Debaters Third Place
at Tournament of the Great West
Northwest University Students Rank Among Region’s Best and Brightest

Kirkland, March 17, 2008

48 students from seven colleges and universities gathered at Mt Hood College in Portland to spar over current events at the Tournament of the Great West. After five rounds of World Style debate on Saturday and Sunday, March 14 and 15, Northwest University students Nigel Reed and Morgan Chinn placed third behind Portland State and Seattle University.

Other institutions in the four team World style debate division included Willamette University, University of Utah, Brigham Young and Humboldt State.

World style debate is the same format used by most European Universities, such as Oxford and Cambridge, as well as at the World Universities Debating Championship tournament that attracts eight hundred students form all over the world each year.

In World Style debate, four teams of two students each face off in a series of eight seven-minute speeches. Two teams are assigned to affirm a motion, and two oppose. Role playing members of an imaginary house of parliament as an academic exercise, students hope to sharpen their persuasive and public speaking skills.

A panel of judges evaluates the debate by ranking each team from one to four. Those teams with the best records are power matched against others with similar points as the tournament progresses.

Topics at the two day Portland meet were announced twenty minutes before each round and included such issues as boycotting the Olympics, removing tax exempt status for religious organizations, the mortgage crisis, domestic defense contracts and environmental terrorism. For example, one motion asked teams to argue: This house would reject government bailouts of the lending industry. Another motion read: This house believes that terrorism in the defense of the environment is justified.

In addition to team rankings, each debater is judged for speaking ability and those with the highest speaker points are honored. Northwest Eagle Debate Team Captain Nigel Reed ranked as the fifth best speaker out of 48.

Reed and Chinn were presented medals of excellence at the awards ceremony Sunday afternoon. In addition, Northwest students Shelly Hall and Shauna Marshal were also presented medals of excellence for their successful record as novice debaters.

The first place team from Seattle University earned the highest possible score in all five rounds. Seattle University students Michael Imeson and James Kilcup gained national recognition in November for placing second at the prestigious Cambridge University Debate Tournament in England. Imeson also is known for his speaking ability since winning first place in impromptu speaking that the World Universities Debating Championships held in Vancouver, Canada last January – an unusual achievement for an American in this European dominated venue.

The Tournament of the Great West was sponsored by the Pi Kappa Delta national honorary intercollegiate debate and speech organization.

The next big event for the Northwest University Eagle Debate team will occur on Monday, April 7 when the Irish National Debate Team visits Kirkland. The Irish are winners of their national tournament and will tour American Universities for public debates.

The Irish will face Northwest debaters in a televised match at the Kirkland City Hall at 3:30 PM. Then at 6 PM they will debate again on the Northwest campus in the new Health Science building. The topic for both debates: Resolved – America would be better off with an Irish president. The Irish will affirm.