Its Official - The new 2011-2012 Debate Topic is here.

Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its democracy assistance for one or more of the following: Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen.


This should be fun. 

2011-2012 Debate Topic to be released tomorrow - 7/15/11

We'll post it up here as soon as its out.

New Debate Trophy Case located in Telecom Building

The FSU Debate Team got a new trophy case (which is located in the Telecom Building - where WFSS is).  As of right now, it defnitely has too much vacant real estate, but luckily we can get back to work on that soon.  In the meantime, here it is -

Debate Topic Wordings - Which one do you prefer?

The debate topic area had already been determined earlier this summer (democracy assistance in North Africa and the Middle East), but now the topic wordings that will be chosen from have been finalized.  One of these finalists will end up being the 2011-2012 Collegiate Policy Debate Topic.  With that being said, the difference between the topics is which countries we will include as countries we would attempt to assist with their "democracy". 

So, which one do you prefer?  Leave a comment and tell us why!

1. Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its democracy assistance for one or more of the following: Egypt, Iran, Libya, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza, Tunisia.

2. Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its democracy assistance for one or more of the following: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Libya, Syria.

3. Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its democracy assistance for one or more of the following: Egypt, Iran, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen.

4. Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its democracy assistance for one or more of the following: Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen.

5. Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its democracy assistance for one or more of the following: Egypt, Morocco, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza, Yemen.

6. Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its democracy assistance for one or more of the following: Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Tunisia.

New FSU Bronco Debate Team Logo, Motto, and Bracelets

Here is the new team logo.

Here is the new team motto (it means victory favors preparation).

Here are the new team bracelets.



More about the upcoming debate topic...........

As previously mentioned, the upcoming debate topic area (the exact wording of the topic won't be known for a while now) is democracy promotion in the Middle East and Northern Africa.  Here is a link to the topic area paper that inspired this choice.  If you want to debate this coming year, this would be a good place to start building your knowledge base:

Democracy Promotion in MENA (Middle East North Africa)

and here is the link to an older democracy promotion topic area paper that could also have useful info:

Older Democracy Promotion Paper

2011-2012 Debate Topic Area has been selected.............

The debate topic area for the upcoming debate season is:

The USFG should increase democracy assistance to the Middle East and North Africa.

While this will probably not be the final wording of the topic, it now gives us an area to research.  Actually, this could be the wording, who knows.  Either way, I have a lot to learn about democracy assistance, the Middle East, and North Africa.  So does anyone who wants to debate next year.

Help the FSU Debate Team choose a new debate motto!!!

I have decided the FSU Debate Team needs a motto.  Instead of making it a long, drawn out process, I have used my executive authority to come up with three choices for a motto for the 2011-2012 academic year.  Comment here or at www.facebook.com/fsudebate and let us know which one you like best.

Choice 1:  Aut viam inveniam aut faciam (I will either find a way or I will make one)

Choice 2:  FSU Debate:  It isn't just from Florida anymore.

Choice 3:  Verba movent, exempla trahunt (Words move people, examples compel them)

I won't tell you which is my favorite is, but I do want me to tell me what yours is.

Got Debate? If not, why not get some?

Looking forward to next year, my question is:  Do you know anyone at Fayetteville State University who is interested in being a part of the FSU Debate Team starting next semester?  The debate topic for next year will be released in July for next years debate season (which runs from August through March).  If students are interested they can talk to me (at wthomas3@uncfsu.edu) as soon as possible and we can go ahead and start training now.

And, to be clear, training is a good thing.  Debate Team tryouts will take place as soon as school is back in session, so while experience doesn't mean you will be the best at tryouts (I will be looking for skill sets and abilities as opposed to specific debate knowledge), it couldn't hurt either.  While I expect a few debaters from this past years squad to be around next year, I know that many of them will not be competing (some graduated, some are trying to).  I would like for the team to have 8 active, traveling members, and the tryouts will determine who will fill those slots.

Plus, if I get enough interest, I would like to hold a debate camp this summer for interested students.

So if you think you might be interested in debate, get a hold of me as soon as possible.  If you know someone who you think might be interested in or good at debate, forward them this message.

What will next years Debate Topic be? One of these 9 topics, thats what!

Each year, extensive research papers are written proposing potential debate topics for the upcoming policy debate season.  This year, nine topics papers were submitted.  Below you will find the nine topics listed and links to the paper for each topic.  Which topic do you think would be the most interesting to debate?

Education
2011 Update http://www.cedadebate.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2384.0;attach=667
2010 Paper http://www.cedadebate.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2384.0;attach=668

Failed States http://www.cedadebate.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2383.0;attach=666

Reformation of Financial Institutions http://www.cedadebate.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2386.0;attach=669

Foreign Assistance to India http://www.cedadebate.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2382.0;attach=665

Critical Infrastructure http://www.cedadebate.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2376.0;attach=659

Prison Reform http://www.cedadebate.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2381.0;attach=664

Corporate Tax Reform http://www.cedadebate.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2374.0;attach=657

Treaty Ratification
2011 Update http://www.cedadebate.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2377.0;attach=661
2010 Paper http://www.cedadebate.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2377.0;attach=660

Democracy Promotion in the Middle East/ North Africa http://www.cedadebate.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2380.0;attach=662

Highlight Video from the First Annual Frederick Douglass Debates

Below is the link to a short highlight video of the First Annual Frederick Douglass Debates held at Seabrook Auditorium on the campus of Fayetteville State University (Fayetteville, North Carolina) between FSU and Methodist University on February 14th, 2011.  This video was produced by students in the FSU Communication Department.


Watch the video here!

Inaugural Debate Series Debate from 2009

In 2009, two members of the FSU Debate Team were chosen to debate against Vorhees College as part of the Inaugural Debate Series.  The IDS was held the day before the inauguration of President Obama at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC. 

The video of the debate that was posted by the IDS has since been taken down (there was a link to it on the old FSU Debate Website) so I have reposted it on Vimeo.  Here is a link to the video so anyone who is interested can watch it (I think we did a very good job).

Fayetteville State University vs. Vorhees College - Inaugural Debate Series 2009

Redoing the Debate Posters - Here is Number 1 - What Debate Can Do For You

There are three debate posters that the team uses to advertise itself at events like last weekends Open House.  We are redoing those to give them a slightly bolder look, and here is the first effort.  What do you think?  PS, I know a little of the writing looks small, but the actual poster is 30"x40" while this is around 6"x8".

New Bulletin Board outside of the Debate Office

Here it is!  It's a nice, enclosed board.  I hope to put more work into laying it out, but it felt weird sitting out there empty.

New FSU Debate Team Flyer

Put together a new flyer to hand out at Open House this coming Saturday.  Here it is if anyone wants to take a look:

FSU Debate will be represented at the FSU Spring Open House on March 26th

On March 26th, 2011 in the Capel Arena, FSU will be holding its Spring Open House.  The FSU Debate Team will be present and we will be looking to talk to any students who would be interested in coming to FSU to be a part of our debate program. 

FSU Debate wraps up its competitive season over Spring Break

While many others were partying hard or relaxing at home, hard working FSU Debaters spent the majority of their respective Spring Breaks preparing for and competing in national debate competition.  Specifically, from March 4th-7th, Senior Queen Colbert and Junior Tanesha Slaughter competed at the Novice/Junior Varsity Nationals at Towson University (in Towson, Maryland) and from March 11th-13th, Seniors Queen Colbert and Matthew Johnson, along with Junior Christopher Williams and Sophomore Kymthia Aviles competed at the American Debate Association National Championships at James Madison University (in Harrisonburg, Virginia).

The FSU Debate Team put up a good fight at both tournaments and while the ultimate goal of winning the tournaments was not realized, some good wins were notched over schools like The Univeristy of Pittsburgh, Wayne State University and Western Connecticut State University.  In its second year of competition, the hard work of the FSU Debate Team members has earned the team many wins, earned the team its first speaker trophy (earned by FSU debater Stephen Higley), and moved FSU toward its ultimate goal of being a power in college policy debate.

Of course, just because there are no more tournaments on the FSU Debate Team schedule for this year doesn't mean the work is over.  The FSU Debate Team must now begin the process of reloading for next year and recruiting new debaters for the 2011-2012 debate season, especially since several current debaters are graduating either this spring or next fall.  If you are, or know anyone who might be, interested in becoming a part of the FSU Debate Team, please contact Debate Coach Greg Thomas at wthomas3@uncfsu.edu or at debate@uncfsu.edu.

Previous FSU Debate Page is still available

The OLD version of the FSU Debate Team web site was full of information and nobody wanted to see that go away.  Therefore, the page will be preserved (but not updated) as we move forward with this new page.  If you want to view that old page, you can go to http://organizations.uncfsu.edu/fsudebate/index2.htm or you can always find the link to the old page on the links portion of this new page (down in the lower right hand corner). 

Welcome to the new web home for the Fayetteville State University Debate Team

The FSU Debate Team has in the past had a web page, but that page has been hard to manage and update.  We are now in the process of moving all of our information from that page to this new format, which should allow the FSU Debate Team to better keep the public at large up to date on what is going on with our team.  We welcome your comments on how we can improve this site as we move forward, and we hope that you will become a follower so you can keep in touch with FSU Debate.