Northwest U Debaters Place Third
at Linfield College Tournament

Congratulations to Northwest University students James Dominguez and Max Mooney for reaching the final four of the 79^th annual Mahaffey Memorial Speech and Debate Tournament in Linfield, Oregon on November 20 -- 22.

The men were given plaques for ranking third place in the final round of novice division during the Sunday evening awards ceremony. 23 colleges and universities attended bringing 34 teams in British Parliamentary style debate.  

Novice and open division students debated together for the first five rounds. After these pre-elimination rounds, novice (first year) debaters with the highest scores advanced to novice semi and final rounds.

Surprisingly Dominguez and Mooney had such a high score that they qualified for both open division and novice division semi finals. Because they were listed as a novice team, they were placed in novice semi finals – where they won first place to advance to the final round.

Dominguez, (20) is an English major from San Diego, California and Mooney (18) is a Biblical Literature major from Ellensburg, Washington.

The four teams in the final round were ranked by a panel of judges first to fourth place.

The topic for the final round was: "Russia and Europe should develop a mutually acceptable security agreement." Northwest was assigned opening government to affirm the proposition.

Boise State won first place at the tournament, Willamette University placed second, and Pacific Lutheran University took fourth.

Topics announced fifteen minutes before each round included:

R1 Jerusalem should be a shared capital.

R2 The U.S. should cease all lawsuits against those accused of copying copyrighted media files.

R3 Robert Mugabe should immediately resign, and leave the country of Zimbabwe.

R4 China should allow its citizens to have unfiltered and unrestricted access to the internet.

R5 Columbia should reduce its involvement with the U.S. Military.

SF The U.S. government should provide jobs to those who have been out of work for 18 months.

Thanks to assistant coach and alumnus Nigel Reed for coaching the team for the weekend.

More International Debating

NU’s senior debate team of Brandon Schulz and team Captain Morgan Chinn competed at the University of British Columbia Championship the same weekend, November 20 – 22, but did not break into finals. The tournament attracts the best teams from across Canada. Friday night the students enjoyed a social and dinner on a cruise boat in English Bay. Thanks to Jason and Milica Sandford and alumnus Kevin Botterbusch for helping coach the team over the weekend.

Eagle Debaters Face Brits at Oxford and Cambridge

Four Northwest University students traveled to the United Kingdom to take part in intercollegiate debates at two of the world’s most famous universities. Team Captain Morgan Chinn, Brandon Schulz, Sam Ade and Ryan Mathisen – under the leadership of NU alumni director Rosemarie Kowalski (’78) – departed November 11 for Oxford University.

The men took part in the two day debate competition sponsored by the Oxford Debating Society – the oldest debate organization in the world.

The debaters did not place at the meet, but did benefit from the experience of speaking against the top debaters in the world. After Oxford, Chinn and Schulz returned home to Kirkland while the rest of the group stayed another week for debates at Cambridge University. Kowalski judged for both tournaments.

At the Cambridge tournament our team placed  67 out of 108 teams. There are four teams in each round. A panel of judges rank teams from first to fourth. Considering the high level of competition, their record of three second rankings, one third and only one fourth is impressive.

Topics were assigned fifteen minutes before each round and students must be prepared to debate either side of any issue.

The tournament was won by a team from Oxford University. The motions for the Cambridge tournament were:
 

R1: This House Would reduce welfare payments to parents whose children break the law.
R2: TH Believes that it should be illegal to incite others to boycott an election.
R3: THW replay international sporting events if an extreme umpiring error affects the result.
R4: THBT the USA should pay war reparations to Vietnam.
R5: THW allow children over the age of 13 to obtain gender-reassingment surgery without parental consent.
QF: THB that California should create high schools that teach primarily in Spanish.
SF: THB the State should refuse to assist in rebuilding areas prone to natural disasters.
Final: THB Western Nations should use military force to rescue journalists captured by the enemy.

Special thanks is due to Rosemarie Kowalski who gave of her time to help direct the team. She worked tirelessly in securing accommodations and arranging land transportation and sight seeing opportunities. Thanks also to Prof. Wally Kowalski who devoted hours in creating a travel guide book filled with maps, directions and phone numbers.

To read Rosemarie’s blog about the trip see: www.peacefulones.blogspot.com.