Idaho State Debate Wins Both Divisions In Climb Online Tournament

Cameo Curnutt Preparing to Debate.

On Sunday, November 5, 2017, Idaho State debaters won both divisions of Climb Online International Public Debate Association (IPDA) tournament.  The team had three entries including Cameo Curnutt and Raiven Nickerson in Novice, and Alexander Vail in Open. Dr. Sarah Partlow Lefevre, Director of the Rupp Debate Society at Idaho State, was also present to judge and coach the debaters before rounds.

Final Round Slate of Topics

In IPDA, the debaters are given a set of five topics for each debate.  The opponents then choose the topic through a process of elimination where each debater gets to strike or veto topics sequentially.  This means that the topics vary in each round and in each debate, requiring the students to be prepared to address a wide variety of issues. After the topic is chosen the debaters have thirty minutes to prepare for the debate.   

Raiven Nickerson in the Final Round - Top Right.

On Sunday, Raiven Nickerson broke to the final round in the Novice division with a 66.6% win record after three preliminary debates.  In finals, Raiven debate against Lance Harman from the University of Washington Bothell Speech and Debate Society.  Raiven affirmed the topic: The U.S. should increase rehabilitation and reduce punishment in its criminal justice system. Raiven won the debate because she was able to argue that rehabilitation can reduce recidivism and work at all levels of the criminal justice system.  Raiven als received third place overall for speaking at the tournament.

Alexander Vail in the Final Round - Top Right

In the Open division, Alexander Vail was undefeated in preliminary debates. He advanced to finals and faced Aidan Moran of the University of Washington Bothell Debate Society.  In finals, Vail affirmed that drive in theaters are preferable to standard movie theaters.  Alex argued that drive in movie theaters were a place of racial, social, and economic integration and should be preserved as a symbol of equality in American culture. The debate resulted in a tie and the final round participants were named as co-champions.  Additionally, Alex received recognition as the 6th speaker overall at the tournament. 

Notably, this tournament took place on a new online debating platform called idebate.online. The platform provides an integrated system that makes online debate easy.  According to Sarah Partlow Lefevre, "The online debating platform opens up debate as an opportunity for a broad cross section of our students. It provides a format accessible to those who can travel and to those who would otherwise be unable to participate on the debate team due to family or work obligations. We are excited about the increased opportunity for all students to participate in online debating at ISU."

The Final Round Match Ups

The next online tournament is December 10, 2017. If you are an Idaho State University student and would like to participate, please contact Sarah Partlow Lefevre at partsara@isu.edu.