Joining the Whitman Forensics Program

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

Allison Humble and Dave Mathews enjoy Chili at 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 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). 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.	Eric and Matt were NDT First Round Bids and Octafinalists. Nate and Daniel, current team members, advanced to elims at the 2008 NDT. 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 frequently 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. 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 Texas Tech, Long Beach, 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 95% of the tournaments we have attended during the past 17 years. In the past five years, we took first place in policy debate at over 30 tournaments, we had five teams in elims at the 2009 CEDA Nationals and a 2009 First Round NDT Team. Over the past 10 years, we have had multiple teams in elims at the NDT, won the CEDA National Championship, and had over 40 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, have been in finals at both the NPTE and NPDA National Championships and were 7^th as a squad in 2009. We have taken multiple first place, semis, quarters, and octas awards during the past five years. All 3 of our teams advanced to elims at the 2009 NPDA National Championship and we had a 16^th place team at the 2009 NPTE.	The Parliamentary Debate Team. During the 2008-09 season, the squad was in finals of every novice and junior division it attended and advanced open division teams 11 times into elims at different tournaments including the national circuit Pacific tournament, NPDA Nats, and the NPTE. 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 six computers with dual monitors, wireless networking, 15 laptops, and Lexis access for all team members. Director of Forensics, Jim Hanson (Three time Coach of the Year Winner), Policy Coach, Aaron Hardy (NDT Top 5 Ranked Team and Semi-Finalist); Assistant Policy Coach Jimi Durkee (5^th, CEDA Nats, NDT Doubles, West Georgia Semis); Parliamentary Debate-Speaking Events Coach, Nick Robinson (Advanced at Every National Circuit Tournament, NPDA Quarters, NPTE 4^th Ranked Team in the Nation); and Student Team Assistant Nick Griffin (17^th, CEDA Nationals; 17^th, NPDA Nationals).
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