Debate team looks to be on top

By Sharon Christensen, On-Line Forty-Niner

Monday, October 19, 1998

After performing well at warm-up tournaments, the Cal State Long Beach Speech and Debate team is looking ahead to a promising season.

The team's top debaters, Kevin Johnson and Kristine Clancy, placed eighth in a field of more than 20 competitors in policy debate at Cal State Fresno. Two parliamentary debaters went undefeated at Azusa Pacific University among teams from more than 25 universities and colleges.

"We have some of the most intelligent, hardworking and naturally talented people on the CSULB campus on this team," said Matt Taylor, director of forensics. "Fresno reminded the regional community that Long Beach would be a force to be reckoned with during the 1998-99 season," said Matt Stannard, assistant coach for policy debate.

Having begun their semester the first week of August, the members of the forensics team spent 20 hours a week researching the season's policy topic.

The topic this semester is Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal law delineating minority discrimination protections. The team is proposing an amendment.

Thirteen separate events lie within the scope of speech and debate: policy debate, parliamentary debate and individual events ranging from interpretation of literature to persuasive speaking.

Of a core team membership of 25 students, the CSULB team consists of four policy and four parliamentary debate teams consisting of two students each and several individual competitors.

Clancy and Johnson are the only two returning policy debaters on this season's squad.

Johnson, a senior communication studies major, was recruited by CSULB after his first season debating for Orange Coast College. Johnson, who debated at Buena Park High School before OCC, is considered one of the most successful and most learned competitors, Taylor said.

Johnson credits the "awesome coaching staff" with the team's early success. The team's coaches include two national champion coaches and four coaches ranked in the Top 10 nationally during their years as competitors.

Stannard and Victor Rodriguez, a graduate student and former competitor for USC, are the coaching staff for policy debate.

There are three divisions of debate competitors: varsity, junior and novice divisions. Novice division is for the beginner's first year in competition.

With a mostly novice team, Taylor's goals for the team seem lofty, although he said they are not unrealistic.

"For policy debate, we'd like to have a team in the Top 16 in the country," Taylor said.

For the parliamentary event, Taylor wants CSULB to compete in the Top 64 nationally.

In two weeks, Taylor said he hopes to send two policy debate teams to the University of Central Oklahoma for national competition.