The University of Notre Dame Debate Team will host its Irish Invitational national tournament Friday to Sunday (Feb. 10 to 12) in DeBartolo Hall.
Some 75 teams consisting of two students each will be competing from 20 schools, including the University of Illinois, Miami University of Ohio, Wheaton College, University of Texas at San Antonio, Case Western Reserve, and Marquette, Loyola and John Carroll Universities.
All debates, to be held in some 50 DeBartolo classrooms, are free and open to the public.
Parliamentary debate topics, which change with each round, will include affirmative action at universities, the U.N. and Iran, immigration policy, military recruiting on campuses, U.S. economic policy toward African nations, and reality TV.
The policy debate resolution, which remains the same throughout the academic year, is titled “Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase diplomatic and economic pressure on the People’s Republic of China in one or more of the following areas: trade, human rights, weapons nonproliferation, Taiwan.”
The Notre Dame Debate Team, which is composed of students from Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College and Holy Cross College, this year formed its first policy debate team in more than a decade, thanks to the support of alumnus William T. Carey and his wife, Helen.
Debate Team members travel to several national tournaments each year and have competed successfully against other prominent teams from California, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas and Illinois. The team belongs to the National Debate Tournament, the most expansive competitive debate organization in the country.
Contact: Susan Ohmer, director of debate, 574-631-7671, sohmer@nd.edu
Originally published by at newsinfo.nd.edu on February 07, 2006.