Madison Steff
LV Life Editor
From Nov. 7-14 the University of La Verne debate teams A and B traveled to Oxford to compete in the prestigious Oxford International Intervarsity Debating Tournament.
Team A, consisting of Rob Ruiz and Josh Martin, and team B, consisting of Thomas Allison and Jordan Litke, placed 21st and 46th, respectively, out of 132 teams.
Other schools that attended the event included Cambridge, Princeton, Yale, Stanford and Harvard.
“We did very well,” said Ian Lising, assistant professor of speech and debate and debate coach.
“We were one point away from making it into the quarterfinals.”
Ruiz and Martin, both seniors this year, were pleased with their fourth and final performance in Oxford.
“It was the best we have ever done,” Martin, a senior speech communications major said. “It was a good finish.”
“We represented La Verne really well,” Allison a first year law school student and ULV graduate said.
A British Parliamentary style debate tournament has four teams in each round, each team consisting of two people.
Two of the teams are on the government side of the motion while the other two are on the opposition.
The four teams are separated into the opening government, opening opposition, closing government and closing opposition.
When the motion is presented, the debaters have 15 minutes to discuss the motion with their teammates and prepare a case.
Each person is then given seven minutes to debate his or her position.
The positions are chosen at random, making this an exciting and spontaneous event for those who participate.
During the holiday break, from Dec. 25-Jan. 6 four teams will travel to Thailand to compete in the World’s Championship.
The World’s Championship is held once a year; every school around the world is invited to attend.
La Verne teams A, B, C and D and three adjudicators will proudly represent ULV and plan to prosper.
“We would like to be in the top 32 to make it past the preliminaries,” Martin said.
“I’m going to try to go in with an open mind,” Allison said.
Madison Steff can be reached at msteff@ulv.edu.
