Support the Cornell Speech & Debate Team's on-campus competitions and events.
Over the 2016 - 2017 academic year, over 300 college students from around the country will be coming to Cornell to compete in speech and debate events. Hosting competitions on our home-turf gives the entire Cornell community the chance to engage with critical conversations on issues of national and international interest like climate change, civil liberties, and global security.
In addition to our highly successful Policy Debate, Worlds Debate and Speech programs, our Spanish Language Debate program has been growing a strong campus base. We are proud to host events highlighting each of our squads during the upcoming Spring semester, but we will need your help to support this programming here on campus.
The costs of meals, building access, custodial services, trophies and judge sponsorship make hosting high quality events challenging, even for Big Red Speech & Debate. In line with the Cornell tradition, we hope to be gracious hosts as well as providers of top-quality competition.
2016-2017 On Campus Speech & Debate Events
February 10-12, 2017
- Tournament of Love – Annual Policy Debate competition offering multiple competitive divisions, matching up regional rivals from West Point to Rochester.
- Novice National Championship – Worlds Debate Novice National Championship, showcasing the best first-year debaters from around the country. Former champions include Columbia University's novice duo who make it to elimination rounds at the World Championship in their first year of collegiate debate.
- Cornell Inter-varisty – Worlds varsity-level competition for experienced students from around the region.
- Spanish-Language Cornell Inter-varisty – Worlds second-annual Spanish competition, featuring top native and Spanish-second-language speakers from universities around the US.
March 4-6, 2017
- American Forensics Association District 7 Qualifier – Traditional forensics competition comes to Cornell for the first time in years, featuring the region's best public speakers in Extemporaneous, Oratory, Duo Interpretation, Poetry, Prose, Impromptu and more. Led by our Speech Coach Theo Black, the speech team is already making its mark on the region with victories at their first competitions of the season.
March 2017
- World Schools Debate Invitational – The first competition of its kind on Cornell campus for high school students in the pre-eminent global debate format - World Schools. Top teams from around the world will come to Cornell to compete against one another as they prepare for the World Schools Debating Championship in August.
April-May 2017
- Class of 1894 Debates – Cornell Debate has a long tradition, dating back to the literary and historical societies of Cornell's early days. Students would discuss a variety of issues, and host intercollegiate debate events for the campus community. The graduating class of 1894 created a small endowment to ensure that the Cornell campus maintained its rich tradition of critical thinking and free speech. Each year, Cornell students compete in a series of debates against one another to be crowned 1894 Champions, receiving modest prize money from the endowment.
- Awards Banquet - We host an annual banquet at the end of each year to come together in recognition of the hard work each of the students and coaches has put in throughout the year. We join generations of Cornell Speech & Debate Society members as we honor our Alumni of the Year and send off our graduating seniors.
What Your Support Can Do:
Each of these events provides a unique opportunity to showcase Cornell's true spirit through an ethic of hospitality, high quality competition and unparalleled sportsmanship. When you donate to our cause, your funds will go directly towards making each tournament an event that both Cornell and visiting students are proud to be a part of. In fulfilling our mission to bring critical though and free speech to the Cornell campus community, we hope to make each competition accessible to the Cornell student body at large.
A Few of Our Goals:
- Host the top debates and speech rounds in beautiful, accessible venues that truly honor Cornell's great history, making them open to the public and Cornell student body.
- Provide catered meals throughout the competitions that showcase Ithaca's character.
- Sponsor qualified judges for Policy, Speech and Worlds events to ensure the highest level of competition.
- Provide world-class facilities for each round.
- Honor the Class of 1894 by elevating the debate series by increasing student and faculty involvement, streaming debates for our extended debate family and hosting a Grand Final Gala to honor all of the participants and judges while we watch the finalists compete for the Class of 1894 Memorial Prize.
