The Union University Debate team kicked off its initial campaign this past weekend at the Boll Weevil Debates hosted at the University of Monticello, AR, capturing the Individual Novice Championship in their historic first tournament. Freshman Emily Welborn, social work major from Harrisburg, IL, captured the crown, going 4-2 in the preliminary rounds before reeling off four wins in a row to capture the title.

Eight debaters and two judges traveled with the team. Welborn; senior Kate Conkling, French major from Evansville, KY; freshman Kristin Tisdale, Hendersonville, TN; freshman Aaron Brown, Theatre major from Owensboro, KY; sophomore Betsy Davis, English/history double major from Henderson, KY; freshman Jordan Hughey, chemistry major from Little Rock, AR; and freshman Andrew Roberts, political science from Hendersonville, TN, all competed in the novice division. Freshman Ben Fulton, business major from Evansville, IN, competed in the varsity division. Dr. Web Drake, the team’s coach, and sophomore Mandisa Wofford, English/business major from Atlanta, GA, went as the team’s judges.

Conkling and Tisdale also advanced to the out-rounds of the competition. Conkling posted a very impressive 5-1 record and won two elimination rounds to advance to the semi-finals. Tisdale went 3-3 and out-pointed teammates Davis, Hughey and Roberts to capture the 16th seed in the single elimination out-rounds. She then upset the number one seed to advance to the quarter-finals before bowing out to Welborn as the lower seed.

The team competes in the International Public Debate Association. The event consists of 5 speeches by the competitors and is generally judged by untrained judges, usually students from the host school. The judging pool forces the students to communicate their ideas clearly and persuasively, as their judges are not trained in the specifics of academic debate. The debaters get their topics 30 minutes before their rounds. This helps train the competitors to construct arguments and think on their feet as well as requiring them to be well-schooled on a variety of issues. Topics range from world and national politics to sports, economics, philosophy, history, and pop culture. Each tournament consists of 6 rounds of debates followed by a single-elimination tournament where seeding is based on the results of the preliminary rounds.

The team will next be in competition at the Lumberjack Classic at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX, on November 7-9. For more information about Union's Debate Team, go to www.uu.edu/org/debate/.