After an exhausting three days of policy debates, the Cal State Long Beach forensics squad took fifth place last weekend in a tournament at Cal State Sacramento.
The competition, which attracted 16 teams from 12 universities across the country, consisted of six preliminary debates. Eight teams, including CSULB advanced to quarter final rounds.
Kevin Johnson, a junior, and Kristine Clancy, a first-year student, received eighth and ninth place speaking awards respectively. Charles Clinch, a Cypress College student on the team, clinched the third place award
The debate topic for the students was "U.S. Security Assistance Toward Southeast Asia." The communication studies majors, have worked more than 18 hours a week since September researching and drilling for this and other competitions they attend most every weekend.
"It takes a lot of hard work," said Matt Taylor, director of forensics at CSULB. "It's really great to see them perform at this level against so many teams." Cal State Chico took first place at the tournament and Pace University came in second place. Each university was allowed to submit multiple debate teams consisting of two students each. The University of Oregon, Wichita State University and New York's Pace University were some of the universities at the event.
The next scheduled debate tournament will be held this weekend at Cal State Northridge. Taylor said there will be approximately 40 universities from across the country attending.
The CSUN tournament will use two debate styles -- policy debate and parliamentary debate. Policy debate style is a format requiring students to have well-researched information.
Parliamentary debate requires less research by the student. The student relies more on basic knowledge of current events. The focus may change in the course of the debate, Taylor said.
The members of debate team are full-time students, and some have full-time jobs all well, according to Taylor. He said they dedicate a good amount of time to prepare for competitions, attending three each month.
Taylor said the team is like an "academic sport team."