Debate Championship Comes to UVM

Release Date: 04-08-2009

Author: Amanda Kenyon Waite
Email: Amanda.Waite@uvm.edu
Phone: 802/656-8381 Fax: (802) 656-3203

On April 3, 126 pairs of debaters from colleges and universities circling the globe converged on the UVM campus to compete in the 2009 U.S. Universities Debating Championship. The teams faced off for three days on a range of topics, from the merits of banning imported seal products to the effectiveness of stimulus plans.

The style of debate — the world debate format — matches four teams of two against each other to argue a topic they've only discovered just fifteen minutes before the round begins. During that fifteen minutes, debating partners are allowed only to speak with each other, and not access the internet, in order to pull together their fourteen combined minutes of argumentation.

UVM, this year's host of the fourth annual tournament, submitted several teams in the competition, and junior Sam Natale and senior Lucas Caress advanced to the semi-finals. Harvard University won the competition, debating in the final round in favor of outlawing handguns.

Watch the above video to learn more about debate, and see footage from the tournament.