Indiana High Schools Wins Bruno Jacob Award

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From http://www.chestertontribune.com/Education%20Duneland%20Schools/62291%20chs_speech_and_debate_team_wins.htm

The Chesterton High School Speech and Debate Team won the prestigious Bruno E. Jacob National Award of Excellence at the National Forensic League’s national tournament in Birmingham, Alabama. In doing so, Chesterton became the first public school to ever win the award for the third time.
Marquette University High School is the only school to have won the award four times, and Bellarmine Preparatory School in California is the only other school to have won it for a third time.
The Bruno E. Jacob Award recognizes team excellence based on cumulative rounds of performance at the national tournament.
Once a team has won the award they go back to zero and start all over again. The last time the team received the award was in 1994.
In addition to the team honor, junior Tyler Fabbri was a finalist in U.S. extemporaneous speaking, placing fifth in the nation.
Based on a new rule for NFL qualification, Fabbri, as an underclassman, is guaranteed a spot in next year’s national tournament.
The NFL Executive Director, J. Scott Wunn, explained the new qualification rule as a reward for underclassmen who start the year along with 36,000 students competing in their event, advance to the national tournament along with 235 other qualifiers, and then finally place in the top six in the nation.
Fabbri competed in twelve rounds of competition at the national tournament before advancing to finals. This is the second time in three weeks Fabbri has received national recognition in forensics; he placed eighth in the nation in original oratory at the NCFL national tournament in Albany, New York.
The Bruno E. Jacob award recognizes team efforts based on the number of rounds accumulated over a period of years. Coach Chris Lowery pointed out, “If just one of our entries had not advanced we wouldn’t have won this award this year. This is what team is all about.”
Advancing beyond the six preliminary rounds for all qualifiers, were the public forum teams of Dakota McCoy (10) and Alec Donelson (12) - 9 rounds - and Luke Morgan (11) and Spencer Hadley (10).
In addition, Elisabeth Kindmark (10) in Oratory, Adam Potrzebowski in international extemporaneous, and the senior duo team of Jack Deuberry and Jackson Fox advanced to octafinals (8 rounds), placing them in the top 60 in their respective events.
Students not advancing but whose rounds helped to contribute to the Bruno E. Jacob recognition included Hayley Miller (11) in oratory, Matt Keeley (11) in drama, and Aris Ringas in student congress.
Also contributing were Lincoln/Douglas debaters Aralan Brooks (12) and Megan Adamczewski (11), as well as the policy debate teams of Siva Muthusamy (12) and Manhur Grewal (12), and Ben Andrews (12) and Jeff Tucker (11).
Coach Jim Cavallo, who also received the Bruno E. Jacob coach award, commented, “This really took all of us by surprise. We didn’t think we would be able to overcome the lead of the schools ahead of us, but the team really came through.”
This is especially rewarding for Cavallo, as he retires from teaching and coaching after more than 35 years.
Coaches Cavallo, Bob Kelly, Chris Lowery, Scott Woodhouse, Doug Pishkur and Kayla Fleming were joined by former student Molly Deuberry.
All helped with judging duties.
The team and its coaches will be honored at a banquet Tuesday evening, hosted by Michael and Susan Harris.

Piedmont College Debate Camp Does Rural Oureach

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A three day debate camp was held at Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia in late June. The purpose of the camp was to give basic debate instruction to students in rural north Georgia as well as to introduce them to Piedmont College and its debate program.

The director of the program, Dr. Janice Moss, said that this was a first attempt to try and give rural students a chance to go to a debate camp without having to go far from home. She stressed that the camp also was a chance to showcase the tremendous new facilities that the college has as well as its debate team. The camp featured instruction in public forum debate along with practice debates and a tournament. Students debated, "Social networking websites like Facebook do more harm than good." The students were enthusiastic about the content of the program as well as the topic.

Alfred Snider of the University of Vermont and the World Debate Institute dropped in as a guest instructor. "I really wanted to support Dr. Moss and Piedmont because I like what they are doing. They are keeping costs low and trying to reach students who have not previously had a chance. I think they are on the brink of something really good and I hope next year's program will grow and become a week in length."

For information, contact Dr. Janice Moss at jmoss@piedmont.edu

World Schools Qatar 2010 Seeks Sponsored Judges

Image by ¡Carlitos via Flickr

From Simon Quinn:

Hi everyone,

Please find below a call for applications for sponsored adjudication positions at next year's World Schools Debating Championships. Please pass this on to anyone else who may be interested in applying, and please don't hesitate to contact us if we can help by clarifying anything.

Regards,

Simon Quinn
(Co-Chief Adjudicator, WSDC Qatar 2010)

************************************************

World Schools Debating Championships
Qatar 2010

Call for Applications:
Sponsored Adjudicators

QatarDebate is intending to pay for thirty adjudicators to attend the next World Schools Debating Championships, being held in Qatar on 8 – 19 February 2010.

Sponsored adjudicators will have their tournament registration and return economy airfare paid by QatarDebate; in every other respect, they will participate in the tournament in the same way as all other adjudicators.

Applicants will be chosen both on the basis of (i) proven adjudication record at WSDC and (ii) the need for diversity, particularly geographical and cultural diversity. All applicants must be able to be accepted as an eligible judge of the championship; therefore, applications will not be accepted from anybody who has debated at the 2009 WSDC in Athens. The sponsored positions will be allocated by the two Chief Adjudicators (Chris Erskine and Simon Quinn) in consultation with the Chief Adjudicators’ Panel.

QatarDebate is now calling for applications for these sponsored positions. If you are interested in applying, please e-mail both simon.quinn@economics.ox.ac.uk and cerskine@ozemail.com.au. Please provide a brief summary of your adjudicating experience and indicate your intended country affiliation at the tournament. Applicants who have not judged at WSDC previously should provide a name and contact information of somebody who has judged at WSDC previously to act as a reference, should it be needed.

The deadline for applications is 1 August; the decision will be made and all applicants notified by 1 September.

Simon Quinn
Chris Erskine

16 June 2009

Kuntal Cholera Shares his Wisdom

From http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/localnews/stories/DRC_Debate_0627.ea8a224.html

Debate champ passes on wisdom

01:36 AM CDT on Saturday, June 27, 2009

By Candace Carlisle / Staff Writer

In a clear, booming voice, Kuntal Cholera argued two sides of a difficult argument.

Is it murder to kill a terrorist?

Does the end justify the means?

Kuntal Cholera

It’s an example of opposing viewpoints that debate students likely will face in arguing positions with ethical and moral dilemmas, he told his audience.

As the teenagers grappled with the topic, they say, it was one of the best examples of arguing ethics they’ve heard.

Cholera, a recent University of North Texas graduate, was named the top collegiate debater in the nation in March and is one of 40 debate coaches teaching high school students at the UNT summer debate workshops this week through mid-July.

About 290 students are attending the debate workshops this year — the largest summer debate program in Texas, said Brian Lain, a communication studies professor and director of the summer program.

There are three different divisions of debate — policy, Lincoln-Douglas and student congress — at the UNT summer camp, Lain said.

In policy debate, which Cholera is teaching, there were four groups of students with various experience levels.

The groups have spent the last week researching the upcoming school year’s resolution of debating if the federal government should increase social services for people living in poverty.

Researching timely topics like that one will help give students a sense of what’s happening in the nation and give them voice in a meaningful public discussion, Lain said.

Most importantly, debate teaches students critical-thinking skills, which can influence the rest of their lives, he said.

Framing arguments

To gather quality, unbiased sources, students read books with weighty topics such as anti-capitalism and Marxism to help frame their arguments.

Ricky Barbosa, a 17-year-old attendee from Dallas, said political motives will become heated debates during this year’s competition.

This was Barbosa’s first time to attend the UNT debate camp, but he’s had a couple of years practicing debate and hopes knowledge from the workshops will add to his arsenal for the upcoming school year.

As he and other students scramble for quality information to add to their arguments, they pull index cards outlining background information from a book bag.

They tote the cards and their backup files around in large file tubs as evidence for debate students to bring up at tournament rounds.

But debate is heading into the digital age; searchable databases can find index cards, and the use of laptops is becoming common for competitive high school debaters.

“It’s important to learn how to get cards; information is cheap nowadays,” Lain said. “It’s important they know the difference of the information and how to deploy it.”

With laptops being cheaper than ever, it’s one more sign of the times, Barbosa said.

“We are moving toward going paperless in debate,” he said. “We’re not quite there yet, but we’re taking steps to get there.”

Other high school students like Faiez Saiyed, 14, said totes are part of debate and the digital evolution won’t likely change the need to have tangible backup information at the ready in a tournament.

“Tubs are one more part of debate; it’s one more tool,” Saiyed said.

Regardless of the changes in high school debate programs, the basics of speech remain the same, said Cholera, who spent nine years debating before he was deemed national champion.

The ability to sway a judge with speech patterns and ethos is important to a successful debater, he said.

“It’s difficult at this level [of debate],” Cholera said. “It’s tough to be smarter than the others at this level. You have to beat them out using outliers and adapt more.”

A physical display

In Round 8 of the National Debate Tournament in March, Cholera and his debate partner went up against a team from Northwestern University and lost, he said.

But the judges awarded Cholera with the highest number of speaker points, ultimately ranking him the top speaker in the nation, which is an amazing feat, Lain said.

Cholera has deferred acceptance into Columbia Law School for a year and will coach high school and college debaters until then, he said.

Along with researching and learning to communicate well, there is a physical side of debate, he said.

Cholera ran frequently to expand his lung capacity and practiced speaking often, trying to get as many words out with each breath while still clearly communicating.

“With every breath you take, it takes time out of the speech,” he said.

But speakers must have both quantity and quality in their arguments, he said.

He also strengthened his upper body by holding a chair as he spoke and reading aloud 30 minutes a day, clocking his progress against the pages he ran through, Cholera said.

And then he practiced it again.

After he won the national award, he held the trophy for 10 minutes at the tournament as the crowd stood, clapping and cheering.

“It made all nine years worth it,” he said.

CANDACE CARLISLE can be reached at 940-566-6889. Her e-mail address is ccarlisle@dentonrc.com.

Uganda Debate Leagues Has 25 Schools at Tournament

From http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/its_friday/Grooming_great_debators_87076.shtml

Grooming great debators

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

A hush descended upon the room when the floor was opened to the six debaters; three on each side, all well tucked in blue and white uniforms. “Dual citizenship should be granted to all Africans in the Diaspora,” the first said, and paused to study her audience.

She was one of the confident types, and informed as she easily quoted Martin Luther King Jr., and put up solid arguments that earned her resounding clapping. One of her team mates, however, was a bundle of nerves and carried on with a trembling voice, almost choked on her breath, and said “necessity is the mother of ‘invasion’” instead of invention. That debate by Nabisunsa Girls’ School, crowned a five-day training of patrons of debate clubs in 25 Ugandan schools by the Youth Debate League of Uganda, last week, at Ridar Hotel, Mukono.

Nabisunsa Girls students attended a five-day training of patrons of debate clubs. The training aims at strengthening formal debates in high schools and colleges. PHOTO BY DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

The participants were drawn from Mbarara High School, Kings College Budo, Sacred Heart SS, St. Henry’s Kitovu, Namilyango College, Nyakasura School, Bweranyangi Girls SS, Town View SS Kapchorwa, among others, and five students from Makerere University, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Kumi University, Uganda Martyrs University Nkozi and Gulu University.

The debate programme, working with its spin-off organisation, the International Debate Education Association (IDEA) and the Open Society Institute of East Africa (OSIEA), aims at building and strengthening formal debate in high schools and colleges in Uganda.

“We seek to inspire research and stimulate analytical and critical thinking among youths through competitive debates, and to help them acquire leadership skills to effectively address problems in their communities,” says Ronald Rwankangi of OSIEA. The debating culture of Ugandan schools and institutions of higher learning, he says, is a lackadaisical affair that has done little to create an open and friendly environment in which students discuss issues important to their lives. “The rigidity of most school timetables does not allow that,” says Rwankangi. “Many consider debate to be a co-curricular activity but we feel debate should be part of the academics to help learners articulate issues, bring up arguments and raise awareness on issues of democracy, social justice and good governance.” Those trained will regenerate debating in their schools by training students and organising regular internal debate contests.

District and regional debate tournaments will also be organised where the winning teams will compete in the National Youth Debate League Championship to be hosted either at Green Hill or St. Lawrence this December. Over 25 secondary schools across the country will participate, and the winner will be crowned national champions and represent Uganda in international debate events. “We want the ministry of education to make debating in schools mandatory so that our children can pick up the culture of debate as is done in South Africa and Europe where you find formal debate institutions and where competitive debates at the national level are a common phenomenon,” says Rwankangi.

Already, a debating competition for all secondary schools in Koboko District is in the works. After participating in an IDEA-organised debate forum as a trainer in Bulgaria, Patrick Bongo Namisi is coaching four members from Koboko Youth in Development to help him train these schools in preparation for the showdown come September 2009. “This is going to be the first ever District Debate Championship and the winning school automatically qualifies for the national championship,” he says. The Youth Debate League facilitated the team that represented the country at the African School Debate Championships in Johannesburg last year, where they beat Namibia and Kenya only to lose to South Africa in the finals. Irene Ikomu, former president of Nabisunsa Girls Debating Club, who was on the team, and has been admitted to Makerere University to study Law on government sponsorship, attributes her success to debating in school, saying it taught her “the art of persuasion.”

The national championship will employ the Karl Popper debate format, which is preferred on the international stage for its simplicity, and its arousal of deep thinking on the part of debaters. It is also very entertaining especially when each of the three debaters on either side take turns cross-examining each other in classic crossfire mode. Professional debate trainer, Isabella Akiteng, helping organise the Gulu Debate Tournament, says she is not at all satisfied with the level of debate in our country: “Even our parliamentarians need to learn to present arguments based on evidence and facts. That’s why in most cases we witness high emotions and personality clashes instead of the real issues that are critical to our national interest and development.”

Ken “The Man” Lukyamuzi, who in his time was the president of the debating society at St Henry’s Kitovu, was there to dispense free tips on “appreciating the potentiality of oratory” and “reaching the apex of performance through persuasion.” “The seriousness you attach to what you say will determine the taste of what you say,” he said. “You cannot simply woo the masses with nothing; you have to do your research, cite the law and certain facts, and cause change through debate.”

The Nabisunsa students at Ridar Hotel are a representation of a new generation of debaters on their way to changing the face of critical discussions in this country, and onto the “glorious light!” One just can't wait for the national championship in December!

Chuck Ballingall -- 27 Years and Still Going Strong

From http://www.laverneonline.com/2009/06/27/damiens-dean-of-debate-celebrates-27-years-of-coaching/

Chuck Ballingall

Don’t get in an argument with Chuck Ballingall. He’s heard every angle, ruse, excuse and illogical thought in his 27 years as Damien’s debate coach. And Chuck, 48, will probably hear a lot more as he plans on being Damien’s debate coach for years to come.

He’s sort of like the John Wooden or Phil Jackson of debate. He produces champions. Two of his newest, Sean Hernandez and Reid Ehrlich-Quinn, took first place in policy debate at the National Speech and Debate Tournament, sponsored by the National Forensic League (NFL) in Birmingham, Ala., June 19.

He already has his calendar marked for Sept. 10, when Damien will participate in the Greenhill Round Robin debate in Dallas, Texas. Only the top 14 debate teams in the country were invited. Chuck has such a “rep” around debate circles that his debate topic, “The Federal Government Should Substantially Increase Social Services to People Living in Poverty,” has been accepted as the national debate topic for 2009/2010. This is big-time stuff!

For suggesting that topic, students nationwide will either cheer him or jeer him. That’s because debaters research just the one debate topic for an entire year. Debaters who eagerly plunge into the research begin to appreciate the levels of complexities and shades of arguments underpinning the issues they’re studying; others with less patience will simply wish to move on and tackle other subjects like health care and foreign policy issues.

As savvy and experienced a coach as Chuck is, he realizes his success starts and ends with his players, of which it appears Damien has no shortage. In fact, Damien’s debating riches are almost scandalous. If Damien’s debate squad were a football team, rivals would be crying foul. Charges that Damien’ debate team doesn’t have to restock, just reload, are true. Damien also benefits from the skills of Nick Fiori, assistant Damien debate coach and USC graduate.

Damien is a debate factory without peer. The private high school offers five debate classes that students are automatically enrolled in when they attend Damien. Thus, Chuck doesn’t have to cherry-pick a couple of debaters from an honors English class to try to form a team. He has about 150 to 200 students who will learn something about the rhetorical arts. The best ones will stick with it. No school in the Southland has a comparable program. The payoff for students and their parents footing tuition bills is well worth it. Many of Chuck’s students go on to be lawyers and judges and other top professionals.

“I can probably think of a couple of dozen off the top of my head,” Chuck said.

But that’s not the students’ motivation, Chuck explained.

“They do this program because they enjoy it” he said. “They’re willing to spend dozens of hours a week preparing. They love the intellectual game.”

And to many it is a game — a serious game that requires hard work and preparation to excel. “They’re like elite athletes,” Chuck said. “They’re so competitive and driven. But instead of expressing themselves athletically, they’re expressing themselves intellectually and academically.”

Occasionally, (it’s the exception not the rule) Chuck will have to sit one of his players down for loss of focus (not taking care of business in other classes). “If they miss a couple of tournaments because of grades, that’ll often help them get their focus back,” Chuck said.

The tournaments are the big games. Competitions have taken Chuck and his teams all over the country, from the Southland to the nation’s capital. Chuck can’t possibly take all his students to every tournament, without breaking the budget, so he tries to match his debate teams with teams of similar strength and reputation from other schools, not unlike college or high school football coaches scheduling a mix of powder puffs and powerhouses to help give their teams confidence and experience.

Chuck’s debaters are smart, quick-thinking, and confident. “There really isn’t a trick to it, it’s all about putting in the work,” Chuck said. “Our best don’t just talk pretty, they’re powerful and persuasive speakers.”

Another reason Damien ranks among the nation’s top debate teams is Chuck knows the ropes better than any other coach. Here in the Southland, he’s the dean of debates, helping organize and run many of the local tournaments, which often attract more than 100 teams. His confidence and experience rubs off on his debaters, and keeps them cool under fire and cross-examination.

Damien’s debate budget is five figures, defrayed by the debaters’ parents and local sponsors, many of whom have come through the program and reaped its benefits. With many airlines now adding excess baggage fees, debate teams like Damien have been especially hard hit. Damien teams haul four large Rubbermaid plastic storage bins filled with their notes, books and papers to every event. Another $80 in baggage fees per flight, and Damien, like every other traveling debate team, feels the financial pain.

Fortunately for Damien, Chuck knows how to budget in addition to wearing a lot of other hats. He teaches history and micro and macro-economics. He has also been the voice of Damien basketball for 27 years, plus a lot of baseball games over the years.

“It’s a good way to keep in touch with kids outside of class,” Chuck said humbly.

The bigger question is, how will Damien’s kids keep up with Chuck?

Summer Debate Camp in Serbia

From http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=219042155614&ref=nf

Summer Debate Camp Serbia

7 nights... many days ;)

Host:	Open Communication
Type:	Education - Workshop
Network:	Global

Start Time:	Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 9:00am
End Time:	Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 7:00pm
Location:	Divcibare, mountain side, cental Serbia
City/Town:	Valjevo, Serbia

Phone:	381643229394
Email:	serbiadebatecamp@gmail.com

Description

Summer Debate Camp!!!

Alfred C. Snider, aka Tuna, USA

G. Rhydian Morgan, Stylus Communication, UK

Bojana Skrt, Za in Proti, Slo


this is our lecturing team, and in order CA, DCAs for our tournament...


tournamnt: 18th and 19th of July


participation fee: 100 EUR (7 nights&meals included!)

participation for tournament only: 40 EUR (2 nights&meals)



chill: swimming pool, pool, table-tennis; parties at all locations, mentioned - included ;)

want to check it out? www.vujicdivcibare.com


where you may register: serbiadebatecamp@gmail.com


WE R WAITING FOR U !!!

Photos

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US Debate Tour of Japan Concludes

From http://www.hokkaido-np.co.jp/news/sapporo/172462.html

札幌圏

生きた英語つかむ　札幌国際情報高、米代表と労働問題で舌戦 （06/19 14:25）

流ちょうな英語で舌戦を展開する札幌国際情報高の生徒たち

　札幌市北区の札幌国際情報高校で１８日、英語で討論する「日米交歓ディベート」が道内で初めて開催された。生徒たちは全米代表２人とともに「派遣労働禁止の是非」について熱い議論を展開した。

　全国高校生英語ディベート連盟北海道などの主催。日本代表は米国で、米国代表は日本国内約１０カ所で行うツアーの一環。出場者は賛否２班に分かれ、主張と反論を各６回繰り返した。議論を通じ「問題意識を持つようになる」（木村純一郎教諭）のが狙いだ。

　この日は多目的教室で行われ、国際文化科の１〜３年生２４０人が観戦。同校３年生６人と米国から来たトニー・リャオさん（２４）、クリストファー・ジロードさん（２２）が、４人ずつに分かれて討論をスタートさせた。

　生徒たちは「派遣労働禁止で企業の力が弱まり倒産も増える」「倒産する根拠を示すべきだ」「直接雇用は派遣よりコストがかかる。データはないが当然そうなる」と、流ちょうな英語で応酬。徐々に問題のポイントを明らかにしていった。

　出場した菅野彩可さんは「外国の人とのディベートは初めて。圧倒された」、宮田真衣さんは「この経験で新しい観点が開けた」と成果を実感していた。（川原田浩康）

Starting Debate in Namibia

From http://lindseyloveinnamibia.blogspot.com/2009/06/debate-and-agriculture.html

Debate and Agriculture

In addition to teaching English, I have been handed the duties of the debate coach and the grade 6 Agriculture class. I was pretty horrified at the debate responsibility, as I have never even taken a debate class or participated in a debate; fortunately my colleague has been helping with the details. We chose 6 capable learners from grades 6 and 7 to attend the cluster debate (the cluster, if you remember, is what we call in the U.S. the school district). Eight schools were supposed to attend the competition, each with a team of 3 to debate. Luckily we brought all 6 of our kids because one school didn’t show, so we had an even number of 3-person teams to compete.

Our team: Tuli, Taamba, Beatha, Hilya, Augustus, and Tomy


Lano kids were AMAZING! We actually had to re-assemble all 8 teams because our kids were so above the other schools it just wasn’t even close. The ultimate goal of this competition was to select a team to represent the cluster in further competitions. Judges awarded points to individual speakers throughout each debate, and the top ten scores earned a spot on the team. All six of our kids made it! In fact, the top four scores were from Lano. It was super exciting.

I was really unhappy about being obliged to coach debate, but obviously got taught a lesson.

(Of course, the requisite hairbraiding while we wait for the debates to begin)

Now, for some reason, I did not feel any apprehension about agriculture, although I am just as ignorant in agriculture as I am in debate. I was pretty excited to learn about it, actually. Another teacher taught it first term, and now in second term we are scheduled to learn about poultry farming! Ah, the irony…so there I am, describing how some breeds are called “table birds” because they are fat and meaty and make good meals, while others are “layers” because of their reproductive capabilities, and did you know it is extremely healthy to feed chickens the blood of other chickens?

“But what if it is a chicken at Miss Lindsey’s table?”
“Then it is her pet!”

The fascination never ends.

"Miss, why do you have so many shirts with animals on them?"
"Because I love animals."
"But why don't you eat them?"
"Because I love animals."

A lovely drawing done by a learner entitled "How to catch the chicken!!" complete with "Don't try this if you want to catch the chicken," "how to carry more than one," and a weapon

First Debate Tournament in Jordan

From http://idebate.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-ever-debate-tournament-in-jordan.html

First Ever Debate Tournament in Jordan!

The first ever debate tournament in Jordan just ended with quite a lot of excitiment. After the team from Amman-Hashmi found out they won the final debate over the team from Irbid, they burst into cheers and received a flurry of hugs and cheers from their friends and teammates.


The tournament, held at the Princess Basma Youth Resource Center, was conducted all in Arabic in the Karl Popper Debate format and featured teams from throughout Jordan. In addition to Hashmi and Irbid, debaters came from Aqaba, Zarqa'a, Amman-Khalda, Taibeh, Karak, and Sahab. In the morning the debaters considered whether Jordan's reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) should be lifted. The afternoon topic centered on the relationship between tribal law and public law in Jordan. Each team debated each topic twice for a total of four debates.


The final round motion was (translated into English) was "The minimum age to run for the Parliament in Jordan should be 18". In the final debate, the team from Amman-Hahsmi, which went 3-1 in the preliminary rounds, narrowly beat the team from Irbid, which was 4-0 in the previous four debates, including a victory over Hashmi. More importantly, these 6 excellent debaters put forward their ideas to the honored guest for the final round, Jordan's Minister for Political Development. If the affrimative team convinced him enough, maybe we will soon see young people eligible to run for Parliament in Jordan! The top 5 individual speakers from the final round were also from the teams from Hashmi and Irbid.

With the group of smart and committed debaters and coaches in Jordan, we certainly expect to see more great things from the Debate Kingdom! Many thanks to Sireen, Enas, Murad Q., Murad K., Mahmood and Suha from the Princess Basma Youth Resource Center, Charlie and Kinda from the British Council Jordan, and of course all the debaters and judges.

Damien High School is #1 in USA Policy Debate

From http://www.laverneonline.com/2009/06/23/its-not-up-for-debate-damiens-hernandez-and-ehrlich-quinn-are-no-1/

It’s Not up for Debate: Damien’s Hernandez and Ehrlich-Quinn are No. 1

After surviving 15 rounds of competition and outlasting 200 debate teams over four days, Damien High School debaters Sean Hernandez and Reid Ehrlich-Quinn took first place in policy debate at the National Speech and Debate Tournament, sponsored by the National Forensic League (NFL) in Birmingham, Ala, June 19.

In the final debate, the Damien duo defeated a team from James Logan High School of Union City, the first-time in the 71-history of the event that two teams from California vied for the championship.

The debate topic was “Resolved: that the United States federal government should substantially increase alternative energy incentives in the United States.” The Logan team defended the affirmative position; Damien took the negative side. As it turned out, eight of the 11 judges sided with Damien after hearing arguments from both teams.

With their award-winning rhetoric skills both Hernandez and Erlich-Quinn will be heard from again. Hernandez, 18, of Glendora, was awarded a full tuition scholarship to USC , where he will be a member of the debate team. Erlich-Quinn, 17, of Clarement, will be a senior at Damien and enjoy the reputation of being one of the nation’s most gifted high school debaters. Moreover his coach Chuck Ballingall will return for his 28th year as Damien’s debate coach. Ballingall was elected to the California High School Hall of Fame in 1998 and the National Forensics League Hall of Fame in 2008.

The National Forensic League is the nation’s oldest and largest debate and speech honor society. It promotes secondary school speech and debate activities and interscholastic competition as a means to develop a student’s lifelong skills and values and to increase the public’s awareness of the value of speech, debate and communication education.

WUDC Fills in 90 Seconds - Organizers Respond

From Can Okar:

Yesterday’s registration may have come as a surprise to some but to those who have been following global debating over the last years, it was expected. We were certainly expecting it. Whilst 90 seconds is remarkably fast, last year’s Worlds filled up in a similar fashion. However, between the two bouts of registration fever, there was a Worlds Council at which the issue was discussed at length. It is worth returning to that discussion, particularly as we are bound as an Organizing Committee to abiding by the policies (or as is more often the case, the spirit) of Council.



Firstly, we asked explicitly whether we should have a team cap of three or two. After a discussion lasting an hour, it became clear that there was no consensus but that the majority of delegates favored a three team cap. No binding decision was taken and the initiative was left with us. The arguments for three teams over two were many, including a larger number of n-1 judges (your proposal, Rajan, to reduce retroactively the team cap would also remove 77 judges) and the fact that many C teams are highly competitive. We stated at Council that we would go for three teams and that we would share our registration plans with the Chair of Council, which we have since done. We don’t believe that we can now reduce the team cap, even in the face of unprecedented interest in Worlds as this would undo every public and private statement we have made about registration since January 2008. It would also throw our adjudication pool into chaos. Any kind of retroactive, off-the-cuff response to a problem is likely to throw carefully designed plans into disarray and so we simply cannot go back on what we have said we would do.



Secondly, Council discussed internet speed as an issue which undermined registration in parts of Asia and Africa. We instigated a policy whereby institutions from nations with low bandwidth internet connections would get a break and as a result, many new institutions were included in the first phase of registration this year. Thirdly, Council reaffirmed the rule whereby every nation that has competed at Worlds one year gets one team slot as a right at the next round. A look at our registered list shows a remarkably diverse number of nations represented from every continent and region (with the unfortunate exceptions of North and Central Africa). We have done everything that Council expects from us and in this sense, we are happy with how registration has gone.



You are right, however, that a lasting solution is needed to the effect the growth of Worlds Style debating around the globe has had on the World Universities Debating Championships. You suggest a team cap of two but a quick look at current registration indicates that this would still leave around 70 institutions outside the tournament. There are now so many universities that actively debate that a team cap of one would be required to include everyone. We now face a situation where the global debating community must decide what its biggest tournament is about. Is Worlds a tournament solely about finding the best team in the World? Is it about ensuring that everyone who wants to compete gets to compete?



It is in this context that last year’s Worlds Council set up the Future of Worlds Committee, which was charged with looking at an array of issues, including registration. We would suggest that you, and anyone else who has strong views on this matter, approach the Chair of that Committee, Adiba Shareen, with your ideas. This year’s registration was no surprise – we all saw it coming. Rather than trying to solve the problem by making retroactive knee-jerk decisions, we will need to come together as a community and make some hard decisions. This might happen this year but more likely it will take two. What is imperative is that we are prepared to make changes that preserve what makes Worlds such an attractive event whist also dealing with the myriad problems that explosive growth has brought.



We should all be proud that Worlds Style debating is flourishing and at Koç we recognize that we are the temporary guardians of an immensely valuable Championship. We hope that Singapore Management University get in off the waitlist (and our pre-payment policy will ensure that speculative registrations are knocked out much earlier than in previous years). We also hope that you choose to help us seek a long-term solution rather than a short-term one that would throw our plans into chaos and make us go back on our word.



With our warmest regards,



Can Okar on behalf of the Vehbi Koç World Universities Debating Championships

Urdu Language Debate Tournament Held in Beijing

Image via Wikipedia

From http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=79643&Itemid=2

BEIJING, JUNE 23 (APP): The Department of Urdu and Pakistan Studies Centre at Peking University, a prestigious higher learning institution has arranged the first ever inter-university debate contest on ‘Ma or Urdu’ (I and Urdu) here the other day. Besides Peking University, students from Foreign Language University also participated in large number.
“The purpose of organizing such debate was to hold a competition in a healthy environment among the students studying Urdu language in China”, said Dr Asmat Naz, Department of Urdu and Pakistan Studies, Pakistan’s Chair at Peking University while talking to APP on Monday.

The Deputy Head of the Mission Mr. Abdul Salik Khan and senior embassy officials also attended the programme.

The invitees included a large number of Chinese who can speak and understand Urdu as well as students from different universities.

Initiating the debate, the student from Peking University Miss Tian Yan highlighted the difficulties she had confronted in the early stage while learning Urdu language and the way she was able to address these.

A student Zhang Ming Qi belonged to Foreign Studies University told the gathering how she got attraction with Urdu language and pointed out that it was her grandfather who had the opportunity of living in Pakistan and he can also speak Urdu very well. She further said that she intends to push forward her grandfather’s traditions.

These all students, it may be noted started learning Urdu language for the past 18 months, but they understand well and speak Urdu fluently.

Most of the student got appreciation from the audience as they supported their speeches with poetry.

The second part of the contest was extempore speeches among students, however, all speakers spoke with full confidence to highlight the history and importance of Urdu in this contemporary world.

As per penal of judges, the student from Peking University Tian Yan got adjudged as first prize winner, the second position holdere was Gao qing of Foreign Language University while the third prize went again to Peking University.

The seminar was culminated with the speech from Director Pakistan Studies Mr Tang Ming Sheng.

NFL Nationals Winners

From Georgia Forensics at http://gaforensics.com/2009/06/nfl-week-2009-the-champions.html

Policy Debate – Sean Hernandez & Reid Ehrlich-Quinn, Damien HS (CA)

Lincoln Douglas Debate – Shivani Vohra, Hockaday (TX)

Public Forum Debate – Robert Kindman & Josh Zoffer, Durham Academy (NC)

Domestic Extemp – Evan Larson, Bellarmine (CA)

Foreign Extemp – Stacey Chen, North Allegheny (PA)

Original Oratory – John Hoffmeister, Apple Valley (MN)

Dramatic Interpretation – Jane Bruce, Ogden (UT)

Duo Interpretation – Williams & Hill, James Logan (CA)

Humorous Interpretation – Lindsey White, Eastview (MN)

Storytelling – Francis Blaise, New Trier (IL)

Impromptu – Jessica Petrie, Bellevue West (IL)

Prose – Vanessa Garcia, Fullerton Union (CA)

Poetry – Andrew Laroca, Riverdale HS (LA)

Expository – Evan Hernandez, Wichita East (KS)

Commentary – Anuv Ratan, Claremont (CA)

Senate – Robert Colonol, Winter Springs (FL)

Congress – Howard Downs Temple, Stuyvesant (NY)

Policy Lectures from Emory Workshop

From Stefan Bauschard:

We have added seven free lectures on the poverty topic and related skills
from the Emory National Debate Institute to Planet
Debate

http://www.planetdebate.com/media or www.planetdebate.com -- Lectures on the
top line

We have also indexed additional lectures from the Georgetown Debate Seminar.

To view consolidated camp information to date, click to visit our camp blog
post -- http://www.planetdebate.com/blogs/view/260

Our goal is to make at least 50 lectures from the summer available for free
by August 1st. We also wish to add at least 50 lectures and lectures
discussions for our subscribers. If you would like to make a contribution,
please email me by responding to this message.

Also, please consider supporting our site by purchasing a subscription or
advertising package (subscription included with the advertising package).
Advertisers & workshop partners receive banner ad displays, email blasts,
listings on our Camp Poverty Topic Coverage page -- a page has had more than
1,200 views in less than a week. Across our site, 30-40,000 pages are viewed
every day, and more than 27,000 files have been downloaded from our site
since May 6, 2009.

-- Stefan Bauschard President & Co-Founder, PlanetDebate.com Debate Coach, Harvard Debate Director of Debate, Lakeland Schools Director of Development & Operations, NFL National Tournament 2011 (c) 781-775-0433 (fx) 617-588-0283

Georgetown Policy Debate Institute Shares Lecture Videos

Debating the K, Part 1 from Georgetown Debate on Vimeo.

From http://georgetowndebateseminar.blogspot.com/2008/12/mission-statement.html

We're delighted to revive the tradition of the Georgetown Debate Institute this summer. Hundreds of students and instructors fondly recall their intense summers along the banks of the Potomac. Georgetown's commitment to pedagogy and proximity to the intellectual and cultural resources of the capital created a unique environment that shaped a generation of policy debaters. The opportunity to revisit that legacy both excites and humbles us.

June News from IDEA

Idebate festival in Zeeland
enjoyed by all!


On June 11th, the first Debate Festival in Zeeland , Netherlands , was organized by IDEA along with other local partners. There were about 120 participants between the ages of 13 and 20 years old. Local politicians, parents, teachers, school directors, and friends also visited the festival. With only five debate training sessions, the participants were able to express their opinions about several topics such as friendship, the internet, and aesthetic ideals.
The mentors for the debate were trained in September 2008 by the Youth Council, a professional school from Youth Work. The mentors then invited the youth to take part in debate trainings, which became so popular that there were even waiting lists. Unlike other debate programs in the Netherlands , IDEA’s target group is young people who often feel marginalized and have difficulty expressing themselves. Even though this target group found it very difficult to participate in public debate, the Debate Festival demonstrated how these young people successfully overcame their fears.
Visit our website for more information and pictures: http://workserver.idebate.org/idebatezeeland.


Youth Forum lesson plan competition announced!

This six week campaign aims to gather lesson plans from the coaches and teachers that focus on climate change or one of the other specific motions of the Youth Forum. We will evaluate the lesson plans every week and announce the winners through the Youth Forum Newsletter. The authors of the best lesson plans will be announced at the closing ceremony. Apart from public recognition, the winners will receive a book of their choice from Idebate press and their lesson plans will be published in the next Idebate Magazine!
For more information go to: http://www.idebate.org/ideaforum/node/36#attachments

YDLU takes its first step with training its future leaders



IDEA has partnered with the Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA) and OSIYouth Action Fund to develop the Youth Debate League in Uganda . The main mission of the YDLU is to promote debate and discussion among young people in Uganda . It will build upon existing debate structures, as well as develop new debate chapters across the country. YDLU will also serve as an umbrella for various debate initiatives in Uganda and will facilitate the organization of a number of activities such as debate tournaments, competitions, public debates, youth campaigns, trainings, and curriculum development. Because debate is considered to be part of Uganda ’s rich tradition, the YDLU is working to quickly develop its capacity in the country.

On June 16th – 19th, YDLU facilitated a seminar near Kampala for twenty-three teachers and youth leaders who were interested in becoming certified trainers so that they could help promote the program in their districts. These participants completed their first stage of training through IDEA’S certification process. The program focused on an introduction to the Karl Popper debate format, which will now be the uniform debate format for competitions in Uganda . It also included sessions on argumentation, judging, debate out-reach, and public debates. Future stages of the certification process will include prospective trainers' engagement in on-line instruction and exchange of experiences, follow-up face-to-face sessions and observation of classes/trainings conducted by trainers. IDEA is looking forward to continuing its work in Uganda and building on the success of its previous Ugandan programs (CTAC and DTD).


British School of Amsterdam hosts another wonderful debate

On June 19th, the British School of Amsterdam held its second annual workshop and public debate. The British parliamentary debate workshop was hosted by Arielle Dundess, and was co-hosted by Deborah Scroggins- coach of the British School of Amsterdam debate club, and Veronika Vlckova- IDEA representative. This year’s debate focused on a very hot topic in the Netherlands- “state funding should be banned from religious schools.” The winners were Casper and Tyjmen from Christelijk Lyceum Zeist, which is a school very active in public speaking activities and would be very excited to attend the national and international debate tournaments.


Oxfam-Novib employees taught new skills at IDEA workshop

On June 18th, IDEA was invited to hold a workshop for the employees of Oxfam-Novib about debate and how it could be used in the development of employee work and aid. IDEA representatives, Doutsen Langhout and Veronika Vlckova, organized different workshops that focused on counseling, dealing with emergency situations, and using a rights-based approach. The group of thirteen employees wanted to improve their debating skills, and learn how to make convincing arguments and presentations. At first, the participants thought debate and argumentation was easy. After trying it out themselves, they discovered that becoming a good debater requires much practice and preparation. IDEA and Oxfam-Novib will explore possibilities to work together on future projects as well.


Slots still available at the Climate Advocacy Institute

The International Debate Education Association (IDEA), 350.org and Bloomfield College are organizing a 3-week in-depth Climate Advocacy Institute that will equip students with the skills and connections needed to fight global climate change. The Institute will be held in Deçemko, a private resort on the Aegean coast of Turkey . This incredible opportunity is jam-packed with exciting extra-curricular trips to major historic sites, sports games and lots of fun after-hours activities. Here is a peak at what each track of interest has in store for participants:

• 350.org/ Morning Sessions
Coordinator/Instructor- Phil Aroneanu
Instructor- Farah Salka
Instructor- Wael Hmaidan
These morning sessions will help participants develop a better understanding of public narratives in advocacy, communicate about climate science, plan a campaign, and build organizational skills.

• Debate & Argumentation REGISTRATION CLOSED
Coordinator/Instructor- David Douglass, Ph.D.
Instructor- Alex Dukalskis
Coaching Debate Instructor- Sharon Porter
Curriculum Coming Soon!

• Journalism & New Media
Coordinator/Instructor-Marek Tuszynski
Media Instructor- John Towsen
Writing Instructor- Martha J. LaBare
Instructor- Michael Silberman
Photojournalism Instructor- Pasqual Gorriz
Photography Instructor-Nat Towsen
Teaching Assistant- Nick Silvestri
Teaching Assistant- Daniel Cody
This track will focus on how to frame your message and how to tell your story effectively using both digital and non-digital advocacy tools and tactics. Participants will be encouraged to explore various writing and storytelling skills as well as use online tools, still photography, video, camera, audio and mobile phones in organizing, mobilizing and raising awareness. Participants will also learn how to visualize information and how to asses their security and privacy vulnerabilities.

• Performance & Art Advocacy
Coordinator / Creative Writing Instructor- Kent Fielding
Visual Art Instructor- Bor Ceh
Dramatic Arts- Brandon Demery
Protest Poetry Instructor- Martha J. LaBare
Comedy Instructor- Nat Towsen
This track is designed to develop skills related to speaking, use of space, storytelling, comedic delivery (both verbal and physical), types of writing and types of visual art that reinforce performance and art advocacy. Workshops will focus on writing, comedic, acting and artistic skills improve how participants convey a message on the important issue of climate change.

• English as a Foreign Language-
Elizabeth Humphrey- Instructor
This track will involve students in many of the same activities as those in the main tracks, including debating, theatre games and research projects on climate change, but will move at a pace appropriate for English language learners. Focus will be on building comfort and purpose in speaking, writing and researching in English.

To apply now and learn more, visit the advocacy institute website.

Urban Debate League Summer News

This message was sent from Scott Deatherage:

Urban Debate NewsBlast
Summer 2009 Volume: IV, Number: 2

Letter from Executive Director, Scott Deatherage

Dear Friends of Urban Debate,

As the 2008-2009 debate season draws to a close, I am reflecting upon the tremendous year that all of our 100 new school debate programs have just completed. The success of these programs is a testament to the student debaters, coaches, school system administrators, educational leaders, league directors, Advisory Board members, and supporters like you who have made this year a reality. To witness the joys and growing-pains, the new experiences and new challenges that come with a first year of debate, and to support that happening at so many schools at once, is a sure sign that urban debate is going strong.

At the end of April, I was privileged to see your collective support manifest in the Chase Urban Debate National Championship and accompanying Annual Dinner. For those of you who could not join us, 76 debaters and nearly 60 of their coaches and administrators were on hand to compete, share knowledge, and celebrate urban debate with over 300 guests at the Annual Dinner. After six preliminary debate rounds plus four elimination rounds, the NAUDL would like to congratulate Halle Apy and Jeremiah Pickert from Walter Payton College Prep in Chicago for becoming the 2009 Chase Urban Debate National Champions. Additional congratulations go out t! o Cole Austin of Garfield High School in Seattle, who was the Top Speaker. Finally, congratulations to St. Louis urban debaters Lorrie Leong and Kayla Massey of Central Visual and Performing Arts High School who won the First Year Urban Debate League Breakout Division.

In addition to these amazing debates, participants visited the DuSable Museum of African American History and enjoyed the world-renowned Art Institute of Chicago. Debaters also attended a college and career information session and coaches and administrators attended professional development meetings.

In this issue of the NAUDL NewsBlast you will find updates about the recent successes of urban debate and about what's in store for the future. You'll read excerpts from Keynote David Boies' and Urban Debate Champion Gara LaMarche's Annual Dinner speeches, a profile of the Chase Nationals' Top Speaker from Seattle, and an update on UDL Summer Institutes. Additionally, read up on our budding collaboration with the National Forensic League and an exciting new partnership for an East Coast league. You'll also find that our Urban Debate in the News section is packed with press surrounding the tournament and Annual Dinner.

Finally, please help us bring more debate to more students. A call for applications for the NAUDL's Executives in Residence program outlines ways you and your firm can use your wealth of business and world experiences on a specific project with the NAUDL to benefit the students we serve.

As always, I can't thank you enough for your tremendous support, and I hope you can take a moment to reflect on what a year of growth and opportunity it has been for our urban debaters all across the country.

Scott Deatherage, Ph.D.

Executive Director
National Association for Urban Debate Leagues


David Boies and Gara LaMarche speak to the importance of urban debate

Concurrent with the 2009 Chase Urban Debate National Championship, the NAUDL hosted its second Annual Dinner on April 25. Over 300 supporters and guests joined the NAUDL at the historically reconstructed Stock Exchange Trading Room at the world-famous Art Institute of Chicago.

Guests met with urban debate students, teachers, and administrators at an Art Institute reception, followed by the National Championship Awards Ceremony.

The 2009 Keynote Address was delivered by none other than David Boies, founding partner and Chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP. Mr. Boies is a former high school and college debater and has taken part in many of the United States' most influential and noteworthy cases, including Vice President Al Gore's legal challenges of the 2000 Florida election returns before the United States and Florida Supreme Courts. Mr. Boies spoke about the importance of debate and communication in promoting democracy in a civil society. He reflects, "When you are in a debate, it doesn't make any difference where you come from, what your educational level is, how much money you or your parents have, the color of your skin, your ethnic background - none of that makes any difference. ! All that makes a difference is the soundness of your arguments and your ability to articulate them in a persuasive, critical, credible way."

He also shared about the value of his debate experience to his professional work. "I was a different student, by and large, dyslexic, and reading was not easy for me-it still isn't easy for me, which is one reason why I speak without notes. I was a mediocre athlete, and what debate gave me was a chance to excel. And that chance to excel, in addition to teaching communication, in addition to teaching critical thinking, in addition to giving confidence, in addition to opening up additional opportunities, gave me the opportunity to understand that I could excel and, on a level playing field, I could compete with anyone."

Without a doubt, it was a message that is echoed in lives of former and current debaters across the country.

Following the Keynote Address, the NAUDL honored as the 2009 Urban Debate Champions Mr. Gara LaMarche and the Open Society Institute, whose original vision for debate in underserved high schools provides the template for the NAUDL's work today. As Vice President and Director of U.S. Programs for the Open Society Institute (OSI) from 1996 to 2007, Mr. LaMarche played a major role in creating the Urban Debate Network. OSI's original Urban Debate Program, launched in 1997 under the direction of Mr. LaMarche, brought policy debate to traditionally underserved high schools.

Mr. LaMarche is currently President and CEO of the Atlantic Philanthropies. In accepting the Urban Debate Champion award, he shared his own experience with debate and his original vision for the creation of the Urban Debate Network. "I thought about fostering debate programs back in 1996 because I connected two things. One was our country's neglect of poor kids in struggling schools. Young people of color were not being given the chances that every one of us deserves, and they were being stereotyped and consigned to high schools that were, for many, a final step on the conveyer belt to the criminal justice system. That had to change. We had to move from a deficit to an asset model, to see the promise and potential, and give it the tools to fly. The other was my own experience. . . . I'd like the young people whose lives are changed so much by urban debate to know that this life-the wonderful life that I have-was not fore-ordained by birth, or wealth, or privilege. It came because of opportunity, because I was able to make most of the opportunities through energy, discipline and hard work." Mr. LaMarche's speech inspired the audience and reminded us all of what brings us to this work.


Top Speaker at Chase Nationals found his voice through debate

Cole Austin, who was recently honored with the Top Speaker Award at the Chase Urban Debate National Championship, always felt as though he was not being heard . . . until he discovered debate. In 7th grade, Mr. Austin took the advice of his academic advisor at Garfield High School in Seattle and enrolled in a debate class, and he has never looked back.

Now, a graduating senior, Mr. Austin can reminisce about his years of debate and reflect on all that the activity has taught him. Mr. Austin remembers reaching a turning point in 9th grade, when a number of debates concerned racial profiling. The topic was intimately related to his life, as it was something he encountered on a daily basis. Through debate, he was given the opportunity to talk about the issue in a deep and meaningful way. Not only was he free to discuss his own personal experience, but he was also able to present solutions and spar with competitors over how the problem could best be addressed. Mr. Austin was hooked.

Read More >>


NAUDL and NFL forge historic pact

In an exciting turn of events, the NAUDL has recently launched a partnership with the National Forensic League (NFL), the nation's largest and oldest debate and speech honor society. The partnership was officially announced and launched on April 23rd, coinciding with the first day of the 2009 Chase Urban Debate National Championship. Both the NAUDL and NFL are looking forward to a relationship that broadens the scope of each organization and brings more resources to urban debaters across the country.

As part of the new collaboration, all NAUDL affiliated schools and programs will receive free membership in the NFL in the upcoming year. With membership in the NFL comes a number of benefits to the participating school including: 1) honor society status and national merit for forensic achievements, 2) training and resources for debate educators and students, 3) access to Rostrum, the NFL's published monthly magazine, 4) mentoring relationships, 5) a number of debate programs offered throughout the year, and 6) NFL alumni status after graduation.

Read More >>


UDL students across the country embark on a summer of debate

While many high schoolers spend their summer days hanging out with friends, a growing number of urban debaters are hard at work in the classroom. UDL Summer Institutes bring together a group of urban debaters and talented and experienced instructors in order to become familiar with the new topic, cover the fundamentals of debate, do drills, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various arguments. This preparation gets students excited for the coming year and puts them on the right track for academic success. This year, urban debaters will begin focusing on the 2009/10 national high school debate topic, Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase social services for persons living in poverty in the United States.

Strong summer institutes can be found in Urban Debate Leagues across the country. From Los Angeles to Boston, from Oakland to Houston, students are going to be enjoying new and expanded opportunities for summer learning. Although many local UDLs have created their own debate institutes, some partner with universities such as Augsburg College, Berkeley, Brown, Emory, Towson, the University of Denver, the University of Houston, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the University of Southern California, and Wayne State University.

Read More >>


Social Venture Partners Boston Embraces the Boston Debate League

Social Venture Partners Boston (SVP Boston), a philanthropic venture fund that provides capacity building assistance to nonprofit organizations in the greater Boston area, has awarded a $30,000 grant to the Boston Debate League. The capacity-building grant is further leveraged by the commitment to provide volunteer expertise, which is essential to SVP Boston's approach and will help the Boston Debate League develop its infrastructure, constituency, marketing, and outcomes measurement processes.

The mission of the Boston Debate League (BDL) is to help the Boston Public Schools (BPS) build a culture of academic and intellectual excellence by extending the social and academic benefits of debate to as many Boston Public Schools students as possible. Since its inception, the BDL has grown from a small, volunteer-driven organization to a successful education initiative embraced by senior BPS leadership, including the Superintendent and the Boston School Committee. Thanks to a significant investment from Boston Public Schools, the BDL has expanded to eight high schools and, in the last year alone, tripled the number of participating students.

"SVP Boston selected Boston Debate League because it offers an innovative and proven approach to addressing some of Boston's most pressing educational concerns. Its focus is strongly aligned with the goals of SVP Boston and its staff and board have demonstrated a strong commitment to ambitious growth and development," says Marjorie Ringrose, Executive Director of SVP Boston. "SVP Partners bring skills that will bolster the organizational strengths of the Boston Debate League."

Read More >>


Executives in Residence - call for applications

Inspired by the Serve America Act: A Legislative Initiative to Expand and Improve Domestic and International Service Opportunities for All Americans, the NAUDL is issuing a call for applications for a newly launched Executives in Residence Fellowship. Specifically, the NAUDL seeks candidates (individuals or firms) who are passionate about the urban debate mission and are interested in dedicating their efforts (full-time or part-time) over the coming year to expand and improve the Urban Debate Network. Fellows will work either for the national office or at one of the Urban Debate Leagues across the country. Professionals with experience in marketing, accounting, public relations, sales, finance, business planning and growth strategy, human resources, information technology, philanthropic fundraising, ! project management, knowledge management, website design, performance measurement and assessment, database management, estate/financial planning and wealth management, and/or debate/argumentation curriculum and instruction are invited to apply. Please contact Eric Tucker at EricTucker@urbandebate.org.


Help spread debate. Send former debaters our way!

This summer, the NAUDL is launching its Refer a Friend campaign. The NAUDL works towards the day that all urban students have access to the life trajectory changing benefits of debate. We pursue this mission by partnering with former debaters who are now business executives, lawyers, philanthropists, and educators. Former debaters know first-hand the difference that competitive debate can make in a student's life. When this group makes a phone call to local school leaders or lends a hand at tournaments, it helps give many urban students access to this activity. As we get set to bring more high schools around the country into the Urban Debate Network, we would love to connect with your former teammates, rivals, college friends, or others in your life for whom participating in debate was a formative experience. Please take a moment to write down a few names and e-mail addresses and send them to Eric Tucker, the Deputy Director of the NAUDL at EricTucker@urbandebate.org or call 312-427-0152.


Urban Debate is frequently the subject of coverage in media outlets. Examples of some of the most recent coverage celebrating the successes of urban debate include:

* More than idle talk: Debate team skills put students on a special stage - Chicago Tribune
* Reaching 4 Excellence: Champion Debaters Are the Talk of the Town - My Fox News - Kansas City
* Hub debaters to vie for national crown - The Bay State Banner
* St. Louis Public Schools students participate in national debate championships - 90.7 KWMU, an NPR affiliate
* Reagan Debate Team Headed to National Championship - Houston Style Magazine
* Whitehaven debate team gives students confidence to speak up - Memphis Commercial Appeal
* Winning debate at St. Louis Public Schools - StLToday.com
* Essex County Vocational Technical student shows talent at debate tournaments - NJ.com - Newark Live
* 2 SLPS Debate Teams Bring Home National Victories - St. Louis Public Schools
* When argument becomes debate: South Ender Frezzella Cullinane takes her team to the podium - MySouthEnd.com
* In-house attorney supports program to help urban teens build skills through debate. - Inside Counsel
* Holland & Knight Proud to be a Sponsor of Second Annual Chase Urban Debate National Championship and Annual Dinner in Chicago - Holland & Knight
* DLA Piper partners with National Association for Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL) to host Second Annual Chase Urban Debate National Championship and Annual Dinner in Chicago - DLA Piper
* Andrews Kurth Sponsors Inaugural City Championship Debate Tournament - NewsGuide.us

The National Association for Urban Debate Leagues, 332 South Michigan Avenue, Suite #500, Chicago, Il 60604. You can modify/update your subscription via the link below.

Live Webcast of Finals from NFL Nationals Today

You can see the best high school speakers and debaters live on your computer. On Friday 19 June 2009 there will be a live webcast of a number of events from the National Forensic League's national speech and debate championship tournament from the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Concert Hall in Birmingham, Alabama. The NFL Nationals is the largest speech and debate tournament in the world, with well over 5000 people attending. Competition will last all week leading up to Friday. The webcast can be viewed at http://www.uvm.edu/debate_theater/

You can also watch directly from QuickTime, which in some cases may work better.

Open QuickTime Player (latest version)
Choose Open URL from the File menu
Enter this URL: rtsp://quicktime.uvm.edu:1554/debate_theater

Here are the times. All times are USA Central.

8 AM Original Oratory Finals

9:30 AM USA Extemporaneous Speaking Finals

11 AM International Extemporaneous Speaking Finals

12:30 PM Policy Debate Finals

2:30 PM Public Forum Debate Finals

3:30 PM Lincoln Douglas Debate Finals

5 PM Awards Program

The webcast is sponsored by Debate Central, the World Debate Institute and the University of Vermont. Special thanks to the NFL for providing technical support, a three-camera shoot and fantastic events.

Wednesday at NFL Nationals

I am late and overburdened, more news later today, but here is an interesting news story.

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/06/forensic_league_debate_tournam.html

Will Drevo, front, a student at Crete High School in Crete, Neb., plans his speech in the research room at the 2009 National Forensic League National Speech and Debate Tournament. The event has drawn 3,500 students from across the nation to the Birmingham area this week.

In the stuffy gym of Oak Mountain High School, you've been called forward by the officials.

You blindly pick out three questions from a tray of pa­per strips, and you get these:

• Have YouTube and Twitter become the new American culture?

• Will the Kennedy Serve America Act rejuvenate volunteerism?

• Is the liberal media a myth or a reality?

Choose one. Now you have 30 minutes to research, prepare and memorize a seven-minute speech.

Oh, and then you'll have to walk into a classroom and give the speech -- without notes or any other help.

Competitors at the United States Extemporaneous Speaking national competi­tion faced this challenge not once, but three times on Monday, as part of the week-long National Foren­sic League's national speech and debate tournament which has drawn 3,500 stu­dents to the metro area.

"It's nerve-wracking," said Emma McIntyre, a 15-year-old rising junior at Central High School in Springfield, Mo. "Here I compare myself to all 50 states."

Each extemporaneous speaker kept several plastic tubs in the gym that were filled with newspaper clip­pings they collected during statewide competitions last winter and spring. The stu­dents looked at files if they needed to refresh their memories. But the 30 min­ute clock was ticking and most began to practice their speeches.

Some stood next to their file boxes, their mouths moving without sound or in quiet drones.

Many began to walk around the gym -- lines of solitary boys in dark suits and ties, solitary girls in pant suits or business skirts and blouses -- walking, muttering, gesturing, talk­ing, their eyes in a 1,000-yard stare. Time was running down.

"It's a nervous habit," said Bob Jones of Canby, Ore., one of the tournament officials. "They're going over their speeches in their heads.

At 30 minutes, they were told to head to the class­room where they would give the talk.

Waiting to be called in, they occupied the hallways, continuing to speak into no­thingness -- some pacing, some standing and staring at a locker, most gesturing with one hand, some mak­ing their points with two.

At 4 p.m., they reached their third speech of the day, and the hallways took on the feeling of "Night of the Living Dead." Today they face another three speeches.

"The first two days are brutal," said Jones, who taught public speaking and debate for 30 years before his retirement from Canby High School. "But these kids are the sharpest kids in America."

Foundation for future
Jones said that extempo­raneous speaking is the most intense event of the national tournament, but it's a foundation for the rest of their lives.

"This is a forerunner of a political career for many students," he said. "They'll make lifelong friends, both from their own teams and from competitors.

"And they grow in confi­dence," he added. "They'll come out of here feeling they can take on the world -- and they probably can."

Many of the students pile the speech competition on top of other school activi­ties.

"You'd be surprised," Jones said. "They'll be involved in all kinds of things. One of my stars (at Canby High) was a star foot­ball player also."

McIntyre said she sings first soprano in her school choir. One of her team­mates, Matt Bateson, is a midfielder on the soccer team.

After his third speech Monday, Thomas Andrews, 17, stood and talked in the hallway.

"Are you tired?" someone asked.

"Do you have a cot?" he said. "Do you have a fridge?"

Outside in the parking lot were cars from at least 18 states, including New Jersey, California, Wisconsin, Texas, South Dakota and Il­linois.

Andrews' teammate, For­rest Brown, 17, was asked what the students get out of extemporaneous speech competition.

"We develop a confidence in public speaking," he said. "We develop an ability to analyze. We develop critical thinking skills."

It was well said, and he probably could of gone on for another 6 minutes and 30 seconds.

Registration Update for Koc Worlds

From the tournament:

Hello from Turkey!



We are writing with some final details concerning the registration process for Worlds which commences next week. Please read this carefully as we hope we have been as clear as possible. If you have any outstanding queries regarding registration, you can contact Hasan Sadik Arik at h.s.arik@kocworlds.com.



Exact day and time



The first stage of registration for the Vehbi Koc Worlds 2010 begins on 22nd June 2009 (this coming Monday). Registration will be on a first-come, first serve basis so you should note the exact time at which registration starts. We will turn on the system at 9am Turkish time (GMT + 3). For your ease, this means the time will be as follows in some cities around the world (though we advise strongly that you re-check this time as we cannot be held responsible if we have got this wrong!):



San Francisco - 23:00pm (21st June 2009)

Ottawa – 02:00am

New York – 02:00am

Dublin – 07:00am

London – 07:00am

Paris – 08:00am

Berlin – 08:00am

Gabarone - 08:00am

Baghdad – 09:00am

Moscow – 10:00am

Mumbai – 11:30am

Dhaka – 12:00pm

Bangkok – 13:00pm

Beijing – 14:00pm

Tokyo – 15:00pm

Sydney – 16:00pm



What you need to do in order to register



At 9am Turkish time on the 22nd June 2009, you can access the registration page by clicking the REGISTER NOW link at www.kocworlds2010.com. This will redirect you to our registration page. You will only have registered when you enter your details and then press the Register button. Please ensure that your details are correct, particularly your e-mail address – if you write this wrongly, we cannot send you a confirmation mail and you will face a very stressful couple of days. The details required at this stage are as follows:



Institution Name, Country, City, Representative Name, Representative Status (is the person who is filling in the form a debater, adjudicator or not attending Worlds), Phone Work/Home, Phone Mobile, E-mail, No. of teams, No. of Adjudicators, Password (that you choose)



Please, please only register as many teams and judges as you plan to send! We will be merciless in our adherence to the pre-payment system and will delete teams who do not pay their pre-payment as described in our previous mail and on our website (www.kocworlds2010.com). To make it clear, if you register 3 teams and 2 judges and pay only 500 EUR in pre-payment, we will only accept this as payment for 2 teams and 1 judge. If you send an amount that does not correspond to n-1 (i.e. you send 400 EUR), we will take this to mean 1 team and 1 judge and you will not receive your 100 EUR back.



We want to reiterate two important facts about the pre-payment system: 1) Once you pay the pre-payment, it absolutely non-refundable. We instigated this approach because last year, teams registered and then disappeared for months meaning that the teams that eventually took their slots had to pay exorbitant air-fares. 2) You cannot pay 800 EUR for three teams and two judges in the Second Phase, then reduce your contingent to five people and expect the 300 EUR back or to top up your outstanding balance. Please only register and then pre-pay for teams that you will actually send.



Our policy for nations with notoriously slow internet-access



We have put in place a policy this year that protects the international nature of the tournament and ensures that institutions from nations with slow internet access are not automatically stripped of the opportunity to compete at Worlds. We have set aside 24 team slots for the nations listed below and institutions from these nations will compete with one another for places at Worlds. If institutions from these nations register in the first 300 teams, this will not affect the 24 team slots – these are independent of the 300 team slots that are purely first-come, first serve. The nations we have listed are below but if you believe your nation should be included, please get in touch with h.s.arik@kocworlds2010.com before Sunday 21st June 2009:



China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, all of the African continent (except for South Africa), all of the South American continent, all of the Middle East (except Qatar and UAE).



We want to reiterate that this does not mean that only 24 teams can come from the above mentioned countries and regions. We are saying that in addition to any teams from these countries and regions who register in the first 300 team slots, we will also put aside 24 places for the next teams from these countries and regions.



One final note: you will have noticed that we have mentioned 300 teams which are purely first-come, first serve and 24 teams set aside for nations with slow internet access. The remaining 36 team slots are set aside to ensure that every nation that went to Worlds last year can go this year. These 36 slots will be held until the end of the first registration phase and if untaken will then be given to teams on the waiting list.



Our n-1 and adjudication registration policy



If you register with 3 teams, you are constitutionally required to send 2 judges. If you send 2 teams, you are constitutionally required to send 1 judge. If you send 1 team, you are allowed but not constitutionally required to send 1 judge. If you wish to send more judges than your n-1 allocation, you should get in contact with Can Okar at c.okar@kocworlds2010.com. He will then speak with the regional DCA and a decision will be made as to whether we can accommodate your request for extra judges.



Some institutions have stated that they wish to send less than the number of judges stipulated by the Worlds Constitution (i.e. less than n-1) either because air-fare is very expensive or because they do not feel they have sufficiently qualified adjudicators. In this situation, we will expect you to pay the full registration as required by the Constitution (i.e. if you want to send 3 teams, you will be expected to pay for 8 people) but you must get permission from the adjudication team first. At the first stage of registration, you should enter 3 teams and 2 judges or 2 teams and 1 judge but you will need to contact Can Okar as soon as possible to let us know that you won’t actually be sending a judge. We will then use the registration fee you pay to subsidise an independent adjudicator to take the place of the judge that you should have sent. This policy has been discussed with representatives of the Worlds Council Executive and we believe that it is the most effective way of ensuring that we get the right balance of serving the interests of teams that want to compete at Worlds without undermining the quality of the adjudication pool.



If you are planning to register as an independent adjudicator, you can do this on the first day of registration. However, you must contact a member of the adjudication team first so that we can ensure that you are sufficiently qualified. We are able to offer limited subsidies to independent adjudicators who show financial need so please do get in touch with us as soon as possible.



Observers may also register from 22nd June onwards but must contact Hasan at h.s.arik@kocworlds2010.com and take a look at our website for further details.



Communication



We realize that you may need to get in touch with us on the day of registration. We have set up two Skype accounts for which you can add us from tomorrow onwards. These accounts will be live from 8am Turkish time on the 22nd June 2009 through to 5pm Turkish time on the 22nd June 2009. These accounts are kocworldshotline1 and kocworldshotline2.



You can also call us that day on +90 212 338 19 26. Before then, you can e-mail us at h.s.arik@kocworlds2010.com. We would be much obliged if you could try to limit your queries on this day and in the immediate following two days to issues surrounding Phase 1. Once we have ensured that the Phase has been completed, we will gladly entertain questions regarding payment.



That is a lot of information for you to digest but we hope that it is clear. Let us reiterate, if there are any areas of confusion, please do get in touch with any questions or concerns. We have tried to set up a registration that is fair for all involved, transparent and in the spirit of our guiding Constitution. We also believe that it is in the interests of both individual institutions and the tournament as a whole from the perspectives of international involvement and strength of the adjudication pool.



The 22nd awaits. We are ready – we hope you are too.



With our warmest regards,



Fatih Mehmet Inal and Suleyman Onay

Co-Convenors, Koc Worlds 2010



Hasan Sadik Arik

Registration Officer, Koc Worlds 2010



Can Okar

Chief Adjudicator, Koc Worlds 2010

Tuesday at NFL Nationals in Alabama

The extemp speaking preparation room is an amazing scene

I thought that I would walk a lot less on Tuesday, but at the end of the day my pedometer said 6.5 miles.

Smoother start
People were more familiar with the sites of the competition, so it was easier for people to find rooms and arrive on time. Maps were not as important as they were, but it was still an issue so we just posted a few of them. One judge asked me where the gymnasium was and I referred her to the map. She told me that she had been unable to find the gym on the map. My thought was that if she could not find the huge gym on the map then perhaps she should not be judging at all, but we helped her find it. Some very disoriented people were helped by our volunteers to find where they were going.

Judge replacement continues
The high rate of judge replacement continued, but the judges who were assigned to the replacement pools showed up with amazing dependability. At Spain Park High School where I am there were NO no-shows in any of the replacement pools all day, so it was easy to replace the judges. At other sites, such as Oak Mountain High School, even this was not enough as one round there were so many replacements that all judges in the replacement pool were assigned.

Advancing after round six
The first six rounds are pre-paired randomly. After round six on Tuesday morning the scores were substituted. In individual events a top certain number advanced, while in debate those who had received a given number of ballots (8 out of 12) advanced. Public forum debate, for example, advanced 81 teams to this next level. In debate they start with new scores, but are eliminated after their second loss, so from now on its it two losses and out until the finals. This means that it is not clear how many rounds will be needed to get down to just two for the finals. In Lincoln Douglas debate a total of four students did not show up to their first debate in round 7. Those advancing are announced in an interesting ceremony, as the tab rooms make huge posters with the codes of the advancing students and then unroll them in one spot all at once to a gasping and screaming crowd. In previous years this has been a problem as the crowd has made it difficult to hang the huge posters up safely. This was solved this year by telling the students the unrolling would take place in the cafeteria and then actually hanging them in the gymnasium. It worked out well and the gasps were dramatic.

Touring the sites
Things at my site were running smoothly, so I did my usual and toured the various sites as I distributed the lists of those advancing to the various ombudsmen at the different sites. It was a hot day here but it was good to get out of the same school. The GPS in the rental car really came in handy, except for finding Briarwood School as I found that there are three of them in the area and I ended up going to one of the wrong ones. All of our sites are very beautiful schools, two of them quite huge and the other two being much smaller. The other sites is the Sheraton complex where student congress is taking place. At each site things seemed to be going well.

Software glitches
Dr. Rich Edwards of Baylor University has done a great job designing the most complex tabulation software program in the world for this event, and he regularly recodes and adjusts it as time goes on. There were some glitches, but he managed to correct the errors. Certain forms were not being printed properly and one incident of pairing two rounds at once or one round at a time surfaced, but he swooped in and fixed it. He puts a lot of pressure on himself to be perfect, which is understandable but seems a bit harsh to me, given the complexity of his task. The bottom line is that he always makes it work. I salute him. He is an amazing figure in global debate and speech.

Huge party
After the competitions on Tuesday there is a huge party held for those attending. With free food and entertainment, it is a great way for people to have some fun and to blow off steam. I did not go but the report was that it was a great event once again, with dancing, games, stage shows and more.

Reregistration for supplemental and consolation events
Students who are eliminated are invited to enter supplemental and consolation events that I listed previously. They have registered for them before the tournament starts, but they reregister at the party. A troop of tired tournament officials including a number from my team are there to handle this and to make sure that the entries are in the computer for the competition in these events that begins Wednesday. Even those eliminated in Wednesday can enter these events after they are out in their main entry. More on this process in my Wednesday report.

Things are going well and I am pleased even though my feet still hurt.

Monday at NFL Nationals in Alabama

Monday morning the competition began at 9 AM for thousands of people at the National Forensic League national tournament. But, they almost all got there early and were ready to go, but with any event this big there are issues. Always issues. As the director of tournament operations I am involved in most of them.

Round One Madness
Round one is always kind of crazy. People are at a school they have never been to, going to places they are unfamiliar with and at the same time people are terrified that they might miss their round. The result is a stampede of people who want to know "where is the Choral Storage Room" and such questions. We handed out a huge number of maps of the school I was at (Spain Park High School and Berry Middle School, both beautiful schools) and just kept directing people. Some people had lost their badges, others their schedules and a few were just arriving for the tournament and needed to register. Because of the incredible size of the event we are using every room in the complex (and it is a big complex) and some of them were a bit hard to find. As usual, some rooms were put on the "do not use" list AFTER we had scheduled events there, and those stories are always interesting. One room had construction that began on Saturday that we did not know about, another was being used for a program for mentally challenged youth (who might turn violent if exposed to loud voices...talk about the wrong place to be!), while there is always a classroom that some teacher will veto our use of at the last moment. Sometimes judges are concerned with some of the rooms, like the one with 40 electronic keyboards in it or the one with a stack of laptops in the corner. We got the rooms straightened out with the help of our logistics people (Tyler Bilman was helping me, along with our local host Oliver Parker) and got people on their way. Panicked parents who had gone to the wrong site arrived a bit late. But, we got it done and things started. Typical round one madness, and it happens every year.

How it Works
There is a separate tab room for each event located at the school where the event is taking place. The committee working on that tab room makes sure that each of the rounds starts and reports in about no-shows and missing judges. Missing judges are replaced. There are six pre-set preliminary rounds in all events that have been scheduled by computer so that there are no two students from the same state in any given section and judges not from a state of any of the contestants. After six prelim rounds a certain number advance to the next level (that happens Tuesday) and then the field keeps dropping until the various final rounds later in the week. Students who have been eliminated are allowed to enter into a number of supplemental and consolation events that also create national championships. I keep track of each round at every site and then when all of them have started I report top Scott Wunn, the executive director, about it and at what time they all started. This allows us to chart which events are on schedule and which are not.

Judge Replacement
When a judge does not show up (and when you have two judges in each of 100+ debates, for example, it does happen. The tab room coordinators then report to the judge pool room about which judge has not shown up for which section. Judges have been assigned to the judge pool room (at Spain Park in their theater), where members of our staff are located with a computer set up. They then find a judge in the pool room and send them to the round where they fit. We try to have more judges in the pool room than we need. This can be a pressure situation because you have to get it right and it has to be done quickly. When all of the rounds at that site have started, then the pool judges are released.

Hospitality
The host committee usually takes good care of everyone. The cafeteria usually serves a nice lunch, there is a judge hospitality room ("I have never seen people drink so much coffee," said one parent who was helping in the judge hospitality room) and lunch and snacks are provided for the various tab rooms. There was a nice hospitality set up this time, with delicious barbecue provided for lunch along with vegetarian option. I love barbecue.

Committees
There are a lot of committees meeting during this week. They are excused from judging and work on specific projects, like wording topics for next year, reevaluating events and preparing coach training programs for the future. They are pulled out of the judge pool and I always have to find rooms for them to meet in at the last moment.

Unusual Events

• There always are some, and here are the ones from this Monday:
• An alarm went off at Oak Mountain High School and everyone started to evacuate the building before the principal came on the intercom and informed people that it was an accident and they could go back to their contest rooms. No major disruption, but a panic moment for organizers like myself.
• A student with a serious nut allergy found some delicious cookies that contained, you guessed it, nut and there was a challenging medical moment but he received care and then later in the day seemed to be a lot better.
• One judge pool room ran out of judges and had to round some up from hallways but that got done with the help and expertise of Steve Davis, our judge coordinator at that site.
• Two students were disqualified after complaints and hearings by the ombudsmen on site for such things. Not sure of the details, but with 3500 contestants stuff happens.
• One debate team did not know that they bare not allowed to use laptops during the debate and had to improvise their first speech.
• With 150+ people in tab rooms there are various personal dramas, but those are better left untold.

We are all still wearing our pedometers. On Monday I walked 7.2 miles and at the end of the day my feet felt like it.

More tomorrow.

USA Debate Tour of Japan Continues

Follow Steve Llano's blog about the events of the tour at http://progymna.blogspot.com/

Here is a recent posting.

Tokai University

Our debate against Tokai University was very good, and it was one of the few in a pure parliamentary style. The motion was to ban the ownership of cellphones by minors in Japan. The debaters were very skilled, one being from Taiwan and able to speak several languages, and the other a very brilliant law student who had quite a nice WUDC style to his speech. The speech times were shortened, so there was not a lot of time for vigorous POIs, but that was ok as the arguments were of high quality. It was a very good debate and I think thee students who were watching learned a good deal about the format and the issue.

Parliamentary debate, it was explained to me, is growing in popularity, but it is not a part of JDA (The Japanese Debate Association). Since it is purely up to students to arrange practice, team logistics, and tournaments, the growth of parliamentary debate in Japan does not match its popularity. I was happy to see points of information and more typical parliamentary structure in the debate.

Tokai University debate is under the direction of one of the most dedicated, organized and on-top-of-it guys I know - Isao Ayabe. He is amazing. Not only does he happily teach more classes than anyone I know, he also works long hours trying to promote debate in Japan. He hosts club meetings, and other events (tonight we are going to his Toastmaster's event to help teach debate there) and travels quite a bit doing the hard work of debate promotion. He is always happy, never tired, and is always genuinely glad to discuss debate with anyone. He's pictured above on the right, two down from where I am (I'm the blonde in case you don't know).

Tokai took us out to a fantastic Japanese dinner with wonderful drinks. One or two of the students chatted with me about the U.S., including one student who wanted to know all about jazz bars, what they are like, who goes to them, and how many they are. He thought they sounded "romantic" and wanted to go.

It was a great night, followed by a too early flight to Fukoka. So yes, I'm posting out of order. Oops!

Registration Day at NFL Nationals

Today GLOBAL DEBATE presents the first of our daily reports from the largest academic competition in the world, and the largest speech and debate tournament in the world, the National Forensic League's national high school speech and debate championship, being held all this week in Birmingham, Alabama.

These reports are being written by Alfred "Tuna" Snider, a career debate coach but also the Director of Tournament Operations here in Birmingham. Of course, I might be a bit biased in what I say and report.

Today was registration day. Everyone registered, tab rooms meet, there was a reception for new coaches, a luncheon for district chairpersons, a huge expo of speech and debate products and services, and opening ceremonies.

Usually there is a huge crush at the beginning but this time things seemed to be a bit more understated as people arrived in bunches, but by 2 PM most of the registration was done. There were some lines, but not too bad. NFL has some gifts for everyone, including a lovely (and very thick tournament book) as well as a nice smaller tablet with the tournament logo on it. It is nice that they give a different item each year so that you get some variety. There was also a SWAG bag from the host committee ("stuff we all get") that had a lot of local information and even some candy!

The tab rooms met (there are many different speech events like original oratory, dramatic interpretation, humorous interpretation, international extemporaneous speaking, US extemporaneous speaking and duo interpretation; as well as debate events like policy debate, public forum debate and Lincoln-Douglas debate; Student Congress in a senate and a house format; and supplemental and consolation events like expository speaking, storytelling, impromptu speaking, commentary, prose interpretation and poetry interpretation) and I had a chance to talk to them about procedures during the tournament. NFL executive secretary Scott Wunn urged them to work towards a "perfect tournament" which he characterized as being one that emphasized confidentiality (no leaking of results), courtesy (to all, no matter how mean they are to you) and conciseness (get it done efficiently and fairly). They are a great group and I am inspired by them. As a university speech and debate person many of my colleagues look down on high school coaches, but in the seven years I have been the director of operations for this tournament I have learned to respect and admire them for the great job they do for America's young people.

Seventeen national championships will be awarded at this tournament over the period of one week. Wow, that is a lot of talking heads.

At the new coach reception people got pie and were talked to by Wunn and others about what the NFL means and how they can become more involved. At the district chair meeting (the nation is divided up into about 100 "districts") Wunn urged them to come to the chairs retreat later in the summer to discuss the future of the league. Sponsors talked to both groups about how to work with them an d raise money. Sarah Marshala from the Bickel and Brewer Foundation also talked to them about participating in the International Public Policy Forum debate contest next year. NFL President Billy Tate made sure that the luncheon was fabulous, of course, in a very southern style.

As the major tournament administrator, my co-workers and I are on the watch for problems and difficulties. We noticed that an unusually high number of judges had dropped out as well as being removed for committee and tab room duties, but we think we have enough to run all of the events. We have a flexible taxi squad of emergency judges and we know where and when we are going to need them. This is all possible because of the fabulous work of Rich Edwards of Baylor University who has computerized the entire tournament and every event, so we can assess our needs and resources at the push of a button.

The opening ceremonies are going on now, but I am back in the hotel recovering from a rough day. Every tournament official has been assigned a pedometer so we can keep track of how far we walk during the tournament. I was only good for about three miles today, tromping around the Sheraton and the convention center. More on how many miles the 150 tournament officials walk in later postings.

Tomorrow we kick off at 9 AM, but most of us will be there way before that, to scout out the facilities at the five different school complexes where the contests will take place. I will report again after Monday is over.

USA Policy Debate Topic Choices for 2009-10

Image via Wikipedia

From Kevin Kuswa:

Resolution 1:
Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially change its nuclear posture to be more consistent with its nuclear disarmament commitments.

Resolution 2:

Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially reduce the size of its nuclear weapons arsenal, and/or substantially reduce and restrict the role and/or missions of its nuclear weapons arsenal.

Resolution 3:

Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially change its nuclear posture in one or more of the following ways:

* Ratification and implementation of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
* Adoption of a nuclear declaratory policy substantially reducing and restricting the use of its nuclear weapons
* A substantial reduction in the size of its nuclear weapons arsenal
* Negotiation and implementation of a bilateral agreement with Russia that at least includes a substantial reduction in nuclear weapons
*A substantial decrease in the operational readiness of its nuclear weapons.

Webcast from National Forensic League Nationals on 19 June

You can see the best high school speakers and debaters live on your computer.

On Friday 19 June 2009 there will be a live webcast of a number of events from the National Forensic League's national speech and debate championship tournament from the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Concert Hall in Birmingham, Alabama.

The NFL Nationals is the largest speech and debate tournament in the world, with well over 5000 people attending. Competition will last all week leading up to Friday.

The webcast can be viewed at http://www.uvm.edu/debate_theater/

Here are the times. All times are USA Central.

8 AM
Original Oratory Finals

9:30 AM
USA Extemporaneous Speaking Finals

11 AM
International Extemporaneous Speaking Finals

12:30 PM
Policy Debate Finals

2:30 PM
Public Forum Debate Finals

3:30 PM
Lincoln Douglas Debate Finals

5 PM
Awards Program

The webcast is sponsored by Debate Central, the World Debate Institute and the University of Vermont. Special thanks to the NFL for providing technical support, a three-camera shoot and fantastic events.

News from IDEA June 2009

From cphillip@idebate.org

Youth Leadership Program
with Bosnia and Herzegovina concludes, Big IDEA returns

Salem, ORE. USA (IDEA-Willamette office) — During the month of April, 18 high school students and three teachers from Bosnia and Herzegovina journeyed here to experience American democracy and citizenship. Through debate, stays with American families, participation in community service projects, interactions with American high school students and immersion in courses, these students and teachers gained the tools for creating positive change in their home country.
By the time they landed in Oregon they were great friends, after having met at a five-day pre-departure orientation in Sarajevo, and keeping in touch through Facebook.
They began their stay by visiting local museums and landmarks. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry was a favorite for its Leonardo DaVinci exhibit and experiential OmniMax Theater.

Participants then immersed themselves in American life by staying with local families, who exposed them to Oregon’s abundant beauty, the rewards of having house-pets, spicier foods, even the American shopping experience.

Of course, they were all here to learn; soon they were studying American activism and democracy by pitching in at various service organizations, sitting in on an Oregon Supreme Court hearing, and attending interactive classes.

Debate is essential to change. The students learned to debate, and then competed with local high school students from Willamette University's college access program, Willamette Academy. Finally, the participants’ stay in Salem culminated in a championship debate adjudicated by judges from the Oregon Court of Appeals.
The next morning it was off to Washington, DC, for more museums and national landmarks. Everyone was tired, but reluctant to complain.
Before they knew it, their month-long journey had come to an end. IDEA-Willamette staff have since corresponded with the group, and they report culture shock. But if their Facebook pages are any indication, they'll help each other process the incredible experience!

This U.S. Department of State program was quite an experience for the IDEA-Willamette office as well; we learned a great deal from our 18 young leaders and three teachers. We also learned that it’s nearly impossible to put out an e-newsletter while administering such an intensive program. We miss our participants, and have missed The Big IDEA. Welcome back!
Read more about the Youth Leadership and Professional Development Program with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Washington Post, Statesman Journal, and Willamette University news.


New Orleans students
stand up and debate

On May 9th, New Orleans students competed in their 2nd debate tournament this spring. After weekly lessons and three workshops, 18 high school and middle school teams debated the topic, “When in conflict, environmental protection should be prioritized over economic growth.”
Congratulations to everyone who competed! We hope to see you next school year!

High school finalists:
Alton Denson, Kiera Craft of Early College High School

High school semi-finalists:
Creshon Amos, Chrissy Purcell of UNO Upward Bound

Top high school speakers:
Jameson Warr1n
Unique Bass
Chrissy Purcell
Creshon Amos

Middle school finalists:
Iman Aslam, Caroline Bland and George Evangelouis of Metairie Academy

Middle school semi-finalists:
Megan Bott, Yelim Jung, Andy Beams of Metairie Academy

Top middle school speakers:
Vincent Soldano
Caroline Bland
Joshua Montrel

International Tournament of Champions a success

The 5th annual International Parliamentary Debate Tournament of Champions, held May 21st-23rd on the campus of Willamette University, was another success. Teams from Oregon, Washington, Texas, Utah, California and the Philippines competed in lively rounds during the two-day event, discussing various topics, including hate speech.

The very accessible parliamentary debate format, based on British parliamentary debate, is intended to help students develop a broad knowledge base, improve argumentative abilities and speak persuasively and extemporaneously. To learn more about the format, click here.


Finalists:

Erica Furer, Annie McKenna and Logan Brog of Bentley School, Lafayette, CA


Semi-finalists:

Joshua Tang and Ayesha Malik of Alief Kerr High School, Houston, TX

Ken Hall III and Amber Bernard of Silverton High School, Silverton, OR


Top speakers:

Annie McKenna, Bentley School, Lafayette, CA

Sam Duzett, Glencoe School

Ken Hall III, Silverton High School, Silverton, OR

Carson States, Silverton High School, Silverton, OR

Erica Furer, Bentley School, Lafayette, CA

Logan Brog, Bentley School, Lafayette, CA

Amber Bernard, Silverton High School, Silverton, OR

Katiemarie Harmon, Maeser Preparatory, Lindon, UT

Fred Nagtalon, Mariano Marcos, Philippines

Joshua Tang, Alief Kerr High School, Houston, TX


Slots still available at the Climate Advocacy Institute

The International Debate Education Association (IDEA), 350.org and Bloomfield College are organizing a 3-week in-depth Climate Advocacy Institute that will equip students with the skills and connections needed to fight global climate change. The Institute will be held in Deçemko, a private resort on the Aegean coast of Turkey.

From June 28 to July 18, 2009, an experienced team of organizers will lead workshops on everything from the most recent climate science to campaign strategy to online communications.

IDEA and 350.org staff from Lebanon, the United States and Europe will work with participants over the three-week Institute to develop basic organizing skills. In addition, the Climate Advocacy Institute offers the following four tracks to choose from:

• Debate & Argumentation REGISTRATION CLOSED

• Journalism & New Media

• Performance & Art Advocacy
• English as a Foreign Language


This incredible opportunity is jam-packed with exciting extra-curricular trips to major historic sites, sports games and lots of fun after-hours activities.

Meet and hang out with dozens of young climate activists, and become part of the growing network of 350.org youth activists worldwide.

Get university credit for taking part! To apply now and learn more, visit the advocacy institute website.

To take three weeks and change the world!




NJFL Nationals draws record numbers

Registration for the 2009 IDEA-National Junior Forensic League National Tournament closed June 1st with a record 252 students!

From June 26th through 28th in San Antonio, Texas, these middle school students from around the country — and even South Korea — will compete in varying format sets, from Policy Debate, Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum formats to Impromptu, Humorous Interpretation, Poetry, and more.


CRY Uganda begins youth empowerment project
CRY Uganda is currently implementing “Creating Peaceable Communities Through Empowering the Youths Project” which is supported by the European Union under the Northern Uganda Rehabilitation Program (NUREP) in the three districts of Lira, Kitgum and Amuru. While in Partnership with War Child Holland and KICWA, CRY-Uganda will implement debates, a peace theatre, and peace camp. The objective of the project is to empower the community through youth, including ex-combatants and former LRA abductees and promote a supportive environment and peaceful co-existence in the Acholi and Lango regions of Northern Uganda.

The debates will focus on the discussion of controversial issues affecting the peacebuilding process in northern Uganda.

From these events, CRY Uganda plans to choose a team of debaters to attend the IDEA Youth Forum.

For more information, please visit the CRY Uganda website.
Kenneth Opolot, CRY UGANDA

Minsk holds fifteenth annual debate tournament
Fresh ideas were reflected in the fifteenth annual spring debate tournament in Minsk. Although this was a national tournament, every year we have participants from all over Russia, including the usual participants from St. Petersburg, and new participants from Yakutsk. Others came from Berdyahnsk, and the cities of Vilnius and Utena in Lithuania. The tournament kicked off with an entertaining presentation of four countries’ cultures. The preliminary rounds of the debate were also very exciting as it focused on the question of whether “The problem of global climate change should take precedence over economic development.” Members of the international ecological forums would have been very impressed by some the debaters’ responses to the problem. Just like this year’s tournament, future debates in Minsk will surely! amaze participants with more new and fresh ideas!
Zhvalevskaya Anastasiya, BSU lyceum, Belarus

Bucharest Debate House
On the 8th of April, the debate house and the “Impreuna” Agency organized the National Network of the Young Roma and the Ministry of Education and Research. Two high schools in Bucharest participated in this debate, which featured the topic, “Affirmative measures regarding Roma population are justified in Romania.” The debate was part of a larger project called “The Young Debate,” and was honored by the presence of many important figures of the Romanian educational system. We look forward to the national final event on June 1st.
On the 10th of April, the debate entitled, “Roma social inclusion: a European or national problem?” was moderated by one of the most renowned journalists in Romania, Mr. Mircea Toma. The topic prompted much controversy as it raised issues about the Roma elite, the reluctance of the government, and the misuse of funding for past projects.
Oana Diana Stanciu, Debate House Bucharest

Komarovo 2009
International Debate Forum
The North-Western Open Education Center, in partnership with Herzen University of St. Petersburg, hosted the 11th Komarovo International Debate Forum during April 30 through May 3, 2009. Students, ages 15-20, debated in English and Russian in one of the largest international high school debates in Eastern Europe. More than 150 debaters and coaches came from all over Russia, and more than 50 traveled from abroad. These three days included numerous workshops, much debating, and evening activities full of fun! The preliminary topic was “This house believes that, when in conflict, global climate change concerns should take precedence over economic development in rapidly developing countries.” The elimination round topic was “To combat climate change, nations should use cap and trade regulations rather than impose taxes on carbon emissions.”
For more details about this year’s debate forum, please visit our website at http://komarovo2009.edicypages.com/en.
Sergei Naumoff, St. Petersburg Debate Association

National Oratory Contest:
“The Future Starts Today”
In partnership with Rotaract University Bucharest, the Bucharest Debate House organized the regional stage of the National Oratory Contest on May 7th. High school students created five-minute speeches about why “The Future Starts Today.” After the event, participants also discussed current problems of the Romanian educational system and the need for a youth center. The national final was held on May 16th in Pitesti, where qualifiers were coached by the Debate House in preparation for the event.
United States Universities Debating- University of Vermont
The US Universities Debating Championship was a success. Over one hundred and twenty teams took the field for an exciting tournament. However, this event did not go without its challenges. This year the tournament took on a new debate format- the WUDC debate form. This is new and different for much of America, but we are taking to it with a surprising level of vigor and skill. And, those familiar with the format put their trust into a new host in a new part of the country. By the end of the three-day competition there was a world-class final round with world-class debaters!
Oana Diana Stanciu, Debate House Bucharest

Round Robin results in
The 2009 HWS/ IDEA Invitational Round Robin went exceedingly well this year. The Round Robin included 16 colleges and universities with 32 participants. The full tab is available here. View the final round here.
Eric Barnes, Hobart & William Smith College

Korean youth learn
diplomacy and debating

This June, middle school students from across Korea gathered in Seoul for a three-day journey into the life of a diplomat. The Middle School Youth Diplomacy Program offered 25 selected students the chance to sit in on panels by experts in diplomacy and international relations, tour a university campus, learn to debate and put their mediation skills to test in a diplomacy simulation on giving aid to Gaza. The program was jointly organized by the U.S. Embassy in Seoul and a group of Fulbright grantees to South Korea.
IDEA joined in by leading a session in the first evening on the basics of public speaking and argumentation. After some warm-up activities that gave everyone practice speaking in front of a group, we went over the steps for building arguments and had some short debates on topics like banning cell phones in school. At the end of the session, students matched assertions, reasoning and evidence on topics related to Gaza, Israel-Palestine relations and the nature of aid. Based on the speed at which the students picked up argument building, it was easy to tell the diplomacy simulation and all of next few days would be full of good ideas and exchange.
Elizabeth Humphrey, IDEA Korea

IDEA-XJTU Debate Tournament
a success!
May was a busy month for debate in China. In addition to the National tournament outside of Beijing, May also held the IDEA-XJTU International Debate Tournament from the 22nd to the 24th.
Hosted on the campus of Xi'an Jiaotong , the tournament had a one-day training and demonstration debate, followed by five preliminary rounds and two elimination rounds. Over 140 students participated in British Parliamentary Debate in separate English and Mandarin-language tracks. In the English division, many students chose to continue the tradition of "frienship teams," pairing visiting American students with Chinese students for the tournament.
Tournament topics centered on domestic and foreign policy. In semi-finals, both divisions debated the motion, "In developing nations with rapidly growing populations, the UN should promote a one child policy," while "China should eliminate affirmative action for Chinese ethnic minorities" was the motion for the final round. Congratulations to XJTU for fielding the top debaters in both divisions!
Kind thanks is owed to Dean Chen for her hardwork and hospitality in hosting the tournament, and the Mandarin and English trainers for lending their expertise. Hope to see you next year!
Elizabeth Humphrey, IDEA Korea

East-West Debate Tournament in Japan

From http://progymna.blogspot.com/2009/06/east-west-debate-tournament-in-tokyo.html

Sunday, June 07, 2009

The East-West Debate Tournament in Tokyo

Yesterday we were invited as guests at the 35th East-West policy debate tournament in Tokyo, which was really cool. I recorded both a semifinal and a final round, but had to use the miniDV camera, so I will post these videos when I return to the U.S. at the end of the month. The East-West tournament is a championship tournament between debate teams from Western Japan and Eastern Japan, who have different styles. I was told that Western Japan focuses more on delivery style, while Eastern Japan doesn't care much about that and focuses on the depth of the arguments. This was told to me by someone who is from the East, so I wonder what the Western Universities would say. The photo is of the East-West Champions for this year, from the University of Tokyo.

Japanese policy debate is very different from U.S. policy debate. One of the major differences is Topicality - the argument seems to be a number of definitions, and then the claim that the Affirmative is unreasonable in their definition. It seems to me that Topicality of the Affirmative case doesn't matter that much, that the responses of the 2AC to the reasonability standard are the entire T debate. It departed in the final round pretty quickly from the plan and into the idea of what, in general, was the best definition of "government."

After each round, the judges retire to the "decision room" where they sit and write out detailed comments on their ballots in silence. No decision is announced, and feedback is given privately after the debate to teams or individuals who ask for it. The ballot is about the size of a 11" x 15" sheet of paper, and there are two pages for comments. Many judges nearly fill these pages, from what I could see. Before the final round, the panel is announced and welcomed to a standing ovation. When the judges enter, they hand out typed judging philosophies to the teams debating.

During the debate, prep time is kept by a timer who colors in boxes on the chalkboard to represent the declining minutes.

We had a chance to address the assembled debaters as they waited for the 11 judge panel to make a decision in the final round. I explained some of the differences between what I had seen, and U.S. debating. The U.S. debaters also did so, and there were many good questions. Everyone was very friendly and interested in chatting with us.

When the final round was decided, one of the judges gave a decision which had a lot of tips in it for the debaters. One of the issues it seems they are focusing on is issue selection, as his comments were mostly about how the 2NR goes for every argument in the debate.

Many of the students are suspicious of critiques, and they wonder how such arguments could ever win a debate. This is due primarily, I think, to the fact that most debaters I talked to are hypo testers and whole resolution theorists. They feel that the debate is resolutionally focused above anything else. This does make the 2NC interesting as you might be suprised with a couple of new counterplans that are called "Mutually Exclusive" but seem to have resolutionality as the standard of competitiveness.

After the tournament it was off for drinking and food, including something described as "Japanese Pizza" which was flour dough with cabbage and some wonderful sauce in the middle of it. Our hosts were fantastic.

Today's a day to recover a bit, and I must say that I do need it. I'm off to do some sightseeing and shopping for most of the day. Tomorrow is a debate and mini-workshop at Tokai University.

Losing John Gossett

From Brian Lain:

Dear friends,

It is with sad news that I write to you today. This morning Dr. John
Gossett passed away at Methodist Hospital in Dallas, TX. John had
been fighting infection for the last several days and although his
spirit was willing, his body needed to rest beyond that which could be
provided. Many of you know that Dr. Gossett had been dealing with
complications arising from infection after his organ transplant last
year.

Dr. Gossett debated at the University of Houston graduating in 1974.
He served as a teaching assistant and debate coach at the University
of Houston from 1974-1976, and then did graduate work at the
University of Southern California completing his degree in 1979.
Before coming to North Texas, he served as the Director at the
University of Northern Iowa (1979-1981).

Dr. Gossett was a member of the North Texas faculty for 28 years. He
taught classes on rhetoric and public address and advised scores of
graduate and undergraduate students. He served as the Director of
Debate for ten years, was a member of the NDT Committee from 1982 to
1990, and a member of the NDT Board of Trustees from 1992-2002
(serving as chair for four years). He guided the Department of
Communication Studies as the chair for seventeen years. He was
nominated as the University Educator of the Year in 1997 and 1998 and
served as Vice-President of the Texas Speech Communication
Association. Dr. Gossett was an active member of the University of
North Texas community serving on multiple committees to help advance
higher education in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. He was given the
'Fesser Graham award for unselfish service and total dedication by the
UNT student government in 1987. He was the first recipient of the Joe
G. Stewart Distinguished Service Award in 1998. And was given the
Honors Faculty Excellence Award in 1998. He even served as the
announcer for UNT commencements for two years under multiple presidents.

Dr. Gossett was a driving force in the southwest for debate serving as
the district chair and host multiple times. Gossett rebuilt the North
Texas debate program and led the program to be a perennial qualifier
for the National Debate Tournament. Under his leadership, the team won
twenty different intercollegiate debate tournaments. He was a
forceful teacher impacting many lives directly and indirectly through
the classroom, the debate world, and his own life.

Dr. Gossett believed in taking debate out of the round and into the
community. He was an active Texas democrat, served as advisor to
former Texas Governor Mark White, and served as an analyst for KDFW-TV
(Channel 4) in Dallas. He was known for his service and dedication as
a debate instructor who instilled a sense of intellectual curiosity in
his students while encouraging personal, civic, and academic
accountability.

Services are being planned by the family for June 15, in Denton.
-Brian

Frank Harrison, Congressman & Debate Coach

From http://www.timesleader.com/news/Ex-congressman_mourned_06-04-2009.html

June 4
Ex-congressman mourned

Former representative of 11th Congressional District found dead in Galveston.

BILL O ’ BOYLE boboyle@timesleaer.com

Former U.S. Congressman Frank Harrison, a longtime Wilkes-Barre resident and attorney, has died in Galveston, Texas.

click image to enlarge

Then-candidate Frank Harrison, center, at Sept. 23, 1982, ribbon-cutting in Wilkes-Barre with former congressmen Ray Musto, left, currently a state senator, and Dan Flood.

TIMES LEADER FILE PHOTO/Richard Sabatura

Select images available for purchase in the
Times Leader Photo Store

According to an obituary that appeared in the Galveston County Daily News on Wednesday, Harrison was found in his condominium where he died of natural causes, authorities said. He was 69.

Harrison was born in Washington, D.C., Feb. 2, 1940, and graduated from St. Mary’s High School in Wilkes-Barre in 1957, according to a biographical directory of the U.S. Congress that was printed in the Galveston obituary. He was a graduate of King’s College. Harrison attended Harvard Law School and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar.

He began practicing law in Wilkes-Barre in 1965.

He served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force from 1966 to 1969 and was a college professor until 1982. Harrison was elected as a Democrat to Congress and served from 1983 to 1985. After his re-election bid failed, he resumed his law practice.

Attorney Donald Brobst, of Rosenn, Jenkins and Greenwald, had known Harrison since they met at the city law firm in 1976.

Brobst said Harrison moved to San Antonio shortly after he was defeated in his re-election bid in 1984. Harrison lost in the Democratic Primary to Paul Kanjorski, who has held the seat since.

The Galveston obituary reported “a property manager, who hadn’t seen Harrison for some time, found him Monday in his home at 7800 Seawall Boulevard and called authorities, said Galveston police spokesman Lt. D.J. Alvarez.”

The account states Harrison was pronounced dead at 5:15 p.m. and died of natural causes, but a toxicology test is pending, according to Galveston County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Pustilnik. It was unknown whether Harrison was vacationing on the island or if he had a permanent residence there, the story stated.

Brobst said Harrison left direction that he was to be cremated and his ashes be returned to a cousin, Sister Ann Marie Harrison, in Immaculata, near West Chester.

“I last spoke to Frank at the end of March,” Sister Ann Marie said. “We had a long conversation and he sounded fine to me.”

She said the family will miss him greatly and private funeral arrangements are being made.

“We are very proud of Frank and his many accomplishments since he was a young boy,” she said.

Sister Ann Marie said memorial contributions may be sent to the Trinity University Debate Program, Department of Speech and Drama, One Trinity Place, San Antonio, Texas 78212-7200, attention Jarrod Atchison. Harrison was a college professor until 1982 at Trinity University, where he directed the debate team.

Harrison won the 11th Congressional District seat in Congress when he defeated Republican Jim Nelligan in 1982.

“Frank was a very viable and tough opponent; a very bright guy,” Nelligan said. “I would like to offer my sincere condolences to his family.”

Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, provided an e-mailed statement on Harrison’s unexpected passing.

“As we mourn the loss of Congressman Frank Harrison, I pass along my thoughts and prayers to his family and friends,” Kanjorski said.

“Frank and I knew each other as college debaters. Since first meeting him, and throughout our professional careers, I have always respected Frank for his strong intellectual abilities. After his political career, he joined the classroom as a college professor where he benefited the education and lives of many students. He will be missed.”

USA Team Tours Japan -- Read the Blog

Steve Llano of St. John's University is accompanying the CIDD USA debate team's tour of Japan. Follow his blog at http://progymna.blogspot.com/

Blogging from Japan

For the next few weeks, I will be travelling in Japan as a part of the NCA's CIDD (National Communication Association's Committee on International Discussion and Debate) American tour of Japan.

What this means is you will see a lot of pictures and video from Japan, some tourist stuff but mostly public debates, scenes of Universities, and stuff like that.

I'm traveling with 2 students during this time who are exceptional debaters. They will be debating against many students from Japan about many different topics. These debates will be presented on this blog for your interest and enjoyment.

I'll also try to keep up with my ideas, thoughts and experiences in convenient text form as well. I'm looking forward to the trip, especially being able to examine some Japanese debate pedagogical practices first-hand.

First Day in Tokyo

The flight over was without incident, except that they had no free drinks or personal entertainment screens - but the real kicker was no power points. I think I have gotten spoiled flying Air France and Delta everywhere.

Well the PSP, noble creature that it is, survived me playing through about 5 or 6 demos, listening to a ton of music, and watching 4-5 episodes of Kung Fu during the flight. I just re-discovered the genius of Kung-Fu the old TV series, which is why I am so freaked out about this morning's news. Aside from that depressing story, life in Tokyo is great so far.

First, we are prepared for swine flu. I have been through quarantine and they even had some physicians come inspect the plane before we were allowed to get off. Above is a photo of my survival equipment. There are about 300-400 cases of H1N1 in Japan as of today, mostly south of here and not directly in Tokyo at all - or even the suburbs for that matter.

Last night we went for traditional Japanese food at a fantastic place that served the most wonderful shashimi and fantastic dishes. I wish I could remember all the names, but the beer and the lack of sleep were hurting my mental prowess.

We had a very good discussion revolving around some of the differences between LD debate and policy debate in the U.S., as well as the relationship between CEDA and NDT. I thought this was very auspicious since the topic committee as well as the CEDA development conference is going on half a world away, or about to start in a few hours from when we were discussing this history.

This morning breakfast was amazing, as usual with rice, fish, coffee, eggs, croissants and many different fruits. Miso soup was available as well but I'm just not ready for that at 8AM. I'm thinking of going for a walk for about an hour with the camera and getting some shots of this part of Tokyo. I'm on the opposite side from where I was in August for the JDA conference. The neighborhood is a University one, with many bars, restaraunts, and other student-oriented shops. At lunch, our host is taking us to the University campus to watch some video and prep for the national topic debates which I think will be on whether it's a good idea to ban staffing services or not. Interesting topic, and I hope that we can get a good look at an Affirmative before the debates tomorrow.

I will not be debating, but speaking. Tomorrow is the Japanese Businessperson's Debate Club, and we will be Affirming on a motion similar to this one. I hope to tape the debate if they have no objections. Unfortunately, my Flip Camera decided to die and nothing seems to fix it. I brought my HD camera with the bad battery life, and my mini DV - so if I tape it on Mini DV, you'll have to wait about a month to see these debates. I will keep you satisfied though with clips and other videos from my HD camera, which uses SD cards and is easy to upload from my netbook.

Tonight is a reception welcoming us. It will be good to see old friends as well as make new ones. Expect a lot of photos and video from this one!

International Public Policy Forum Starts You Tube Channel

From http://www.youtube.com/ippforum

Bickel & Brewer/NYU International Public Policy Forum

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The Bickel & Brewer/New York University International Public Policy Forum is the only contest that gives high school students the opportunity to participate in written and oral debates on issues of public policy.

Formerly known as the "National Public Policy Forum," the IPPF was founded in2001. The program began as a national contest, but expanded in 2008 to include debate teams from across the globe.

More than 180 high schools - representing 32 states and 17 foreign countries - registered for the 2008-2009 competition. The field was first narrowed to 32 teams, then to 16, 8, and finally just four. Those final four schools received an all-expense-paid trip to New York City to compete in the finals at New York University the weekend of April 17-19, 2009.

The winner of the 2008-2009 competition, Bellaire High School, was awarded the $10,000 grand prize and the "Bickel & Brewer Cup!"

For information about the 2009-2010 competition visit www.nppf.net.

Student Debate Crusader Will Not Give Up

From http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/1600950,4_1_JO01_LIFELESS_S1-090601.article

Joliet West student is debate crusader

June 1, 2009

By CATHERINE ANN VELASCO cvelasco@scn1.com

JOLIET--When Sarah Robinson transferred to Joliet West High School from Nebraska, she planned to join the debate team her sophomore year, but there was one problem.

Joliet Township High School District didn't have a debate team.

Sarah Robinson (above) stands with her high school debate team trophies. After transferring to Joliet West from Nebraska, she started a JTHS debate team and won numerous awards.
(Michael R. Schmidt/Staff Photographer)

"With a bigger town, I expected something," recalled Sarah who attended Kearney High School as a freshman.

"They had a huge debate team. It was a huge deal. Everyone knew the debate team. We were the only team that won state championships that year in our school," she said. "Then, I moved here and there was nothing."

Similar to track and field, there were individual events she could participate in so Sarah created an one-person team.

"I love the camaraderie and the intellectually-charged atmosphere at debate tournaments--it turns a light on inside my head," she said. "I love the feeling of standing up to give a really good speech."

For three years, Sarah, now 18, represented JT in Lincoln-Douglas debates, debating moral and ethical issues, such as nuclear proliferation and the death penalty.

"There are people with 50 people on their teams and they have professional coaches and there is me," she said.

Sarah relied on her parents, Matt and Peggy Robinson, who gave her moral support and were friendly faces at the debates as well as her ride to the weekend events that were sometimes five hours away.

"She was really at a serious disadvantage having no coach and having no team. Peggy and I would maybe listen to her case and helped. ... We didn't have the background to help her and do the research," said Matt, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Joliet.

"She couldn't do practice rounds with teammates," said Peggy, senior branch office administrator at Edward Jones in Joliet.

"She didn't have coaches to consult with between rounds at tournaments," Matt said. "It was tough. I've been really proud of her."

Chick in a tie

The one-woman debate team became a legacy among schools statewide. She was easy to spot as the only female dressed in a suit and tie which was her trademark.

"There were kids that came up to me from Evanston," Sarah said. "They were like 'Oh, you're that girl. My coach had a lecture with us before this tournament and said that some people are here without coaches and teams.'"

"A young man said to Sarah before the tournament, 'Well, you don't know me, but I know who you are,'" Matt said.

Those sentiments meant a lot to Sarah.

"I didn't think anyone noticed, honestly, what I was doing. It felt really good to know that even though I don't win big awards at state, someone is noticing my efforts," she said.

Twice the work

The first two years was rough with Sarah almost moving up to the next level, but not scoring enough points to do so.

During debates, teammates would observe and take notes on Sarah's case and give a summary to their teammates so they could prepare.

"Everybody knew her cases because they had teammates," Peggy said.

"I'd would walk into a round and no nothing," Sarah said.

So she came up with a plan

"I would honestly start to write three to four cases per tournament," Sarah said.

"So they wouldn't know what she would argue so she still had an element of surprise which is three to four times the work," Matt said.

Sarah started this strategy at the end of her junior year.

"I started to realize that if I was going to be serious, if I was going to win then I needed to do twice the work because I'm half the team," she said.

All her hard work paid off during her senior year, winning second place at IHSA State Tournament in Bloomington. There, she came home with a medal for second place for All State Speaker Award and Octa Finalist Award. She also earned the special distinction degree in the National Forensics League.

Helpful competitors

Sarah got help from unusual sources: her competition. They were impressed and wanted to help her out. Peter Lemperis, a graduate from Glenbrook North High School, would critique her debates. Debate coaches Lainee and Scott McGraw from Carl Sandburg High School would take Sarah aside and help her with her cases.

"They didn't divulge to their team what Sarah's cases were even though she was the competition," Peggy said.

"We'd have tough rounds where I would debate with one of their teammates. It always ended with a handshake and we were fine," Sarah said. "I really felt I was part of their team. It was nice. ... They would include me in their team pep talk."

The Robinson family even went to the school's banquet dinner for the debate team.

Chris Olson, athletic director for JT, helped out Sarah through JT Foundation grants so she could attend debate camps and provided the funds to pay for a judge at the tournaments which was a requirement to debate.

Sarah, who graduated from Joliet West High School on Friday night, showed off her talent as graduation speaker. In the fally, she will attend Northwestern University, majoring in philosophy and political science, minoring in French. She plans to join the Peace Corps, helping out anywhere she is needed before going to law school.

Her words of wisdom: "Don't let anyone stand in your way--ever," she said.

"I faced a lot of adversity and at times there were tears. I cried a lot, but if you find something that you're really passionate about and I was really passionate about it. ... If you find something that you are passionate about, don't let it die. Keep it alive."