US Universities Debating Championship

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The US Universities Debating Championship (USUDC) is the largest British Parliamentary debating tournament in the United States, and one of the largest debate tournaments in the world. The event is held for college and university students attending school in the United States, and is hosted by a different university each year. The host is selected by the member schools of the US Universities Debate Association. The event determines the National Champions for the year. [1]

Contents

Most recently the tournament was hosted by Hobart and William Smith Colleges in October 2023. The current National Champions are Xiao-ke Lu and Jacquelynn Lin from Princeton University. The Novice (first year) division was won by Cayden Pocrass and Ellena Kim from the University of California, Los Angeles. [2]

Format

USUDC is held in a format based on the World Universities Debating Championship. The tournament is held in April, before most American colleges hold their final exams. In recent years about 180 teams have competed at the tournament. [1] Since 2015, only students registered at an American college or university may compete in playoff rounds and be made National Champion, but students from foreign schools can still compete. Before 2015, foreign schools were allowed to compete in playoffs, resulting in a 2012 championship where separate tournament champions and national champions were crowned.

Each team consists of two students from the same college or university. In a given debate they will compete against three other teams simultaneously. A motion, or proposition, is given to the teams fifteen minutes before the debate. Two teams are assigned to defend the motion while the other two teams are to oppose it. The teams are judged by a panel of judges, who rank them from first place to fourth place based on respective contributions and assign scores to each person based on the quality of their speech. In a debate, teams typically go against teams with a similar record as themselves, based on a scoring system where first place in a previous round is worth three points, second worth two, third worth one, and fourth worth none. If a team had six points after three rounds, then they would expect to compete against other teams with six points. [3]

After six or eight preliminary rounds there is a "break," announced at the banquet on the second day, where the top thirty-two teams progress to the third day. On day three, rounds are elimination rounds, where the bottom two teams in a round do not progress. Rounds progress through octofinals, then quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, where the National Champion is named. Seeding for octofinals is based on the cumulative points the team had at the end of preliminary rounds.

Novices, teams consisting of students in their first year of collegiate debate, have a separate break to novice quarterfinals or semifinals should they not make the open octofinals. A subsequent novice final then crowns the Novice Champion.

Scoring system

In contrast with most major BP tournaments, such as WUDC, USUDC is notable in that since 2020 it has used a tapered scoring system rewarding different multiples of points depending on the round. [4] For instance, in some preliminary rounds first place receives six points, second place receives four points, third place receives two points, and fourth place receives none. This system seeks to remedy an inherent flaw in the standard BP points and matchup system, formally analyzed in a 2020 paper by Barnes et. al:

Because of the scoring in BP, teams competing in lower rooms often score enough points to advance on the tab above a large number of teams who were competing in higher rooms. This leap-frogging over other teams in higher rooms is widely acknowledged, though people may not fully understand how disruptive this is to getting an accurate ordering on the tab.

— R. Eric Barnes, Paul Kehle, Nick McKenny, and Chuan-Zheng Lee, "Break Accuracy: Optimizing the Sorting Power of Preliminary Rounds Using Tapered Points", International Debate Magazine (2020)

The problem of sorting teams based on skill in order to generate a fair break is compared by the authors to the Brazil nut effect, where the largest nuts in a package of mixed nuts rise to the top of the container during transport because of shaking. Laboratory experiments have shown that shaking equally vigorously throughout the process is less efficient than gradually decreasing the vigorousness over time, because applying as much force at a nearly-sorted state as was used initially ends up disrupting the sort. [5] Barnes et al.'s analysis shows that this phenomenon is similarly present in standard BP scoring, and that many different tapered scoring systems, where the amount of points awarded decreases each preliminary round, significantly outperform the standard equal round point system in producing skill-accurate breaks.

US Universities Debate Association

The US Universities Debate Association (USUDA) is the body which governs USUDC. It was founded in 2013 in order to organize the British Parliamentary debate circuit in the United States. [1] They select the host for the next USUDC each year. Membership in the USUDA is open to all colleges and universities in the United States.

Tournaments by Year

Harvard has won the Championship five times, Yale and Princeton twice, and no other school more than once. In 2018, Harvard became the first school to successfully defend the title. In 2023, Xiao-ke Lu became the first person to win the Championship more than once. [1]

YearHost InstitutionNational ChampionFinalist TeamsTop Speaker
2023 Hobart and William Smith Colleges Jacquelynn Lin & Xiao-ke Lu, Princeton University Matt Mauriello & Annushka Agarwal, Harvard University; Muzamil Godil & Justin Wu, Johns Hopkins University; Kaustubh Jain & Sheryar Ahmad, Princeton University Xiao-ke Lu, Princeton University
2022 Hobart and William Smith Colleges Arthur Lee & Tejas Subramaniam, Stanford University Jane Mentzinger & Greg Weaving, Princeton University; Matt Song & Michael Ning, Yale University; Rohan Kapoor & Benny Nicholson, University of Chicago Greg Weaving, Princeton University & Tejas Subramaniam, Stanford University
2021 [lower-alpha 1] University of Pennsylvania Canceled
2020 [lower-alpha 2] Hobart and William Smith Colleges Xiao-ke Lu & Greg Weaving, Princeton University Jay Gibbs & Jaewan Park, University of Chicago; Devesh Kodnani & Brian Li, University of Chicago; Preston Johnston & Shreyas Kumar, Princeton University Anish Welde, University of Pennsylvania
2019 Clemson University Jenny Jiao & Salil Mitra, Duke University Aditya Dhar & Michel Nehme, Harvard University; Ko Lyn Cheang & Lorenzo Pinasco, Yale University; Harry Meadows & Abby Westberry, Bates College Ko Lyn Cheang, Yale University
2018 Stanford University Vedant Bahl & Mars He, Harvard University Benjamin Muschol & Will Smith, Northeastern University; Harry Elliott & Bobbi Leet, Stanford University; William Arnesen & Charlie Barton, Yale University Harry Elliott, Stanford University
2017 Regis University & University of Denver Archie Hall & Alex Wu, Harvard University David Slater & Elana Leone, Stanford University; Harry Elliot & Bobbi Leet, Stanford University; Daniel Stoyell & Rebecca Blair, Cornell University Zoë Seaman-Grant, Bates College
2016 Morehouse College Drew Latimer & Jeremy Chen, Tufts University Dhruva Bhat & Danny DeBois, Harvard University; Evan Lynyak & Henry Zhang, Yale University; Harry Elliott & Taahir Munshi, Stanford University Harry Elliott, Stanford University
2015 University of Alaska, Anchorage Tony Nguyen & Edwin Zhang, Yale University Tiffany Keung & Alex Mechanick, Brown University; Fanele Mashwama & Bo Seo Harvard University; Rodjé Malcolm & Emanuel Waddell, Morehouse College Matt Summers, Bates College
2014 Purdue University Taylor Blackburn & Jac Stewart, Bates College Kirat Singh & Srinath Reddy, Cornell University; Colin Etnire & Krikor Kouyoumdjian, Loyola Marymount University; Michael Barton & Sam Ward-Packard, Yale University Michael Barton, Yale University & Sam Ward-Packard Yale University
2013 University of La Verne Ben Kornfeld & Sam Ward-Packard, Yale University Chris Axtman & Megan Towles, Carroll College; Colin Etnire & Dearv O’Crowley Loyola Marymount University; Emma Pierson & Andrew Suciu, Stanford University Ben Kornfeld, Yale University
2012 [lower-alpha 3] Willamette University Tournament Champions: Christine Simpson & Michael O’Dwyer, University College Dublin; National Champions: Buzz Klinger & Will McConnell, Hobart and William Smith Colleges Maxwell Dovala & Kate Falkenstein, Yale University; Kamya Chandra & Nipun Mahajan, St. John's University Sam Ward-Packard, Yale University
2011 University of Vermont Cormac Early & Jo Box, Harvard University Sarah Carpenter & Amie Stanley, University of Alaska, Anchorage; Maxwell Dovala & Kate Falkenstein, Yale University; Angela Kintominas & David Maher [lower-alpha 4] , University of New South Wales Cormac Early, Harvard University
2010 Regis University & University of Denver Charlie Sprague & Jesse Katz-Blumenthal, Claremont Colleges Aaron Baker & Lindsay Bing, Portland State University; Alex Campbell & Anish Mitra, Stanford University; Nate Blevins & Naz El-Khatib, Yale University Colin Haughey, University of Alaska, Anchorage
2009 University of Vermont Lewis Bollard & Ben Belser, Harvard University Mike Aguilera & Kevin Kiley, Loyola Marymount University; Robert Embree & Monica Ferris [lower-alpha 4] , Hart House; Doug Cochran & Daniel Warrents, Middle Temple Daniel Warrents, Middle Temple
2008 Portland State University Alexander Schwab & Kevin Kiley, Loyola Marymount University Charles Sprague & Kari Wohlschlegel, Claremont Colleges; Rob Ruiz & Thomas Allison, University of La Verne; Michael Imeson & James Kilcup, Seattle University Kari Wohlschlegel Claremont Colleges
2007 Claremont McKenna College Josh Martin & Rob Ruiz, University of La Verne Matt Contreras & Courtney Crooks, Loyola Marymount University; Dan Adler & Eric Sanelle, Portland State University; Brian Kettles and Julie Liztwan [lower-alpha 4] , University of Alberta & University of Calgary Julia Liztwan, University of Alberta
2006 Claremont McKenna College Samuel Myat San & Alexander Schwab, Harvard University Tom Lassen & Chris Kolerok, University of Alaska, Anchorage; Adam Chilton & David Denton, Yale University, Chris Jones & Monica Ferris [lower-alpha 4] , Athabasca University David Denton, Yale University
2005 Claremont McKenna College Michael Rose & Tom Lassen, University of Alaska, Anchorage Chris Kolerok & Rose Helens-Hart, University of Alaska, Anchorage; Martin Pinnes & Daniel Streim, Colgate University; Ashish Sinha & Michael Ferris [lower-alpha 4] , University of British Columbia Josh Martin, University of La Verne

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The 2021 Penn USUDC was canceled after reports of racism and mistreatment against Black debaters from Morehouse College, led by Ken Newby, Dan Edwards, and Caleb Strickland prompted a protest and withdrawal of a number of participating teams.
  2. ↑ The University of Chicago was originally scheduled to host in April 2020, but this event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hobart and William Smith Colleges hosted a delayed, online edition in October 2020.
  3. ↑ In 2012, at Willamette, a team from Ireland won the Grand Final. In the event, the judging panel selected as National Champions the best team representing an American institution in the final, while the Irish were declared Tournament Champions.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Prior to 2015, international institutions were allowed to compete in elimination rounds at the USUDC.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "USUDAHistory".
  2. ↑ "USUDC 2023 Results".
  3. ↑ "USUDA About".
  4. ↑ "2022 USUDC at HWS (US National Debate Championship Tournament)".
  5. ↑ Ascencio, K.; Acevedo, M.; Zuriguel, I.; Maza, D. (2017). ""Experimental study of ordering of hard cubes by shearing."". Phys. Rev. Lett. 119 (22). doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.228002.
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