 "Photo: Courtesy of David Romanelli")
Loyola’s debate team has had one of its most successful seasons yet. Ranked number 28 out of 954 teams in the National Parliamentary Debate Association, Loyola’s debate team has been invited to the national tournament.
The National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence at Azusa Pacifica University in California is a competition for the top 50 teams in the country and will take place from March 27-29.
However, the team will not be attending the national tournament because it has already committed to a tournament at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Tex., from March 27-30. Senior Matthew Muir, sophomore Elvis Veizi and freshmen Andrea Schmidl and Grace Labriola will be attending the tournament in Texas.
There are currently 54 speakers on the Loyola debate team with eight members on the traveling team.
The team’s most recent win was the Wheaton Tournament on Feb. 12-13 hosted by Wheaton College. Muir and Veizi came out on top with a 7-8 victory against their opponents in the preliminary rounds at the Wheaton Tournament. This win pushed them into the quarterfinals.
Muir, the team’s president, a senior and political science major, has been a member of the team for four years. He says he joined the debate team because he enjoys advanced issues in political science.
In the weeks leading up to tournaments, Muir can be found scouring the news to review topics. Veizi, debate team vice president, is a sophomore with a double major in political science and communication.
The debate team’s victory culminated during a resolution on whether President Obama should cancel his meeting with the Dalai Lama. Muir and Veizi won the debate on a 3-0 decision, meaning all three judges voted for them.
“Winning on a 3-0 decision when arguing such a tough position makes the victory even more worthy,” Veizi said.
Over the weekend, members of Loyola’s team judged the Chicago Debate League Championship held at Farragut Career Academy. The championship is part of the Chicago Urban Debate League, which works with public high schools and middle schools to help students research and learn how to construct arguments and use rhetoric through the medium of debate. Members of the Loyola debate team volunteer as judges at the Urban Debate League throughout the year.
“Just to see these kids get involved and learning about debate is great for me,” Muir said.
3 comments
Go Ramblers!
Thanks.
-Rachel Henry