Middle and High School Students Train at Hurricane Debate Institute

More than 40 middle- and high-school students from about a dozen Miami-Dade schools trained and competed in the 23rd annual Hurricane Debate Institute at the School of Communication over three week-long sessions in June and July. Students learned speech and argument skills, public forum, policy debate, student congress debate and Lincoln-Douglas debate. 

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UM Debate Team Hosts Historic Bilingual Tournament

Debate legend Alfred “Tuna” Snider, of the University of Vermont, addresses the tournament participants.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (January 29, 2014) — Student debaters representing five countries in the Western Hemisphere gathered at the University of Miami in January for what is believed to be the first bilingual university debate tournament in the U.S.

Teams from Chile, Colombia, Jamaica, the United States, and Venezuela were represented in the inaugural Pan American Universities Debating Championships hosted by the School of Communication from January  24 to 26 on the Coral Gables campus. Rounds were debated simultaneously in both English and Spanish with topics ranging from an independent Puerto Rico, to the morality of killing Osama Bin Laden, to the promotion of nudist beaches.

The tournament brought together two British Parliamentary debate legends for the first time, Alfred “Tuna” Snider of the University of Vermont, and Arlan Narvaez from Universidad Central de Venezuela, who served as chief adjudicators.

In the final round of the English division, four states in the four corners of the U.S.—California (California Polytechnic State University), Oregon (Willamette University), Georgia (Morehouse College), and Vermont (University of Vermont)—were represented.

Morehouse took home the win after an hour-long debate about establishing Spanish as the official language in certain U.S. regions.

Debating the same topic Sunday evening, Colombia’s Universidad de Rosario won the Spanish division.

University of Miami debaters Spencer George, left, and David Silverman participate in the historic bilingual debate hosted by the University of Miami.

Top speaker awards and other finalist trophies were presented. The tournament was coordinated by Miami student debaters and overseen by head and assistant debate coaches Dave Steinberg, Patrick Waldinger, and Randall Martinez.

“I am proud and honored to have the privilege of working with this group,” said Steinberg, director of debate at UM. “I feel this tournament was our best team success to date.”

By Renee Reneau

UM News

Renee Reneau can be reached at 305-284-5500.

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Pan American UDC 2014

Pan American UDC 2014, a set on Flickr.

Photos from the Pan American University Debating Championship. The first ever bilingual university debate tournament in U.S. history.

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University of Miami to host the 2014 Pan American University Debating Championship

The University of Miami debate team is excited to be hosting the Pan American University Debating Championship January 24th - 26th, 2014. The competition will bring in students from universities across the U.S., Latin America, and Europe to debate contemporary topics that effect a globalized world. Students will be able to compete in either English or Spanish language British parliamentary format debates. For more information check out the tournament page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CPUD2014

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Team hosts presidential debate watch party

The team has been making strides on campus by hosting and participating in various co-sponsored events with each of the campus political parties concerning the upcoming presidential elections. At the beginning of October, members of the debate squad participated in a mock healthcare debate concerning the highly controversial piece of legislation the Affordable Healthcare Act of 2010. After playing the role of politicians, the team then hosted over one hundred and fifty students at a presidential debate watch party on the night of the first showdown between President Obama and Governor Romney. The crowd was electric for this event with many students cheering on their favorite candidates, tweeting instant reactions to the event, and agreeing over the deliciousness of the free pizza provided by the team.  

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UM Debate plays host in the Ibis High School Debate Tournament

 

The team played host to various high school debate squads throughout the state by resurrecting the high school Ibis Debate Tournament here on campus. A number of schools throughout the state of Florida descended upon Coral Gables to debate the topic of transportation infrastructure investment within the United States. The UM debaters served as judges, ballot runners, as well as tabulation staff to ensure the tournament experience was enjoyed by all those who attended. Kenny McCafferey, coach of the Berkeley Prep team that won the competition and UM alumni said, “This tournament was ran 

better than it’s ever been ran before. And that includes the years that I ran the tournament.”

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Open House for new members!

The team will be holding an open house for all interested members this Friday, August 24th at 3:30 p.m. in WCB 4026 (Wolfson School of Communication). 

Participation on the team is open to all undergraduate students at the University of Miami and no experience is required. If you'd like to join the team, but cannot make it to the Friday meeting, contact Coach Dave Steinberg at Dave@miami.edu.  

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Presidential Debate Viewing Parties

The University of Miami Debate Team will be hosting a number of viewing parties for the upcoming Presidential and Vice Presidential debates. Save the dates below and we will post more details once we have ironed them out.

1st Presidential Debate - October 3rd
VP Debate - October 11th
2nd Presidential Debate - October 16th
3rd Presidential Debate - October 22nd

*All debates begin at 9:00 p.m. EST
.

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Spring Involvement Fair Tomorrow!

Calling all Canes! Wednesday from 11:00 - 2:00, the debate team will be tabling on the green looking for new recruits. This time around the team is looking to expand to new events such as Lincoln-Douglas, Interp and Parli.

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