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Intercollegiate Debate

American Parliamentary Debate

Since the inception of the National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA), WUDU has competed in this fun and fast pace form of debate. Like cross-examination debate, a parliamentary debate consists of two, two-person teams. Unlike some other forms of debate, parliamentary debate is an extemporaneous form in which the topic changes from debate to debate. Debaters learn of the topic approximately fifteen minutes prior to the debate. The debates are spontaneous, engaging interchanges between well-informed and articulate students. To learn more about parliamentary debate, go to the NPDA homepage.

Since the beginning of NPDA, WUDU has been one of the most successful teams in the organization. In 1995, 1996, and again in 2006, WUDU won first place in both the Season Sweepstakes and the Tournament Sweepstakes. The Season Sweepstakes championship is awarded to the school whose performance is best over the entire debate season. The Tournament Sweepstakes award is presented to the school whose teams compile the best overall record at the NPDA Championship Tournament. The only other school to win both Season Sweepstakes and Tournament Sweepstakes in a single year is the University of California at Berkeley in 2001.

British Parliamentary Debate

British Parliamentary Debate is the most popular form of debate in the world, with numerous tournaments in Europe, Asia, Australia, and Canada. Over the course of the last few years, the British Parliamentary Debate is steadily gaining popularity in the United States and Willamette University intends to be a leader in this form of debate as well as in American Parliamentary Debate.

British Parliamentary Debate consists of four, two-person teams. As in American Parliamentary Debate, debaters learn their topics approximately 15 minutes prior to the debate and topics change from debate to debate. Rather than a simple “win-loss” decisions, teams receive points based on a ranking of 1 to 4.

Willamette University has just begun to develop a serious British Parliamentary Debate program and this year or team of Danielle Stevens and Joe Kaczmarek placed tenth at the U. S. Universities Championship at the Claremont Colleges in California. In future years, we intend to continue to participate in this form of debate and strengthen our program in this area.