The University of La Verne debate team competed at the Canadian University Society at the Intercollegiate Debate Tournament this month at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Hart House University of Toronto won the tournament with three of its four teams finishing at the top.

“There was a home court advantage, all the Canadian schools advanced,” ULV debater Rob Ruiz said.

Lauren Moon and Amanda Elasser were ULV’s top ranking team coming in 11th place.

Moon was the top ranked individual ULV speaker with 370 points, ranking 26th out of the 80 speakers.

“The teams represented ULV quite admirably,” team coach Ian Lising said.

“It’s really tough to compete in this high a level at all times,” he added.

The field was very competitive, with some of the world finalists debating at the tournament.

“Eight of the best adjudicators in the world were judging the event from as far as England and Australia,” Lising said.

The experience gained from this tournament will stay with the debaters as they continue in future competitions.

“I know that we all learned a lot because there were some world renowned debaters and judges at the tournament,” Moon said. “So they gave us a lot of helpful criticism to improve.”

The tournament featured five rounds of British Parliamentary Debate in which two teams are on the side of government and two teams are on the opposition. Forty teams from across North America participated in the competition.

ULV brought nine teams of two, plus eight judges, to the CUSID tournament. ULV teams are designated A through I.

“Unfortunately none of our teams made it through to the elimination rounds but they put forth a great effort,” debate team captain Brenna Lampson said.

“We know this is going to help us in the tournaments we are going to participate in during the months ahead,” she added.

The debate team has experienced a surge in popularity recently.

The team represents the many diverse groups of ULV students, with members from every sorority and fraternity, the football team, the dance team and many more.

“This is our highest class for ULV debate, right now we have about 65 people,” Ruiz said. “We have five rooms reserved for debate every
Tuesday and Thursday.”

Lising wants ULV students to know about debate and its opportunities.

“Debate appeals to most anyone and isn’t limited to the stereotypical bookworm or motor mouth, though we have those too,” Lising said.

The debate team has a busy schedule planned for the coming months.

In December, ULV teams A through E will be traveling to Dublin, Ireland to compete in the World Debate Tournament.

The next competition for the ULV debate teams A and B is the 2005 Oxford International Intervarsity Championships from Nov. 9 to 16 in Oxford, England.

Angie Gangi can be reached at agangi@ulv.edu.