by Erin Zabarnick
Staff Writer
The University of La Verne debate team is still on top and coach Ian Lising is making sure that it stays there.
Lising, director of forensics and assistant professor of speech communication, lead three ULV debate teams to compete in the 24th World Universities Debate Championship Dec. 27, 2003-Jan. 3, 2004, at Nanyang Technological University, in Singapore.
This year, ULV did not make the break (the point before finals) and placed 90th out of 304 teams in the championship.
“This was the most competitive world championship,” said Lising.
ULV’s teams were: “team A” Travis Raymond and Juan Garcia, “team B” Rob Ruiz and Elissa Salas and “team C” Jacob Leveton and Manuel Perez.
“I love being on debate and being able to travel. We are such a close-knit team,” said Salas, a senior political science major.
In 2000, ULV ranked second in the world. In 2001, the team made it to the semifinals ranking fifth overall, making the ULV team the highest ranked American team two years in a row.
Last year, ULV ranked 12th in the world.
This year’s outcome has the team striving to do better next year. “It’s not a disappointment. Our team still performed really, really well given that it was such a competitive tournament,” said Lising.
The ULV debate team has made a name for the University among the world of debate. ULV has beat out Yale, Princeton, MIT, Oxford and NYU in competitions.
Lising has been elected for the third time in a row as World Council Chairman, making him a keynote speaker and integral part in planning and running the world debate tournaments.
He also co-authored the adjudicator’s guideline, a book of rules and regulations for the judges at the debating events.
“The most amazing thing about every student at La Verne is that they don’t quite know yet what they are capable of,” Lising said. “The next student reading this article could be the next world champion.”
Erin Zabarnick
