Slideshow: UAA hosts 2015 U.S. Universities Debating Championship

For the first time, UAA's acclaimed Seawolf Debate Program hosted the U.S. Universities Debating Championship in Anchorage April 11-13. Over 170 teams from nearly 60 universities made the trip to Alaska to compete in the USUDC-the most prestigious national tournament of its kind. All teams competed in eight preliminary debates over two days to determine a seeding order for the final competition. The top 32 teams then advanced to a single-elimination tournament held on Sunday.

View slideshow of 2015 U.S. Universities Debating Championship

The championship round on Monday, April 13, was the 360th debate of the tournament and was, without argument, one of the hottest debates of the weekend. Over 700 people attended the championship round that featured teams from Harvard, Brown, Morehouse and Yale. The debaters exchanged arguments over the motion, "This house would, as the U.S. government, grant amnesty to all undocumented immigrants living in the United States on the sole condition they have not been convicted of a violent criminal offense."

When the dust settled, the panel of judges selected Yale, represented by Tony Nguyen and Edwin Zhang, as the best intercollegiate debate team of 2015. Nguyen and Zhang argued against the motion from the closing opposition position.

The home team made a solid showing in the competition. Seven UAA teams entered the competition and two of them compiled records that qualified them for the elimination rounds. The team of Sam Erickson (Freshman) and Sarah Elton (Junior) were seeded 16th after the preliminary rounds but were eliminated in the first knock-out round. Matt Ostrander (Junior) and Jonathon Taylor (Junior) were the 10th seed after prelims and advanced through the first elimination round to end their run in the quarterfinal round. UAA was the only public university to place a team in a quarterfinal round that featured competitors from Stanford, Brandeis, Bates, Cornell and others.

Other awards earned by students over the weekend: Champions:  Tony Nguyen & Edwin Zhang, Yale Finalists:  Bo Seo & Fanele Mashwama, Harvard; Emanuel Waddell & Rodje Malcolm, Morehouse; Tiffany Keung & Alex Mechanik, Brown Top Speaker:  Matt Summers, Bates Top Novice Team:  Alex Klein & Rubin Danberg-Biggs, Cornell Top Novice Speaker:  Harry Elliott, Stanford

Be sure to catch the Seawolf Debate Program in action when they host the Oxford Union for an exhibition round on the motion "Classical music deserves no support beyond what the market will provide." The teams will debate April 30, 7 p.m. in the Discovery Theatre. Tickets available at CenterTix.net.