Seawolf Debaters invited to compete in 2011 Madison Cup

Every year, James Madison University hosts an invitational Madison Cup debate tournament as part of its James Madison Day Celebration. The competition, to be held April 21, is a unique intercollegiate debate competition that combines the excitement and challenge of a competitive tournament with the relevance and empowerment of a public audience and audience participation. The tournament brings together the top debaters from universities across the U.S. competing in a variety of formats of intercollegiate debating and, as such, is truly a test of the best debaters in the U.S.

This year, thanks to the squad's international success, the Seawolf Debate program has received a personal invitation to send two of its top debaters to the tournament. The Seawolves' accomplishments even led James Madison University to pay for the travel costs of bringing the Seawolf debaters to their tournament. Vasillios (Akis) Gialopsos (senior, Political Science) and Brett Frazer (junior, Biology) will join teams from Harvard, Yale, Rutgers and Cornell to debate the topic: "This house stands resolved that amnesty should be granted to illegal immigrants currently living in the United States."

The tournament is also unique in the prizes awarded to the winners. Over $20,000 will be given out as prizes to the top teams, with a $5,000 prize going to the program represented by the winning team.

For more information, please contact Steve Johnson at (907) 786-4391.