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Northwest Debaters in World Class Contest
Kirkland, January 15, 2007
Six students represented Northwest University at the World Universities Debating Championships in Vancouver, Canada during Christmas break. 688 best and brightest students and their coaches from five continents gathered at the University of British Columbia for seven days of meetings, social events and debate rounds.
Since 1980, the Championship hosts competitors from 150 universities and the UBC sponsored event was the largest ever held – and one of the best run.
Two N.U. students, Mark Kreiner and Shaina Cochrane served as judges along with coach Gary Gillespie and assistant coach Jason Stanford. Judges are rated by the chairs of each round and Shaina was selected to judge advanced teams towards the end of the contest – placing above her coaches.
After the first two rounds, the teams of Jed Nelsen (team captain) and Kortney Thoma and Nathan Chambers and Kevin Botterbusch ranked very high in the pool which put them against tough competition on the second day of debates when their high scores dropped, eliminating their chance to break into finals.
When it was over, the NU Eagles placed above some teams from Harvard, Swarthmore, Colgate, Monash, Western Washington, University of Washington, University of Portland and the Claremont Colleges. Northwest ranked near the middle of the pool -- Thoma – Nelsen at 193 and Chambers – Botterbusch at 198 – out of 344 teams. http://flynn.debating.net/UBCteamtab.HTM
There were nine preliminary rounds and teams with the best scores advance to four final rounds. Only about ten percent of teams broke into finals.
Topics were announced fifteen minutes before each debate and included current events and enduring controversies. Some of topics included independence for Quebec, nationalizing energy resources in the third world, banning government funding of religious schools, banning cosmetic surgery, criminalizing ransom, regime change in Burma, granting citizenship for military service, and abolishing the inheritance tax.
On New Years day – the day before the final rounds began -- debate programs for the Northwest region of the United States met at a Chinese restaurant near the tournament hotel in down town Vancouver to celebrate a team from the University of Alaska breaking into finals. The U of A team was one of only five American teams to break and ended up advancing to semi-finals – an overwhelming honor that placed them among the best in the world.
Michael Imeson, a student from Seattle University won first place in Public Speaking – an individual speaking event that went on between debates. Only six students made finals. The winner is some times considered the best public speaker in the world.
When Northwest attended the Worlds Championship in 1998, one of our students made public speaking finals. James Stewart, now a debate coach at Bethany University, was the only American so honored.
North America is host to the World Championships only about every seven or eight years so the Northwest team didn’t want to pass up a chance to compete with the best. The program spent all year preparing for the tournament and even hosted a World Debate Workshop in September for five regional schools to prepare.
The next World Championships will be held at a university in Thailand and Northwest hopes to raise enough funding to send a team to improve our rankings even more.
When the tournament ended on January 4, Northwest invited two students from Oxford University for three public debates in Redmond and Kirkland. The first debate took place at the Redmond City Hall in the afternoon and in the evening at the Kirkland City Hall. Both debates were broadcast on cable television and streamed on the Internet. On Friday, Northwest debate Oxford before an audience of the Microsoft PAC on the Microsoft campus. The Redmond Town Center Marriott Hotel provided accommodations as sponsor of the events. On Sunday the Oxford students were hosted by Seattle University before they returned home on Monday.
Show Debates Simply Smashing Oxford and Northwest University Students Impress Audiences with Wit and Speaking Skill
Kirkland, January 15, 2007
World-class debaters from Oxford University met for three debates with Northwest University students in Redmond and Kirkland on January 4 and 5.
Oxford student body president Alex Just and his partner Andrew Goodman, chair of the Oxford Debating Society, accepted Northwest’s invitation to the public debates after the World Championships held in Vancouver, Canada.
Four Oxford teams place among the 32 that broke to finals after nine preliminary rounds.
Alex brought with him an Octo-finalist award from the Championships, placing him among the top 16 debaters out of nearly 700 attending the competition that attracted the best and brightest from 150 institutions from five continents.
The first debate took place at 2:30 in the afternoon on January 4 in the counsel chambers of the new Redmond City Hall. The spectacular glass and stone building, designed as a fuel-efficient “green” facility, was an impressive venue for the debate on global warming. The debate was cablecast on RCTV government access television which serves 17,000 Redmond homes.
"Hi Mum," said Alex when he began to speak, saying that his family was watching the debate at home.
Watch the debate at http://www.ci.redmond.wa.us/redmond/web1/rctv_schedule.asp
Chief Communication Officer Kim Van Ekstrom reported that local classrooms as well as out of state viewers were planning to tune into the debate to learn about both sides of the issue.
Redmond Mayor Rosemarie Ives introduced the debaters and joined several city council members in the audience. The topic, assigned as an academic exercise for role-playing, was: “Concern about global warming is overblown.” Northwest University debater Mark Kreiner and alumnus Nathan Novak affirmed the topic.
The audience voted for Oxford by applause after the round and each debater was presented with a gift bag from the city to remember the event.
Alex and Andrew were returned to the Redmond Town Center Marriott Hotel, official sponsor of the weekend, to relax before another televised debate at the Kirkland City Hall that evening. The hotel has been host to President Bush and the students enjoyed the central location and eating at Marriott's superb restaurant. http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/SEAMC
“The U.S would be better off if it looked more like the UK,” was chosen by the debaters for the Kirkland show debate. This round included light hearted as well as more serious comparisons between the two nations. Representing Northwest was Kortney Thoma and Team Captain Jed Nelsen. Oxford affirmed the proposition and after the debate the audience voted in favor of the proposition.
Communications Director Janice Perry presented each debater with a beautifully designed plaque commemorating the debate featuring British and American flags and photos of Oxford and Kirkland. She also arranged for snacks for the debaters and audience members to enjoy after the debate. Watch the debate streamed on KGOV. http://www.ci.kirkland.wa.us/depart/TV/Video_On_Demand.htm
On Friday at 12 noon, the students drove to the Microsoft campus for a show debate presented to an audience of one hundred employees who are members of the Microsoft PAC on the Microsoft campus in Redmond.
The topic of the debate was “Foreign aid does more harm than good.” Northwest students Nathan Chambers and Kevin Botterbusch were assigned to affirm the proposition and they focused their arguments on aid to Africa, arguing that much US aid goes to corrupt governments instead of actually helping the people.
The audience again voted for Oxford by applause after the round. Microsoft provided lunch for the team and International Relations Director Mike Egan presented gift Microsoft jackets to each student to remember the event. He invited the team back in the future.
Friday afternoon the Oxford students hiked to the base of Snoqualmie Falls before a dinner with Northwest University President Don Argue and his wife Pat at coach Gary Gillespie’s home.
Saturday was reserved for sight seeing in Seattle.
Sunday the Oxford debaters were hosted by Seattle University for a debate and sight seeing, before returning to Vancouver, BC for their flight home on Monday January 8.
Saying goodbye, Andrew invited Northwest students for debates at Oxford next year. Alex pointed out that he was selected for the British National Debate Team tour of the US next fall and Northwest hopes to sponsor him for more public debates then.
Detailed student bios and photos here: http://eagle.northwestu.edu/academic/artsci/faculty/ggillespie/Debate%20news,%20Brits%20are%20coming.htm
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