In 2002, Michael Howard, an incoming freshman, was looking forward to beginning his debate career. In fact, in a conversation with a recruiter from Lewis and Clark College, he boasted that he would be debating them next year, representing UW. However, when he arrived, he found that UW no longer had a competitive debate team. The team, which has been active since the 1880s, struggled after losing funding from the Communication Department and eventually dissolved in the late 1990s. Through persistence and negotiation of red tape, he found the remains of a budget from a fledgling 1997 team and a faculty advisor in Gerry Phillipsen. He recruited several more team members and began holding meetings. In October, Christi Siver discovered the team, and began offering coaching advice. At the first competitive tournament at Linfield College, the team had incredible success, and realized that this project was much bigger than a simple student organization. From these humble beginnings, the team has become a power in the region, with about 20 active members and 2 volunteer coaches.
      The University of Washington has a long history of supporting debate. The current speech and debate team hopes to improve on this history by resurrecting the team and building a solid foundation for students to come.

As taken from Thomas R. Nilsen's Speech Communication at the University of Washington: An Informal History (compiled by Mary Lynn Veden)

1880-1900:

The Johnsonian Society is the first debating/literary society on the university record, from 1889-1891. The first topic was: "Resolved: That the Johnsonian Society is the best society in the University". Others included: "A young man entering business should have a college education" "France is a greater nation than Germany", and "Indian Territory should be opened for settlement at once."

The University was also part of an intercollegiate association formed for cultivation of elocution and oratory. (This is still in existence today, as the Interstate Oratorical Contest, held every May.) In 1886 the King County Bar Association offered a cash prize of $100 for competition in the E.F. Blaine speech contest involving schools from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Hon. Alden J. Blethen annually offered $100 for prizes in "oratorical, narrative, and dramatic declamation". The Hon. Alfred Battle offered cash prizes to the Washington debating team chosen to compete against the University of Oregon. By 1901 there were two active debating clubs (Stevens and Badger), limited to about 30 men each, two Literary Society, (Crestonian and Lincoln) and Dramatic Club.

1900-1920:

While the department and academic classes suffered from staff turnover and indiscretions of the lead instructor of public speaking and debate, debate continued to thrive as a campus activity. There were five active debate clubs: the Stevens, Badger, Chinook, Athena, and Sacajawea. (The latter two were for women, while the rest were exclusively male.)

By this time, several annual debate matches were held with other universities and colleges on the West Coast. UW was active in several Leagues, meeting schools such as Stanford, Washington State, Oregon, Reed College and Whitman College. There were annual activities for women as well. The law schools of Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia also met on an annual basis for competition. Here we see the first mention of faculty involvement coaching and assisting the clubs. In the 1913 Board of Regents report to the Governor, it is stated, "It is doubtless due to the success of the work in this Department [Public Speaking and Debate] that there is such a wide and general interest in the work of the debating and literary societies in the University."

1920-1930:

At this point the Department of Public Speaking and Debate moved into the English Department, where it had previously been housed within the Department of Dramatic Art. In 1925 Professor Frederick Orr was hired as the head of public speaking and debate. (He was also a trained and experienced drama coach and theater director.) In the letter offering him the position, Dean Padelford describes the "debate landscape" of the campus: "There is much interest in debating here and we have won most of our debates for many years. We want a man who can build on this foundation and who will interest the finest intellects in debating. We are not so much interested in winning debates as in training young men to think clearly and to express themselves effectively. We favor a quiet and dignified public address. Most of the department would probably prefer the new program of no-decision debates". Clubs continued to thrive, and the induction of men's and women's honorary societies Delta Phi and Tau Kappa Alpha (which still exists today as Delta Sigma Rho-Tau Kappa Alpha) into the Department indicated the institutionalization of activity. In 1924 there were recorded 172 members active in the five debating societies on campus.

Nilsen's history provides a vivid passage of debate's popularity on the campus:

"It is difficult for us now to realize how important debating at colleges and universities was before the advent of radio and television . . .Professor Angelo Pellegrini. . .relates that when the Universities of Oregon or Idaho came for a debate, the entire main floor of old Meany Hall would be filled. The debaters, impeccably dressed and groomed, would arrive ceremoniously carrying their books and notes. But all was not impeccable. Pellegrini relates an incident which strongly influenced his attitude toward debating practices—after one important debate he chanced to observe one of the excellent and well respected Washington debaters stuffing the ballot box. This incident strongly confirmed him in his opposition to decision debating."

In 1925-26 course work for debate began to expand considerably, and the first course was offered exclusively for students selected to compete on the debate squad. The course was named "Public Debate", pointing towards growing emphasis on providing opportunities for students to appear before public audiences, and not simply other debaters. The engagement of civic, professional, and religious organizations in the state and beyond began to happen regularly in the 1930's and continued for three decades.

1930-1940:

With the advent of the Great Depression, enrollment fell by 8% during the first half of the decade, but with the economic downturn and subsequent election of FDR came a surge in enrollment and stimulated interest in socio-political issues during the latter half. Growing awareness of issues abroad and the rise in fascism in particular also contributed to this movement. Student unions formed to promote protection for student workers and guaranteed scholarships and federal aid for the completion of degrees.

Public Debate was renamed "Public Discussion" in the 1930's to denote the trend of "discussing" issues in public performances rather than debating them in a traditional manner. It was expanded so that students could have exhibitions throughout the state and region. The High School Speech Festival was inaugurated to provide training in debate, oral reading and extempore speaking for a large number of high school students. It was not without problems, however. Funding was denied by the student government, and Professor Orr had to launch a vigorous campaign to have funding restored, writing letters of various administrators and finally the President. Funding was eventually restored.

Problem-Solving debate became the main format for students, consisting of an analytic constructive speech outlining the "problem" proposed, followed by a number of "solution" speeches and a final "evaluative speech" where the strengths and weaknesses of each solution are presented. This format was popular and easy to adapt for public exhibition. In 1938-39 the members of UW debate made 220 appearances in public, speaking to audiences totaling over 32,000.

The 30's also saw the end of the debating clubs, with the Athena club being the last featured in the 1931 yearbook. From that point on the department-sponsored programs grew substantially in number, and it took great pride in debate as a part of its philosophy to integrate the "practical application in public life of academic work". All speech majors were required to participate in the public discussion program for at least one quarter, and to appear before public audiences.

In 1936 Al Frankze became the director of the program, and continued with great enthusiasm to continue public discussion as well as the men's and women's varsity teams. It seems that the public discussion program, rather than the intercollegiate competition, was the primary activity, and Frankze's comments to the Spokane Chamber of Commerce justifies this emphasis:

"Instead of arguing for and against a proposition, we will discuss and present solutions for a problem. We will no longer divide our debating squad into two equal groups and then instruct them arbitrarily to defend or attack a proposition regardless of their own personal convictions on that proposition. We believe it to be educationally unsound to assume a position in advance of a thorough understanding of that proposition. We believe it to be unethical to encourage or permit young men to argue any proposition against their own honest convictions"

1940-1950:

The speech division became a separate department from the Department of English, even as the war forced many programs to consolidate for lack of enrollment and funding. In 1946-47, the public discussion program expanded markedly, with new groups added, with interests focused on religious issues, state resources, and veteran's affairs. The following year the program began broadcasting its exhibitions regularly on radio. From 1940-1950, the combined groups made 1,464 appearances to audiences that totaled 19,400. Approximately 100 radio broadcasts were sponsored by the department. An oral interpretation workshop was also started up in the 40's.

In 1949 Prof. Franzke withdrew from directorship of the program. At this time, the state legislature began investigating alleged communist activities on the campus, and three faculty members lost their positions at the University as a result. In this atmosphere, Franzke, a staunch anti-communist but still liberal and outspoken, came to be associated with "radical elements" on the campus. His team had also spoken several times before the Washington Pension Union, a suspect organization that was on the Attorney General's "blacklist". Pressure was on him to resign, although his public explanation for his retirement was that he had been with the program for long enough.

1950-1960:

This was a period of relative calm on campuses, and new funding for education came through the GI bill and the beginning of the Space Race with the Soviet Union. With the departure of Prof. Franzke, the public discussion program and debate was headed by many temporary appointments until Prof. Gale Richards took the program over in 1952. Again, at this point the program's future was in doubt, from a lack of faculty leadership as well as student government withdrawing its support. His stated goals were to continue the public discussion program, as well as develop and maintain a selective schedule of regional intercollegiate forensic participation and campaign directly for increased financial support from student activity funds. This was the first time in decades that Washington debaters began to participate in the more traditional competitive debate activities, a move that was controversial among the faculty. The public discussion program had almost gotten *too* big to manage at the start of the 50's, and so it began to be scaled back in favor of more manageable intercollegiate debate competition. His fundraising efforts were also successful, as student activity funds tripled, due to positive cultivation with the Dean's office and the election of program members to student government. Richards also reactivated the TKA honorary society, and started a Delta Sigma Rho Chapter as well.

In 1958, Richards left for another position, and Prof. David Strother took over the team.
At this point the public discussion program began to wane for lack of public response and invitations from the community. (The McCarthy era had polarized many civic organizations, and purged others, leading to some unpleasant experiences with college students attempting public debates.) Strother was also reluctant to send inexperienced students in front of public audiences, so the program was eventually discontinued in favor of a full calendar of intercollegiate tournaments. As Nilsen states, "The debate program grew very rapidly. This was something the students wanted: It's hard to find a substitute for the excitement of tournaments to stimulate tournament interest". Scholarships were also funded by Henry Kotkins of the Skyway Luggage Company. The Oral Interpretation Workshop evolved into Readers Theater, and gave numerous recitals each year.

1960-1970:

Student activism was on the rise, fueled by the Civil Rights Movement and the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. Demonstrations and protests often led to violent results on the campus, and in 1969 there was even a bombing. It was at this time that the debate team took on the title of "University of Washington Forensics Association". In 1961, 25 students went to 8 tournaments, competing against students from 79 other schools. Strother reported they won 70% of their debates, and took 40 awards in individual events, culminating in two sweepstakes awards. Undergraduate participation ranged from 25-50 students per year during this decade. Students from up to 15 different departments participated.

In 1965, 46 students traveled over 17,500 miles, representing the UW in 13 intercollegiate tournaments, engaging in 402 debates and 441 individual events. The budget for the year was $6,000, modest by comparison with most schools, but substantial for the University. Members of the team also served as editors for the Daily, and wrote glowing editorials about the squad, ensuring their success was well publicized. Other notable events during the decade included, televised debates between the UW squad and teams from Seattle Pacific, Seattle University, and Gonzaga University, the hosting of college and high school invitational tournaments, debate seminars for high school students and their coaches, and summer institutes.

The program nearly became a victim of its own success, with Prof. Strother recounting that in 1964, "I realized I had created a monster. In the fall of that year I was taking up to 50 students to a single tournament. I remember vividly in Centralia of requiring so many rooms that it took two motels to meet the need. Bill Wilmot was my TA at that time, and poor Bill had to get up at 6:00 in the morning, drive to a motel across time and knock on doors. The logistics of moving so many bodies about became mind boggling."

Other TA's during Prof. Strother's time as director were Lewis Bright, Jim Traynor, Judie Sannerud, Gary Peterson, and Marvin Olmstead. In 1965, he asked to be relieved of his position to devote more time to teaching and research, and was replaced by Robert Halle, who continued the success of the program for three years. He was then replaced by Donald Douglas, who followed suit, despite being faced with an austerity budget, as the program's funding had been slashed in 1969. Despite this, the team received a sweepstakes award at the Western States Communication Association tournament, the first time the UW had brought home such an accomplishment. Yet the program's funding continued to be in question, a result of its status as both a department-sponsored program and a student activity. The student association did not wish to fund a program that they believed could be funded by a department and granted academic credit, and the department had reservations about funding something that many viewed to be an exclusively undergraduate student activity. This seems to be an unfortunate trend in terms of communicating the funding justification of debate on the UW campus.

An interesting development in the late 60's was the formation of a special program for debate students to spend spring quarter in Washington, D.C. It was co-sponsored by the Forensic program and the Department of Political Science. Students lived in a hotel for 10 weeks near the Capitol building, attending lectures and seminars with members of Congress, agency staff, and diplomatic officials from foreign embassies. Professor Douglas co-designed the program, and taught a course in the Rhetoric of Social Movements in addition to coordinating the seminar and lecture series.

1970-1980:

The program's funding sources dried up almost completely, and a 20% reduction campus-wide hit debate and forensics especially hard. Faculty support was also mixed and with the exception of Professor Douglas, the program had no great champions within the Department of Speech to advocate on its behalf. Upon his departure the program was discontinued. Other schools in the region that had competed with UW for years issued criticism toward the department and administration for allowing this to happen. Student interest was still high, but the faculty was preoccupied and disinterested. Over the course of the decade, fitful attempts were made at the request of students to start the program up again, but it was not until the late 80's that the program was revived.

1980-1990:

The Department of Speech Communication expanded dramatically over the course of the decade, adding many faculty and courses with impressive vitae and degrees from excellent universities. The program was ranked among the top ten in the nation in 1985. In 1987 Ann Staton took over as department chair. One of her first initiatives as chair was to follow up on a decade of student requests for a debate team's full funding; she submitted a successful proposal to the Dean's Office. Barbara Warnick was appointed faculty director, and doctoral candidate Jeff Philpott assistant director. Undergraduate students Mark Lemmon and Jim Hanson were cited in her letter to faculty as being the primary motivating forces behind organizing the efforts. Prof. Gerry Philpsen also lent his support. The proposal pointed out the value to the University as a whole, and included testimony from well known public figures as to the benefits they received from debating.

During the first year of activity, 20 students participated, and a team was sent to a national competition in South Carolina. The next year, 25 students participated, and the school was ranked in the top 10% of debating teams nationally. Chair Staton continued to advocate as a fundraiser on the team's behalf, soliciting donations from 50 local corporations. Undergraduate debaters personally delivered each funding request. The Department also secured names and addresses of over 100 former UW debaters from the 1930's to the 1970's for donations.