Debaters Make Final Four in Longview
Proving that Northwest University Ranks with
the Best
Kirkland, November 9, 2009
The Northwest University debate team of Morgan Chinn and Brandon Schulz reached the final round of the 37th annual Lower Columbia College Forensics tournament in Longview, Washington on November 6 and 7.
Competing in a pool of forty debate teams, Chinn and Schulz ranked first in semi finals to advance to the final round, where they were ranked fourth by the five judge panel.
The winning pair were given debate medals during the awards ceremony Sunday night.
Schulz, 21, is a senior communication major from Lynden, Washington. Chinn, 21, is an environmental science major from Edmonds, Washington. Morgan is the great grandson of Northwest University founder Henry Ness.
In Worlds style– or four team debate—each two-person team is ranked first, second, third or four in each round by judges. Students are also rated for speaking ability. Debaters with high speaker points are honored.
NU Debate Team Captain Morgan Chinn ranked as the sixth best debater out of 80.
Ryan Mathisen ranked as the 8th best speaker. Mathisen, 20, is a communication major from Covington, Washington.
Topics were announced fifteen minutes before each round and debaters must be prepared to speak on both sides of any issue.
Topics in the
pre-elimination rounds included extending the home buyers tax credit,
the public option in health care reform and more troops for Afghanistan.
The topic for semi finals was on banning skilled workers from
immigrating to the US. The topic for the final round dealt with
requiring clergy to testify in criminal trials based on information
given in confessions.
The three other teams in the final four round were Portland State and two from Seattle University. Portland State placed first.
After the lively final debate, the NU students were pleased with their performance. At this level of competition, final round placing is difficult to determine. Conferring judges must come to a concession and sometimes disagree. Reaching finals at such a large, power matched tournament is a notable achievement. The win proves that Northwest University is able to produce students who rank with the best and brightest in our region.
Fifteen colleges and universities attended the contest including Seattle University, Portland State University, Humboldt State University, George Fox University, Cameron University, Linfield College and Corban University.
Northwest brought five two-person debate teams and four judges.
Assistant Coach Jason Sandford spent many hours finding research material for the students, including one article on tax credits for home buyers which came in handy during the first round. He has been a tremendous boost to the program’s success this year.
Alumnus Shaina Cochrane gave up her weekend to judge, adding her years of experience in debate and speech to the expertise of the judging pool.
The tournament began with a mishap on Friday night driving down to Longview when the team vans got stuck behind an accident that delayed arrival two hours. While normally coming late means forfeiting the round, it turned out that all of the other schools waited for Northwest to arrive. While round one was scheduled for four o’clock, it began at six.
Next
tournaments: Oxford and Cambridge
On Wednesday, November 11 four top Northwest University students will
cross the pond to challenge the Brits at their game. Oxford University
has the oldest debating society in the world. The Oxford debate
tournament attracts hundreds of students. Schulz, Chinn, Mathisen and
Sam Ade are stepping up to the international challenge.
The team will be lead by
Alumni Director Rosemarie Kowalski – who also directed the UK trip when
NU sent teams to Oxford and Cambridge in 2007. On Thursday the students
will dine in the “Harry Potter” room at Oxford. The following weekend NU
students will join the intellectual competition at Cambridge University.
Much of the costs of the trip has been funded by
alumni and friends of the Northwest Debate team.