Written by Randi Tubbs // Graphic by Ben Evans
Harding University’s debate team traveled to Shreveport, Louisiana, last month to compete at the Southern Forensics Championship Tournament, hosted by LSU-Shreveport. The group arrived Friday, Jan. 19, debated in six general rounds Jan. 20, and stayed Jan. 21 for the elimination rounds.
Senior Abby Long competed in varsity, junior Hengel Zelaya competed in junior varsity, and sophomore Autumn Miller and senior Lindsay Walton competed in novice. There were a wide range of schools that also competed, from Notre Dame to Mississippi State to community colleges. Walton was the top performer with a 4-2 record in the preliminary rounds, and she advanced to the elimination rounds in novice debate.
Walton joined the debate team her sophomore year, but became more active and attended her first tournament her junior year. She said she has deviated from the route of going to law school since joining the team, but she continues to debate because she enjoys it. She described her time debating as “riveting.”
“It’s exciting to become very familiar with a topic in less than 30 minutes,” Walton said. “The debate team has helped me improve skills such as critical thinking, public speaking, researching and the ability to form an argument under time constraints. It also has helped me understand the idea that there’s two different sides to an argument.”
The debate was conducted under the International Public Debate Association system, essentially meaning there is a new topic each round. The recent debate was primarily one-to-one, or Lincoln- Douglas style, with one arguing affirmative and the other debating negative. The debaters received 30 minutes of preparation time once the topic was chosen.
“Parts of the tournament can be stressful,” Walton said. “The results for each round aren’t posted until very late that night or the next morning. I didn’t find out which debates I won until 11 p.m. that night, even though we started debating at 10 a.m. that morning. It’s difficult not receiving immediate feedback after a debate.”
Miller is currently in her third semester on the team and also competed in the recent tournament in novice debate with a 3-3 record. Miller has been debating since high school and said debate helps with speaking off the top of her head, her confidence and her general knowledge. Sunday morning of the tournament, the coach of the team, Dr. Jared Dockery, associate professor of communication, got into contact with a local church to have a small service for the students.
“[The service] was really good for us to regain our focus and set a foundation for our day,” Miller said. “[Dockery] makes it so much fun for us, he does whatever he can to make sure we get something out of it. He does a lot of work for us so that we can have a good time but also so that we can do well.”
Dockery was on the debate team as a student at Harding in the 1990s, and his dad was a member in the early ‘70s. Dockery is an advocate for debating and its benefits.
“Debate is useful because it forced me to consider both sides of an issue and made me examine issues more critically than I might not otherwise have done,” Dockery said. “I like to use the motto from the Bible, iron sharpening iron.”
The team competed at the End of Hi-BEAR-Nation Debate Tournament, hosted by the University of Central Arkansas in Conway Feb. 2-4. Junior Madeline Hansen Broshears advanced to the final round in novice debate. She ended up placing second in the novice division, out of 44 competitors, and she compiled a record of seven wins and three losses for the tournament. Long advanced to the first elimination round in varsity debate, and finished the tournament with a 5-2 record. Miller won fifth place in the best speaker competition in novice debate.
“I was also very pleased with Reed Wilson, who won three debates even though this was her first debate tournament since last March,” Dockery said. “For that matter, it was also Madeline’s first debate tournament since last March, which makes her accomplishment this weekend all the more remarkable.”
The team continues to meet for practice every Tuesday and Thursday, which involves practice debates. After each debate, Dockery requires a one-page report of a self-assessment and ways to improve their skills.
