Seawolf Debate duo earns distinction as the second best team in the U.S.

Following a phenomenal showing at this year's World Universities Debating Championships -- in which two Seawolf teams placed in the top 32 in the world -- the Seawolves demonstrated that they likely have the deepest pool of talent of any team in North America.

This past weekend, 189 teams representing institutions from across the United States (and a handful of teams from the British Isles, Australia and Canada) vied for the crown at the U.S. Universities Debating Championships (US UDC) hosted by the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. Just a few years ago, the Seawolf Debate squad went into such high-level competitions hoping to have one of its teams distinguish itself as one of the top teams in the tournament. That hope seems all but a distant memory in the minds of the current, talented and hungry debaters.

At the end of the first phase of the US UDC competition, in which all the teams participate in six preliminary rounds, the top 32 teams earn the right to enter the single elimination phase of the competition. This year, the Seawolves travelled six teams to the national championships, including one novice team that was competing in only its second competition. Instead of only having one team in the hunt to advance to elimination rounds, five of this year's teams found themselves in contention to break into phase two of the competition as they entered the sixth and final preliminary round. In the end, three teams advanced to elimination rounds as those five teams finished as the 12th, 16th, 19th, 35th and 50th seeds.

To earn those positions, the debaters demonstrated their knowledge and debating skills on a number of controversial topics such as whether we should grant amnesty to dictators who voluntarily leave office, whether we should tax individuals on intellectual property, whether military members should have a public forum to question governmental policy, and whether we should have mandatory quotas for women on the board of directors of large corporations.

While a handful of programs advanced two teams to the elimination round phase of the national championship tournament, the Seawolves were the only university to advance three teams. Their display of debating prowess did not end there, as all three teams won their first two elimination rounds. As such, the Seawolf Debate program can boast having three of the nation's top seven debate teams, the eighth in the semifinal hailed from New South Wales. Although representing themselves, the University and the state admirably in the semifinal, the teams of Colin Haughey (junior, Philosophy) and Drew Cason (senior, Environment and Society) and Brett Frazer (junior, Biology) and Amy Parrent (sophomore, political science) ended their run in that round. Haughey also distinguished himself as the fifth place speaker in the tournament.

In the semifinal, the team of Sarah Carpenter (junior, culinary arts) amd Amie Stanley (junior, Political Science) prevailed over Frazer and Parrent and a team from St. John's University to earn a spot in the championship round. There, they faced off against teams from Harvard, Yale and New South Wales on a motion dealing with whether the U.S. government should actively facilitate the circumvention of Internet filters in other countries. In the final round, the Seawolves were the clear fan favorite. While the official adjudication team retired to discuss the outcome, ballots were cast by the nearly 150 members of the audience. Once the ballots were counted, Carpenter and Stanley received the distinction of being the Audience Champions by nearly a 25 point margin. (The remaining ballots were split fairly evenly among the other three teams.) Nevertheless, the national championship is determined by a team of seven adjudicators who attempt to reach a consensus decision. After over an hour of deliberation, the judges failed to reach consensus, however. On a split 4-3 decision, they named the team from Harvard the national champions and awarded Carpenter & Stanley second place in the competition.

Given that all six UAA debaters in the semifinal plan to return next fall, not to mention the incredible depth of talent the squad took to Vermont and even more that remained at home, the Seawolves have high hopes and expectations for next year.

For more information on the Seawolf Debate program, contact Steve Johnson at (907) 786-4391 or Shawn Briscoe at (907) 786-4354. You may also visit the team's website.