Puget Sound Team Wins Largest National Debate Championship In America
March 30, 2006

Tacoma, Wash. – On Monday, March 27, 2006, in an exciting final round, on indigenous fine arts education in the United States, the University of Puget Sound team of Josh Anderson and Rachel Safran defeated a team from the University of California-Berkeley to win the National Parliamentary Debate Association Championship (NPDA) at Oregon State University. 

The NPDA is the largest debate organization in the nation.  With this most recent win, the Puget Sound team is ranked the best forensics team in the country, having already won the national championship at the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence (NPTE) on March 19, 2006.

In recognizing the team’s achievements, Academic Vice President and Dean of the University Kristine Bartanen, said “We are thrilled at the success of the forensics team. Expressing yourself well is a long tradition at Puget Sound, and the team's recognition as national champions honors that tradition, as well as the hard work and dedication of the team and the faculty members who work with the students.” Members of the Puget Sound Forensics team are:

National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence:
Josh Anderson (Bellingham, Wash) and Rachel Safran (Salt Lake City, Utah)
Tanya Horlick (Auburn, Wash) and Cassie Halladin (Gresham, Ore)
Nikki Brokmeyer (Durango, CO) and Peter Campbell (Bellingham, Wash.)

National Parliamentary Debate Association:
Josh Anderson (Bellingham, Wash.) and Rachel Safran (Salt Lake City, Utah)
Cassie Halladin (Gresham, Ore.)and Tanya Horlick (Auburn, Wash.)
Nikki Brokmeyer ((Durango, CO) and Julie Housh (Albequerque, NM)
Robert Bailey (Victoria, B.C.) and Robert June (Bellingham, Wash.)
Garrett Heilman (Las Vegas, NV) and Katie Thomas (Fort Collins, CO)

Cross-Examination Debate Association:
Peter Campbell (Bellingham, Wash.) and Ryan Brassey (Boise, ID)
Liz Hoffman (Sugarland, TX) and Brittania James (Puyallup, Wash.)

Four other teams of Puget Sound students traveled to the NPDA national tournament at Oregon State University, which was held last weekend. Another two teams will compete at the Cross-Examination Debate Association (CEDA) national tournament in Dallas, TX March 31-April 5, 2006.  The 2005-06 parliamentary squad finished ranked third in overall in the nation, among 250 competing colleges and universities and over 400 member schools.

Puget Sound students compete in two forms of debate under the jurisdiction of four national organizations: team policy debate under The National Debate Tournament (NDT) and the Cross-Examination Debate Association (CEDA) and team parliamentary debate under the National Parliamentary Debate Association (NDPA) and National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence (NPTE). In total, the team has over 25 members and three coaches with three policy teams and seven parliamentary teams.

These tournaments are similar to college basketball’s ‘March Madness.’ Like the NCAA tournaments, it is exceedingly difficult to qualify. Once the teams get there, they spend their days competing in multiple preliminary debates. Once this round concludes, teams are seeded into elimination rounds.

First defined by Aristotle, forensics is the practice of legal or public discourse. While the forms of competition have changed significantly since Puget Sound first started competing over 80 years ago, the core principles of its program have not. Its goal is to provide students with critical skills of deliberation through research, analytical and critical thinking, argumentation, and the written and oral expression of ideas. For more information on student life at University of Puget Sound or the Puget Sound Forensics team, visit them online.

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