March Madness of debate comes to UAA

Is there a hole in your life now that March Madness has subsided? Well break out the brackets one last time-UAA is hosting the United Stated Universities Debating Championship (USUDC) from April 10-13. This immense event will see roughly 200 teams from 58 schools face off in a three-day throwdown of debate, whittling down to one winner by Monday night. If you've always wanted to see Harvard beat Duke, this may be your chance.

And don't count out the home team. UAA's Seawolf Debate competes internationally-from Ireland to Thailand to Botswana to India-and is currently ranked #17 in the world. They were within the world top 10 as recently as 2012. Likewise, they've earned a reputation at USUDC-they placed a quarterfinalist last year and even won the inaugural tournament in 2005. "Ten years later, we're hoping to win this one too," said Steve Johnson, director of debate at UAA.

For a respected team that always has to travel, hosting the national tournament is a major source of pride. But it's also a chance to show the city what their world-caliber debate team can do. For all you Anchorage locals pining for March Madness, stop by USUDC as high heels replace high-tops and oppositions replace offense. UAA will field seven teams and plans to go hard in the parliamentary paint.

The power of persuasion

Hosting wasn't always on the radar. "I had convinced myself [hosting] wouldn't happen," Steve acknowledged, citing Anchorage's extreme distance from most other schools. Assistant Coach Amie Stanley, B.A. '14, remained optimistic. "I put a little bug in his ear for a couple of years, that he usually laughed at," she smiled.

But then things changed. University of Hawai'i-the original host-ceded their duties over a year ago. Amie seized the opportunity, realizing most teams had already budgeted a trip off the mainland for the tournament. "Being as persuasive as she is, she convinced me we should do this," Steve added.

The pair asked around campus to see whether hosting was possible and decided to throw their hat in the ring. They won the bid and, since last year's USUDC at Purdue, they've been busy shoring up sponsors and conducting fundraisers, negotiating contracts with hotels, airlines and tour companies, securing volunteers and judges and covering every detail behind this major (and fully self-funded) event.

March Madness, April Apoplexy

If debate makes you think of gavels and powdered barristers' wigs, think again. USUDC will pit 190 teams against each other in 48 simultaneous debates for eight rounds. And that's even before the bracket starts. Yes, you could call it madness.

Steve likens the event to the annual NCAA basketball tournament, only hyper-condensed. "We take that entire season and March Madness and compress it into one weekend. I call it April Apoplexy," he joked.

Each round begins in the Student Union, where the topic and competition rooms are announced. From there, everyone has 15 minutes to hustle across campus in business suits while prepping their arguments with their partner. Once that 15-minute window closes, the debate begins.

Each room hosts four teams-two arguing the proposition of an issue, two arguing the opposition. Judges rank the two-person teams on the merits and substance of their argument, then everyone hustles back to the Student Union to do it all again. Every team gets a guaranteed eight rounds during the frenzied "regular season" on Saturday and Sunday.

The weekend caps off with a banquet at the Hotel Captain Cook. After the early rounds, teams can receive feedback and see their scores. However, rounds 7 and 8 are closed adjudication-no scores are posted, no changes on the leaderboard. "There's a lot of suspense going into that championship banquet," Steve noted.

At the banquet, the top 32 teams are announced and seeded into a bracket based on their cumulative scores. The show begins again Monday morning with the knockout stage at the Captain Cook-32 teams condense to 16, then eight. The Final Four return to campus and compete one last time in the Wendy Williamson, which has plenty of room for the 186 pairs who didn't make the cut.

Just like March Madness, a national champion will be crowned on Monday night.

A toast to the hosts

There's no debating the impact this tournament will have on the UAA team. Steve and Amie have worked hard the past few years to raise the debate team's profile in Anchorage, staging public debates against heavy-hitters like Stanford and Yale at local venues like Bear Tooth Theatrepub. Now, it's time for the city to see the main event.

"This is the ability to finally show people in Anchorage what a tournament looks like, because all our competitions are Outside," Steve explained. "You can talk about your experience but, unless they see what happens when 500 people are in a room and they announce the topic and they all scatter to their competition rooms, they won't get what's going on."

Additionally, hosting provides a chance for UAA's team to thank the debate community. "We've benefited a lot from the generosity of other programs, and typically the way you give back is by hosting your own tournament. Because we're so far away, we've never done that," Steve added. "The most satisfying thing for me is that ability to give back to our community."

Amie has her own visions for hosting USUDC. "I think of it as a big reunion," she said, citing the familiar faces from the debate circuit, plus the two dozen UAA alumni who will return to help run the competition.

"So many of our alumni are coming back, particularly from my time competing and before my competition time," she said. "It's just going to be really nice to watch the different generations and faces of the debaters making this happen on our campus."

"I want to set the bar, too. I want to see other things like this on the UAA campus," she continued. "It sounds overwhelming, and in some aspects it is, but it's definitely possible and I think more events like this from other programs would be great."

And then, there's the personal kicker. "I'm also a logistics nut, so I'm just really excited to see the weekend come together and see what we can do."

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Check out the debates running April 10-13. All preliminary rounds at UAA and early knockout stages at Captain Cook are open to the public. One live debate will screen each round in the Den at the Student Union, featuring the brightest stars and best teams. The debate will also be screened live on the competition's website.

The only round that requires a ticket is the final showdown at the Wendy, 7:30 p.m. on April 13. Tickets are available at uaatix.com.

Later this month, University of Oxford-the world's top university team-will cross the pond from England to take on UAA at the Performing Arts Center. Click here for tickets and information.

For general info on Seawolf Debate-including their campus intramurals and middle school program-check out their UAA website.