Union University’s debate team placed second in the their first in-person debate tournament at the University of Southern Mississippi, Oct. 2-4. The team competed in individual and group debate rounds.
The team placed second in the sweepstakes, which is their performance across all individuals and teams of two. Freshman business administration major Bronson Guiterrez and senior political science major Caleb Stubbs were the tournament champions in the Team division. Two debaters made it to semifinals, with senior accounting major Jake Leckrone in the Professional division, and senior political science major Audrey Mae Taylor in the Varsity division.
Taylor also won the second place Speaker Award in the Team division, which reflects the debater’s speaking skills regardless of the outcome of the round.
The Assistant Director of the Debate Team and Sociology Professor, Kayla Kemp-Brake described how the debates works, with the tournament being structured as six preliminary rounds in every division. The competitors enter an elimination-round bracket where after each match, one of them is eliminated from the tournament.
“Even if our debaters get eliminated, then they’re helping their teammates prep,” Kemp-Brake said. “Each individual debater’s win is a win for all of us.”
Senior music major Daisy Murfey has been on the debate team for four years, but this is her first tournament competing in the Professional division. The Professional division has the same topics and general stye as the Varsity division but competitors could be volunteers, alumni, professors, or lawyers, which leads to an added layer of complexity.
“It has a different set of challenges, Murfey said. “Obviously, if you’re going to debate against someone who’s a professor or a lawyer, they have a lot more experience than you because you’re in college, but I wouldn’t say it’s any more challenging than Varsity.”
She described Varsity as being more competitive in tone as people tend to be more serious.
Not all topics are evenly balanced towards both the affirmative and the negative, with topics ranging from AI policies to the best book in the Hunger Games.
Murfey described one topic in particular where the slant was towards her. She debated whether actress Hayley Williams should focus on her solo career over Paramore.
“The resolution was very much slanted towards me because of the information that was available,” Murfey said.
This made it easier for her to win even though she was the affirmative despite the negative side tending to win more. The twenty person team will compete again Oct. 23-25 at Middle Tennessee State University. It will be their third tournament of four this semester.
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