Patriots host 2017 multi-state debate competition

On September 8and 9, University of the Cumberlands (UC) debate team hosted their second on-campus tournament since the team’s founding.  The 2017 debate brought over 100 debaters to campus – 11 teams in total from six states.

Anna Brown, a junior and co-captain of the Patriot debate team, said the number of participants in the debate doubled this year.

Students travelled to Cumberlands campus from the neighboring states of Tennessee and North Carolina. However, teams that had much farther to travel also accepted the invitation. Teams from Pennsylvania, Texas and Oklahoma also joined in on the debates. 

“We’re ecstatic to have people from so many states,” Brown said. “We’re definitely very thankful for all the people that are traveling to Cumberlands campus.”

The 2017 debate included teams from the University of Virginia, University of Tennessee, Southern Methodist University (Texas), Oklahoma Baptist University, Grove City College (Pennsylvania), Belmont Abbey College (North Carolina), Middle Tennessee State University, Union University (Tennessee), Transylvania University and Berea College.

Jay Bourne, UC faculty member and Director of Debate said, “This is the largest regular season debate hosted by Cumberlands. We hope all of the debate teams have a good experience while they’re here.”

Of the four divisions of competition, two were won by Union University, one by the University of Tennessee and the professional division was won by Bethany Wilson of University of the Cumberlands.  The tournament was the largest regular season International Public Debate Association tournament ever held in Kentucky, and more than double the size of the previous one held at University of the Cumberlands.