The debate team is celebrating its 75th year at the College. The first tournament of the spring semester was at the UNC-Charlotte in late January. The team finished first place overall in IPDA debate and Nathanial Crane (’24) won the final round of the tournament against Queens College (New York City).  Nathanial was also 1st place speaker for the tournament. Also competing at the tournament were Kathryn Monahan (’23), Alexander Burgess (’24), James Maloney (’24), and Anthony Walters (’25).   

The team has reached the final round at two tournaments this year. In November, the team of Kathryn Monahan and Nathanial Crane reached the final round in Team IPDA debate at an online tournament hosted by the University of Seattle. Nathanial was also the 1st place speaker at that tournament.  

The team is proud to be hosting the 30th annual Jack Lynch Tournament on Saturday, February 11th. The tournament will be held online. Teams from New England, New York and the Midwest will be attending. The tournament is named after Professor Lynch, who started the team in 1948 and coached for 46 years.  The team will have eight debaters competing: Kathryn Monahan, Alyssa Stankevitz (’23), Lucas Edwards (’24), Nathanial Crane, James Maloney, Kellan Barbee (’26), Bella Uva (’26) and Maren Riley (’26). The team is thankful for many alumni who are coming back to help judge at the tournament: Dave Canarie (’78), Lisa Pearson (’96), Lily-Gre Hitchen (’18), Cassy Moran (’19), Maggie McSherry (’20) and Neil Craffey (’22).  

The team will also compete at the Dutchess Community College tournament in Poughkeepsie, New York in late February and the National Online Championship in March.  

In addition to competing, the team will hold two public debates this semester. The first is part of the MLK Jr. Program of Events (put on by the Fr. Jonathan, O.S.B., Center for Intercultural Learning) and will be on Thursday, March 2nd in the Perini Lecture Hall. This will be the 10th year the team does a debate on a topic of civil rights/civil liberties as part of the program. This year’s topic will be about the future of Puerto Rico: Statehood or Independence?  The second debate is being done with the Gender Studies Program. The topic asks whether the increase in women politicians in the US is adequate evidence of gender equity for women? This debate will be on Thursday, March 9th in the Jean Student Center Event Room.  Both debates will be at 7:00 pm. All are welcome to attend.  

The team is also honored to be involved with the Access Academy program and teaching a class in debate to high school students from Manchester in the spring semester.  

In addition to the students mentioned above, Trie Yale (’24), Sean Kelleher (’24), Tyra Turner (’25), and Brigid Hughes (’26) are also members of the team. The team has 14 members and is always open to new students who are interested.  Please feel free to contact the coach, David Trumble, for more information.