Joining the Whitman Forensics Team

Bridget Kustin, Nav Rehki, Hannah Elisha enjoy the team’s end of the year party. 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 Policy and Parli 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 and Impromptu). We travel extensively in the Northwest and, particularly in the spring, 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.	Some of our outstanding recent graduates: Charles Olney (NDT First Speaker); Thad Blank (NDT Semi-finalist), 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 go there or Disneyland 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. 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 and debates. We discuss strategies with our teams. Students schedule their own times for practice but we work with an approach emphasizing group work and team unity. Students who compete on our squad receive one or two credits each semester.
Whitman debaters have broken at over 95% of the tournaments we have attended during the past 14 years. In the past five years, we took first place in policy debate at over 30 tournaments, we had six teams in elims at the 2006 CEDA Nationals, we were in semis at the 2003 NDT including first speaker, and we won the 1999 CEDA National Championship! We placed first at the Northwest CEDA Championship five of the past six times, we were in finals at Northwestern, quarters at Wake Forest, and first at Gonzaga and Pepperdine. Our Parliamentary debaters took first place in the nation as a squad for 2004-05, took 2^nd at the 2004 NPTE, and took 2^nd at the 2005 NPDA Nationals. We have taken multiple first place, semis, quarters, and octas awards during the past five years.	The Parliamentary Debate Team gears up for another tournament. The Team's Travel Schedule & Syllabus WNDI DEBATE CAMP—come to our campus and work with the students and coaches on our team!
Each year, over 100 participants join us for the Whitman National Debate Institute. Check out the team’s accommodations at the Hunter Conservatory	We have many resources including three “preparation rooms” each with four to six computers, wireless networking, Lexis access for all team members, portable computers, Director of Forensics, Jim Hanson (Three time Coach of the Year Winner), Assistant Parliamentary Debate-Speaking Events Coach, Rob Olsen (17^th, NPDA Nats; 23^rd, NPTE); Assistant Policy Coach, Aaron Hardy (NDT Top 5 Ranked Team and Semi-Finalist); National Circuit Policy Assistant Ross Richendrfer (NDT First Round Team, NDT Octa-Finalist, Quarters CEDA Nationals); and Intramural Debate Coordinator and Student Team Assistants Christine Simbolon and Navdeep Aujla (Student Assistants).
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, contact Jim Hanson at: e-mail--hansonjb@whitman.edu Note: E-mailing is preferred and assures the quickest response 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 contact 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