Spring Quarter Meetings:Wednesdays 8-10PM, Thomson Hall 233

Mondays, 7-9PM, Thomson Hall-optional and must be confirmed ahead of time

New Members must contact club leadership via email before attending meetings

Student Leaders

Daniel Beasley, President - beasley@uw.edu
Louisa Delaine, VP of Finance - louisafan@gmail.com
Sam Pizelo, VP of Social Affairs- spizelo@uw.edu
Andrew Dorr, Senator- abd5@uw.edu
Zach Rathbun, Webmaster - zachr@uw.edu
Dominic Lopez, Research Chair - dominic3@uw.edu

Coaches

Sam Timinsky, B.A. History from Marist and M.A. Candidate at UW Seattle in Japanese Studies - sjt6@uw.edu
Chris Pierini, B.S. Biochemistry from UW Seattle - pierini@uw.edu
Bryce Danz, B.A. Linguistics from WWU

2011-2012 Competitive Schedule

September 24-25, Bellevue Warmup, Bellevue College

October 9-11, Lewis and Clark Invitational, Lewis and Clark College

October 24-25, Puget Sound Logger Invitational, University of Puget Sound

November 11-13, Mahaffey Memorial, Linfield College

Janurary 14-16, Mile High Swing at Sealevel, WWU

January 28-29, Fred Scheller Invitational, Pacific University

February 4-5, Pacific Lutheran Unversity Invitational, PLU

February 19-19, Whitman Swing, Whitman University

March 16-19, National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence, WWU

March 22-24, National Parliamentary Debate Association National Championship Tournament, WWU

At the University of Washington, the Speech and Debate Team is committed to creating more than just a weekend debating society. To create a pedagogically sound and comprehensive program, the team clearly links the skills that we develop weekend after weekend to the greater UW community and curriculum. Speech and debate, as countless students have learned, directly contributes to their classroom experience; debate teaches research, critical thinking, organization, and listening skills. In fact, in many ways, debate serves as a laboratory in which students can test, compare, and learn new ideas. Debate crosses multiple disciplines, including political science, communication, philosophy, public policy, and drama. Given the complexities of the world today, very few issues can escape contentious debate; politics seems to have become more of a verbal jousting match than a deliberative discussion aimed at negotiating toward a solution. Having a strong debate program offers opportunities to share skills with UW students and the greater Seattle community as a whole.

We currently only offer coaching for parliamentary debate. The introductory meetings for introducing novice debaters to college parliamentary debate have ended, but we will still accept new members. If you do not have debate experience, you will have to learn the fundamentals of debate at an accelerated pace to prepare for tournaments. For more information, contact our President or one of our coaches (as listed above)

The SDS participates in public debates for the broader UW community, and many students volunteer to promote debate in the Seattle High School area. The SDS supports numerous homeschool debate leagues and the Seattle Urban Debate League (UDL). Coaches and team members have taught courses that provides middle school students with critical thinking and public speaking skills that prepare them to enter debate and public speaking competitions once they enter high school.