Club of Chicago, which over 300 supporters of urban debate attended...The launching of two Urban Debate Leagues in Los Angeles and the Oakland Bay Area...The kickoff of the new Urban Debate League in Tampa...Quick News Notes about the NAUDL and Urban Debate...
Greetings friends,We have reached an exceptionally exciting, challenging and promising time not only for our organization and its mission, but also for the urban debate network more broadly.As most of you know, the NAUDL recently hosted two "first-ever" events in Chicago. In conjunction with the generous sponsorship of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, we held the Chase Urban Debate National Championship. Eighteen UDLs, from cities spanning the United States, were represented in the competition. During the Championship weekend we hosted the NAUDL Annual Dinner at the University Club of Chicago. Over 300 guests and supporters of urban debate from across the nation attended. We were extremely pleased with these two events and are already in the process of planning the 2009 editions.The NAUDL is also pivoting to turn our attention to the launching of several new Urban Debate Leagues in 2008. We have written to you in previous NewsBlasts about the positive developments in St. Louis, Denver, Memphis and Houston. Here we happily report the kickoff of leagues in Los Angeles, Oakland and Tampa, each of which will begin this fall. In addition, we continue to work towards the launch of UDLs in Las Vegas, New Orleans, Phoenix and Philadelphia in 2009.This growth in urban debate exceeds even the most ambitious vision contemplated in the NAUDL three-year Expansion Plan developed by my predecessor Leonard A. ("Lenny") Gail and the NAUDL staff. Lenny and the NAUDL professional staff, which includes Anthony Jardina, Les Lynn, Holly Reiss, and Eric Tucker, have worked tirelessly to achieve these dramatic results. We eagerly look forward to working with the respective cities' Advisory Boards and League Directors further to expand the urban debate network and thereby spread the potentially life-changing opportunity of policy debate participation to thousands more of America's students.The NAUDL strives to ensure that rigorous performance measurement and evaluation fundamentally shape how the we do business. To facilitate that effort a research team at the University of Michigan, led by Dr. Briana Mezuk will produce a 10-year retrospective evaluation of the educational outcomes of student participation in an Urban Debate League. Dr. Mezuk's team has received the crucial support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to investigate the impact of policy debate participation on such factors as high school academic achievement, on-time graduation, and college matriculation in an urban public school population. The NAUDL, the Chicago Debate Commission and the team at Michigan are collaborating with the Chicago Public Schools and the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago to conduct the study.As I reach the conclusion of my first few months as the organization's Executive Director, I cannot help but be optimistic about the NAUDL's promising trajectory toward the fulfillment of its mission. The staff and I look forward with great enthusiasm to the upcoming months and the opportunities that await.Best,
Scott DeatherageExecutive DirectorNAUDL
First Chase Urban Debate National Champion Crowned
Congratulations to the Lane Tech High School team, from Chicago, who won the first Chase Urban Debate National Championship, defeating Grady High School of Atlanta in the final round. The Championship was hosted by the NAUDL at Northwestern University’s downtown campus and was made possible through the generous sponsorship of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation.
Lane Tech’s team of Andrew Hobaugh and Nick Locke defeated the team of Minh Lam and John Holland from Grady. Each member of the First Place team received a college scholarship in the amount of $2,500, and each member of the Second Place team received a $1,000 award. All awards were donated by Holland & Knight LLP.The Championship's final round was held in the historic Abraham Lincoln Courtroom at the Northwestern University School of Law. Urban Debate League directors and coaches served as members of the final round judge panel, yielding a 5-0 decision for Lane Tech.The Chase Urban Debate National Championship brought together 34 urban debate teams and their coaches for a weekend of competition, conferencing and friendship. Teams from the following UDLs participated in the Championship: Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Seattle/Tacoma, St. Louis and Washington D.C.Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley welcomed the competitors to the Windy City: “I commend the students who have traveled here from around the country. Every one of you deserves to be congratulated for the hard work and commitment that you have demonstrated to qualify for this prestigious event. You have already accomplished a great deal.”Professor Ross Smith, the highly accomplished Director of Debate from Wake Forest University, graciously served as the director of the tournament tab room. Professor Smith’s college team had won the National Debate Tournament the previous weekend. We are extremely grateful for his invaluable service.During the course of the Chase National Championship participants visited several of Chicago’s premier cultural and entertainment centers, including the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, the National Museum of Mexican Art and the Navy Pier.
At the conclusion of the Championship, the NAUDL's Executive Director, Scott Deatherage, stated: “We were absolutely thrilled to be able to host this event. The participating students, coaches and administrators showed great enthusiasm not only for the tournament competition, but also for its pedagogical and cultural aspects. The NAUDL is already planning for and eagerly looking forward to hosting the 2009 National Championship.”
Central High School Senior Sean Easterwood of Kansas City won the Top Speaker award at the first Chase Urban Debate National Championship. In the process he earned a $2,500 scholarship that he will use to attend the University of Missouri-Kansas City in the fall. The scholarship was provided through the generosity of Holland & Knight LLP.
Sean said after the tournament, “It was cool and exciting. The scholarship is going to be a big help and I like being the first-ever top speaker at the Urban Debate Championship.” Sean’s coach, Jane Rinehart, added, “Sean has worked so hard to come this far. To see him win this honor was one of the season’s biggest thrills.” Sean’s partner, Dashawnta Brunson noted, “He deserved it. We have fun debating together, we’ve learned a lot and this weekend was a great experience.”
Andrew Brokos, the Boston UDL's Director, judged Sean at the tournament and commented on his dominating style, “He was charismatic and principled. He had all the skills.”
Sean’s accomplishment at the Chase National Championship evoked enthusiastic recognition of his abilities, his coach's mentorship, and his school's support from the Kansas City Mayor and City Council who passed a resolution in their honor: “Resolved: That the Mayor and Council hereby congratulate the Central High School Debate Team and Sean Easterwood on their success at the first annual National Association for Urban Debate Leagues national tournament.”
Sean pursued debate for its transformative intellectual benefits. He commented, “You see the walls of this school. Debate is the place to reach outside these walls. There are no limits. You can gain the knowledge to do the stuff of CEO’s, policymakers, doctors and lawyers,” adding, “My motivation is not success. We [the debaters] share how we feel. We go in with our will and our ideas, and we come out with respect.”
Sean's coach, Jane Reinhart, said of Sean. “He’s so focused. Students here are very competitive. It becomes personal.”
Both teams from DEBATE-Kansas City reached the quarter-finals of the championship, and each of the other three debaters also received speaker awards.
On April 5, over 300 enthusiastic supporters and guests joined the NAUDL for our inaugural Annual Dinner, held at the historic University Club of Chicago.Participants were entertained by a short video from Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert, who recorded a special welcome for our event. He offered the following tips for debaters: Always Be Right, Yell Everything, Don't Be Afraid to Cry, Constantly Change the Subject, and Defeat Builds Character. Finally, as for career counseling to the debaters he urged: "Please, promise me this, don't throw away your lives on careers in Congress. There are far more honorable ways to get free golf trips."
Nate Parker, who starred in the film The Great Debaters and watched debate rounds at the Chase National Championship earlier in the day, addressed the audience: "What I saw today fascinated and amazed me. All you students, you inspire me, you really do. What I do for a living is fun, but what you guys do for a living makes leaders."
Emory University's Melissa Wade was honored as the first "Urban Debate Champion." Professor Wade has truly been a pioneer of urban debate, beginning her work with the Atlanta UDL in 1985. Diana Dunker, supervising attorney for Legal Services of New Jersey, was recognized as the NAUDL's "Alumnus of the Year." Ms. Dunker has argued in front of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, securing important advances in the protection of family bonds for urban and/or poor children.Leonard A. ("Lenny") Gail, Chairman of the NAUDL Board, commented on the honorees: "The enthusiasm was evident. Our presenters spoke eloquently about both our mission and our wonderful collection of honorees. In particular, Urban Debate Champion Melissa Wade and Alum of the Year Diana Dunker, who we and the audience honored for their tremendous contributions, provided inspirational and insightful words about the past, present and exciting future of Urban Debate."The Keynote Speaker for the event was United States Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, one of the nation's leading attorneys and public servants. He offered valuable advice not only to the student debaters, but to the rest of the audience as well, stating: "I try to tell students they should find out what it is that motivates them. It could be medicine. It could be social work. It could be teaching. But they ought to make an affirmative choice about what they want to do in their life, and doing good is a very rewarding option, not just doing well. I'll find the time, I'll find the energy, I'll find the resources to help out a cause I believe in. And I know I'm preaching to the choir here, because the people in this room are the people who give up their time to be coaches or administrators or people who find other ways to make sure debate exists.Board Chair Lenny Gail concluded, "The NAUDL was delighted with our Inaugural Dinner. We feel a tremendous sense of gratitude, witnessing the heartfelt outpouring of support from across the country, not only for this event in particular, but also for the NAUDL's mission of providing urban debate opportunities for as many students as possible. The great success of this event will substantially facilitate that reality."
Two California School Systems Embrace Urban Debate
The NAUDL is very pleased to report that two major school systems in California have agreed to launch Urban Debate Leagues in the fall of 2008. Leaders of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) have formed partnerships with local Advisory Boards and the NAUDL.
In the context of California’s unprecedented state financial crisis and education budget cuts, these developments provide encouraging evidence that school systems see Urban Debate Leagues as a well-leveraged, mission-aligned investment that advances their fundamental priorities.
In Los Angeles, Superintendent David Brewer III embraced the League as fully aligned with the district’s secondary instruction program. He deemed it an important part of the efforts to support its High Priority Schools Plan. At a February screening of The Great Debaters, attended by 135 community, district and business leaders, Superintendent Brewer publicly committed to the UDL launch and subsequently wrote: “LAUSD welcomes the enrichment provided to students through NAUDL programs. NAUDL’s focus on using academic policy debate to bolster the core academic skills of reading comprehension, critical thinking, research, building arguments and demonstrating effective communications is one that we value.”
Brad Stam, the Chief Academic Officer of Oakland Unified, similarly signed an agreement with the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues to establish an Urban Debate League within the district this fall.
In Los Angeles, Advisory Board Co-chairs Sandra Seville-Jones and Bart Williams share a passion for the UDL mission and possess the skill and determination necessary to serve as the catalysts for a UDL in the nation’s second largest school system. Both are Partners at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP (Mr. Williams is the former Managing Partner).The Chair of the Bay Area Urban Debate League Advisory Board is Darin Snyder, a former Managing Partner of the San Francisco office of O’Melveny and Myers LLP and former Georgetown debater. He leads a group committed to restoring debate opportunities throughout the Bay Area.
The NAUDL is working with the School District of Hillsborough County to launch an Urban Debate League in the Tampa Bay area in the fall of 2008.
Inspired by the recent Denzel Washington film The Great Debaters, prominent Tampa attorney Barry Cohen is providing the crucial leadership for establishing debate programs in Tampa’s urban schools.On May 15, Mr. Cohen sponsored a select viewing of the film for 250 Tampa students. A special guest at the viewing was actress Jurnee Smollett, who won the 2008 NAACP Image Award for her female lead performance in the film and is a passionate advocate for the NAUDL's mission.
Mr. Cohen cites the powerful benefits that participants will derive from debating: “[The debaters will] learn to communicate, learn to articulate, learn to be educated. [They will] learn to turn knowledge into power and to be able to deal with violence and bigotry.”Tampa resident Doug Williams, the first African-American quarterback to win the Super Bowl, has thrown his support behind the project, as well: “I don’t think there are too many jobs out there that if you’re not able to debate that you can do the job.”
• The NAUDL is pleased to announce that James Q. Wilson, the Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University, has agreed to serve on our Honorary Board of Directors. As a student at Redlands University, Dr. Wilson completed an extremely successful debate career by winning the 1952 National Debate Tournament and the NDT Top Speaker award.• The NAUDL web page has recently been updated with a collection of videos and links to recent urban debate news items.• Les Lynn, NAUDL Senior Program Consultant, has recently returned to Chicago after successfully directing a one-week summer workshop in Memphis, a city that kicks off its new UDL this fall. (Read the local press report here.) Nearly 40 students and over a dozen new teachers/coaches took part. The participants received instruction from Les and Chicago-based teacher LaTonya Starks. NAUDL Executive Director, Scott Deatherage, commented: "I'm thrilled about the tremendous early success in Memphis. Congratulations to the Memphis City Schools, particularly the new Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash and administrators James Bacchus and Michae! l Smith, for hosting and organizing this city-wide kick-off of the Memphis UDL. Also congratulations to the growing private partner in this mid-South capital, the Memphis UDL Advisory Board, under the determined leadership of James Sdoia."• A recent issue of Education Week discussed the NAUDL's league development strategy and reported a classroom teacher's insight regarding debate's impact: "Mary J. Thomas calls her experience coaching debate 'transformative.' On her team at multiethnic Charlestown High School in Boston, she's had students with bad attitudes, speech impediments, second-language challenges, poor grades, and top grades. To get any of them started, she hands over a binder of propositions and evidence, gives them a run-through, and coaxes them into a tournament. 'Every single child has amazed me,' the 30-year-old English teacher testified. 'They suddenly become articulate, capable, mature. Part of it is the competition, but I think it's more: It's so difficult, it makes them feel smart.'• HBO has recently started running Greg Whiteley's documentary on high school debate, Resolved. The film, which won an Audience Award at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival, features urban debaters from Long Beach.
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