Main Page Schedule Results News Tournaments-Camp Rhetoric

Whitman Speech and Debate
	Join our Team Whitman’s Speech and Debate Program is nationally competitive, educational and a lot of fun. Join us! If you are interested, email Jim at hansonjb@whitman.edu
Miranda and Mitch as well as Meritt and Emma enjoy a team get-together. Check out the History of our Squad	Whitman offers you an outstanding education at a Tier One National Liberal Arts Schools coupled with one of the most successful Forensics programs in the country! The Whitman College Speech and Debate team is proud of its tradition of excellence. We offer a comprehensive intramural and interscholastic program of competitive debate. On our campus, we host the Dovell-Gose Oratory Contest and Intramural Debate Contest. Both activities involve students who are interested in improving their speaking skills and communication about contemporary issues. Interscholastically, we offer competition in Policy debate and Parliamentary debate plus Speaking Events (Extemp, Impromptu, Persuasive, Informative, and After Dinner Speaking). In all of these events, our program emphasizes public policy argumentation. We travel in the Northwest, the West Coast, and throughout the country at national circuit tournaments. The comprehensive focus of our squad matches the high quality liberal arts education of Whitman College: Excellence in a well-rounded program of study.
Whitman College is a nationally ranked liberal arts school, rated in the highest category of Barron's Guide to Colleges and in the top tier of US News and World Report's Ranking. We have excellent programs in Politics, Rhetoric, History, Biology, English, Economics, among many others. We have cooperative programs in law with Columbia; in engineering with Duke, U. Washington, Washington U.-St. Louis, and the California Technology Institute; in forestry and environmental management with Duke; in international studies with the Monterey Institute of International studies, oceanography with the U. Washington; and teacher education with the Bank Street College of Education. At Whitman College, the quality of your education will be excellent. The average class size at Whitman is 14 with a student/faculty ratio of slightly over 10:1. You will work personally with professors--not teaching assistants. Your course work will expose you to a diversity of learning experiences including social sciences, humanities, fine arts and physical sciences. The faculty is excellent. The students you spend time and work with are hard working, caring people who are among the nation's brightest based on their SAT scores and GPA.	Allison and Alex advanced to the finals at the 2012 CEDA Nationals. Satinder, Tom, Paige, and Michelle enjoy a team get together relishing in their 2012 Northwest JV championship and NPDA national elimination performances. Some of our outstanding graduates: Charles Olney (NDT First Speaker); Beth Pearson (Rhodes Scholar, NPTE Qualifier), Scott Thompson and Bridget Kustin (NPDA 2^nd in the Nation). Compare Whitman with other Schools
The team had a blast at Knott’s Berry Farm in early January. We often go there during the Cal Swing. Whitman College Admission What can I study at Whitman? Check out the departments on campus	Whitman travels to tournaments with the highest quality competition. Our Policy teams go to quality West Coast tournaments and for especially committed and competitive teams, Wake Forest, Kentucky, Northwestern, Harvard. Our Parli teams compete in the Northwest, one of the most competitive in the country and also go to Washburn, the Mile High Swing, NPDA, and NPTE Nationals. You will find the atmosphere at these tournaments friendly and supportive. Many of the best friends of students on our squad are from other schools. When you join our squad, you will improve your debating skills. We handle business over our e-mail listserv and the rest is preparation and practice. We’ll work with you on policy research assignments, parliamentary case writing and extemp tub work. We have practice drills, strategy sessions, and practice debates. We emphasize public policy argumentation—plans and counterplans, advantages and disadvantages, and kritiks. We are not a performance or project squad. Students who compete on our squad receive one or two credits each semester.
Whitman debaters have broken at over 90% of the tournaments we have attended during the past 21 years. We had three teams in elims at the 2010 CEDA Nationals, a 2010 First Round NDT Team, and the 2012 CEDA National Champion runnerups. Over the past 10 years, we have had 9 teams in elims at the NDT and 36 teams in elims at CEDA Nationals. We have been in elims at Wake Forest, Georgia State, Kentucky, USC, Fullerton, UC Berkeley and Northwestern during the past five years. Our Parliamentary debaters have taken first place in the nation as a squad (2005 and 2010, 2011, 2012) and have been in finals at both the NPTE and NPDA National Championships. We have taken multiple first place, semis, quarters, and octas awards during the past five years. 5 of our teams advanced to elims at the 2011 NPDA National Championship and we had a 2^nd place team at the 2011 NPTE.	The Parliamentary Debate Team, national champions for three years in a row. During the 2011-12 season, the squad won over 100 debate and 30 speaking awards. We were in finals at the 2012 NPDA National Championship and finals at the 2011 NPTE. The Team's Travel Schedule Check out the team’s accommodations at the Hunter Conservatory
Each year, over 100 participants join us for the Whitman National Debate Institute. WNDI DEBATE CAMP—come to our campus and work with the students and coaches on our team!	We have many resources including three “preparation rooms” each with six computers with dual monitors, wireless networking, 15 laptops, and Lexis access for all team members. Coaches Director of Forensics, Jim Hanson (Three time Coach of the Year Winner) Policy Coach, Alex Zendeh (3 time NDT qualifier, CEDA Nationals Championship runner up, competed in elims at Northwestern, Georgia State, USC, Kentucky, Texas) Parliamentary Debate-Speaking Events Coach, Nigel Ramoz-Leslie (Advanced at Every National Circuit Tournament, NPTE 2^nd in the Nation, Coach of the Number One NPDA Program in the Country) Parliamentary and Policy Debate Coach, Zach Tschida (Top 10 NPTE Debater, One of the most preferred judges in debate) Student Team Assistants Olivia Kipper and Satinder Haer
Check out the latest news about the team by looking at the latest edition of The Team Newsletter. Head to the Whitman College Home Page Whitman Debate Main Page Contact Current Members of the Team Visit our campus by attending the Whitman HS Tournament
For more information about Whitman College Debate, just email Jim Hanson and tell him you are interested. He is at: hansonjb@whitman.edu E-mail is the best way to contact Jim office phone--509-527-5499 fax--509-527-4959 Postal Mailing Address: Jim Hanson Director of Forensics Whitman College Walla Walla WA 99362 Students interested in applying for a scholarship should email Jim Hanson by February 15. Presidential and Salzman-Medica Debate Scholarship applications are usually due by February 28. Questions should be directed to Jim Hanson at hansonjb@whitman.edu