Past Results
2019 Results
Round 2: Social media users, rather than tech companies, bear responsibility for the
political consequences of social media usage.
Round 3: Being a football fan is no longer morally justifiable.
Round 4: Professional sports should no longer attempt to ban performance-enhancing drugs.
Round 5: The Alaska Constitution should be amended to allow public funds to be directed, via a voucher program, to religious or other private schools.
Round 6: All religious and philosophical exemptions to vaccinations required for daycare and public school attendance should be eliminated.
Round 7: This house would forgive student loan debt through a "debt jubilee."
Semi #1: "Vote shaming" is a legitimate tactic for increasing voter turnout.
Semi #2: Congressional term limits should be adopted to restrict Senators to 2 terms and Representatives to 3 terms.
Final: Instituting an income and/or sales tax to fund Alaskan state services is preferable to cutting the Permanent Fund Dividend.
- 2018 Results
2018 Results
The 2018 Cabin Fever Debates was won by the team Archosaurs (Nile Morris & Joey Sweet) who opposed the motion "The death penalty is the only just punishment for the Parkland shooter" in the final round. Nile Morris also was named Top Speaker of the tournament.
The motions:Final: The death penalty is the only just punishment for the Parkland shooter.
Semifinal #1: The Republican Party should support a candidate other than Donald Trump in primaries for the 2020 presidential election."
Semifinal #2: The Democratic Party should support far-left candidates (e.g Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris) over centrist candidates (e.g Joe Biden, Joe Kennedy) in the 2020 elections.
Round 1: The United States' national security would benefit from the development of low-yield nuclear weapons.
Round 2: US immigration policy should prioritize merit over family reunification.
Round 3: The United States should adopt term limits for members of Congress.
Round 4: Twitter should block Trump from their platform.
Round 5: The United States must commit immediately to significantly reducing our national debt.
Round 6: North Korea has a right to nuclear defense.
Round 7: To address misogyny, the #MeToo Movement must actively oppose pornography.
Round 8: Greek organizations should be required to accept all applicants who meet minimum academic standards. - 2017 Results
2017 Results
The 2017 Cabin Fever Debates was won by the team JorgenSweet (Alex Jorgensen & Joey Sweet) who defended the motion "Impeach!" in the final round. Alex Jorgensen was also named Top Speaker of the tournament.
The motions:
Final: Impeach!
Semifinal 1: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has outlived its usefulness.
Semifinal 2: The United States should withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Round 1: This House would prohibit the president from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress.
Round 2: This House would support a Calexit.
Round 3: The United States Congress should repeal the Johnson Amendment.
Round 4: If a student organization were to invite Milo Yiannopolous to speak, UAA should allow the event to be hosted on campus.
Round 5: Democratic Senators should filibuster the nomination of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.
Round 6: The U.S. Department of Education should be abolished.
Round 7: The United States should provide its citizens with a universal basic income.
Round 8: The United States should adopt a balanced budget amendment.
- 2016 Results
2016 Results
The 2016 Cabin Fever Debates concluded with its Championship Round on the controversial motion, "The Alaska State Legislature should require the University of Alaska to permit concealed carry of weapons on campus." The teams of Sarah Gray & Alex Jorgensen, Neal Koeneman & Sam Doepken, Jacob Tatum & Timothy Williams, and Iain Miller & Christian Bohrer faced each other in the final round, as the top 4 of 32 teams in the competition.
The winners of the 2016 Cabin Fever Debates were Neal Koeneman & Sam Doepken. Sarah Gray was awarded the designation of Top Speaker of the tournament and awarded the Quianna Clay Prize for Excellence in Debating.
Topics debated in the 2016 Cabin Fever Debates:
Round 1: Bernie Sanders would make a better Democratic candidate for the Presidency than Hillary Clinton.
Round 2: Marco Rubio would make a better Republican candidate for the Presidency than either Ted Cruz or Donald Trump.
Round 3: Parents should be permitted to use genetic editing to modify embryos, both to suppress negative traits and to select positive traits.
Round 4: Given mounting evidence of long-term cognitive damage sustained by players, football fans have a moral duty to refrain from supporting the NFL.
Round 5: President Obama should nominate a deeply liberal Supreme Court Justice who would be less likely to be confirmed instead of a centrist candidate more likely to be confirmed.
Round 6: The United States should adopt a guaranteed minimum income for all citizens.
Round 7: Apple is right to refuse to comply with the federal magistrate's order that it cooperate with the FBI to gain access to Syed Farook's iPhone.
Round 8: The State of Alaska should adopt a statewide lottery.
Semifinal 1: Assuming the need to generate new revenue sources, the State of Alaska should prefer taxation of personal income to a retail sales tax.
Semifinal 2: The State of Alaska should vacate convictions and expunge records of arrests for marijuana-related crimes for individuals convicted or arrested before marijuana was legalized.
Final: The Alaska State Legislature should require the University of Alaska to permit concealed carry of weapons on campus.
- 2015 Results
2015 Results
The 2015 Cabin Fever Debates concluded with its Championship Round on the controversial motion, "The United States Federal Government should apply a wilderness area designation to the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." The teams of Alliana Salanguit & Jessica Bernardini, Daniel Gallarza & Anthony Gallarza, Michael Jurasek & Stephen Warta, and Kaylin Jones & Catherine Ek faced each other in the final round of competition after prevailing as the top 4 teams of the 32 team participating.
The team of Daniel Gallarza and Anthony Gallarza were declared the champions. Anthony Galalrza was also selected as the top speaker of the tournament and awarded the Quianna Clay Prize for Excellence in Debating.
Topics debated in the 2014 Cabin Fever Debates:
Round 1: This house supports the decision to make the University of Alaska Anchorage Campus a smoke-free campus.
Round 2: Assuming the need to generate new revenue, the State of Alaska should prefer a personal income tax to tapping the Permanent Fund.
Round 3: The United States Federal Government should pay for 2 years of community college tuition for any qualified student.
Round 4: The United States should abandon its policy of refusing to pay ransom for US citizens taken hostage by enemy combatants.
Round 5: The State of Alaska should require all high school students to pass a citizenship test to qualify for gaduation.
Round 6: Restricting access to the Internet should be considered a violation of a fundamental human right.
Round 7: The State of Alaska should adopt right-to-die legislation for terminally-ill patients.
Round 8: The FDA should allow for the prescription of stimulants like Adderall or Ritalin for non-medically necessary cognitive enhancement.
Semifinal 1: Congress should approve President Obama's proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force against ISIS.
Semifinal 2: The US should provide weapons to Ukraine.
Final: The United States Federal Government should apply a wilderness area designation to the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
- 2014 Results
2014 Results
The 2014 Cabin Fever Debates concluded with its Championship Round on the controversial motion, "The State of Alaska should amend its Constitution to allow the allocation of public funds for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution." The teams of Jeremy Johnson & Michael Jurasek; Elizabeth Williams & Isaac Williams; Duke Kahumoku & Nithya Thiru; and Spencer Dahl & Emily Dahl faced each other in the final round of competition after prevailing as the top 4 teams of the 32 team participating.
The team of Duke Kahumoku & Nithya Thiru were declared the champions. Nithya Thiru was also selected as the top speaker of the tournament and awarded the Quianna Clay Prize for Excellence in Debating.
- 2013 Results
2013 Results
The 2013 Cabin Fever Debates concluded with its Championship Round on the hotly-contested motion, "This house would abolish tax-exempt status for churches." The teams of Melanie Leydon & Blake Steenhoven; Heather Guthrie & Judy Jessen; Adam Jackson & Ryan Murrell; and Michael Jurasek & Jeremy Johnson faced each other in the final round of competition after prevailing as the top 4 teams of the 32 team participating.
At the end of debate, it was the was the team of Heather Guthrie & Judy Jessen representing the opposition that convinced the panel of judges that they were the Champion team, taking with them a $1000 cash prize.
Blake Steenhoven was selected at the top speaker of the tournament and awarded the Quianna Clay Prize for Excellence in Debating.
Topics debated in the 2013 Cabin Fever Debates:
Round 1: The State of Alaska should pass "right to work" legislation.
Round 2: The State of Alaska should allow for health care providers to opt out of medical procedures to which they have a conscientious objection.
Round 3: The State of Alaska should allow the use of deadly force in self-defense.
Round 4: The State of Alaska should adopt a school voucher program that would include the ability to access public funds for religious education.
Round 5: This house supports the targeted killing of US citizens deemed to be a threat to US security under the legal guidelines established by the Department of Justice.
Round 6: The State of Alaska should pass legislation that prohibits both public institutions and private employers from requesting access to the social media accounts of its employees, applicants, or students as a condition of employment or acceptance.
Round 7: This house opposes the collection of DNA without warrant from suspects at the time of arrest.
Round 8: This house opposes the manipulation of genetic material prior to birth to produce desirable traits other than the avoidance of disease (i.e.: intellegence, appearance, athleticism, etc.) in children.
Semifinal 1: This house believes that universities should limit online courses to students who have a legitimate geographic barrier that prevents them from attending traditional classroom courses.
Semifinal 2: This house would hold the State of Alaska accountable for failure to enact a climate recovery plan.
Final: This house would abolish tax-exempt status for churches.
- 2012 Results
2012 Results
The 2012 Cabin Fever Debates concluded with its Championship Round debating the motion, "Following the model of Portugal, the US should decriminalize the use of recreational drugs." The teams of Adrian Schnyder & Aurora Dordan; Tim Truer & Erik Woebler; Hannah Coe & Andrew McConnell; and Quoc Dong & Jaron Saturnino faced each other in the final round of competition after prevailing as the top 4 teams of the 32 team participating.
At the end of debate, it was the was the team of Tim Truer & Erik Woebler representing the opposition that convinced the panel of judges that they were the Champion team, taking with them a $1000 cash prize.
Jaron Saturnino was selected at the top speaker of the tournament and awarded the Quianna Clay Prize for Excellence in Debating.
Topics debated in the 2012 Cabin Fever Debates:
Round 1: States should require drug testing for all recipients of welfare.
Round 2: Targeted assassination of Iranian scientists working on that country's nuclear weapons program is a legitimate security strategy.
Round 3: The international community should send troops to stop the violence in Syria.
Round 4: Undocumented immigrants with long term residency in the United States should be allowed to obtain legal status in exchange for serving in the military.
Round 5: Religious institutions should be required to cover their employee's birth control through their insurance plans.
Round 6: The United States should build a permanent, manned base on the moon by 2020.
Semifinal 1: Non-US citizen victims of human rights violations should be allowed to sue corporations for their part in the alleged violation in US courts.
Semifinal 2: The National Hockey League should ban fighting.
Championship Round: Following the model of Portugal, the US should decriminalize the use of recreational drugs.
- 2011 Results
2011 Results
The 2011 Cabin Fever Debates concluded with a Championship Round featuring four teams that advanced from a field of 32 teams to earn a spot in the final round. The teams--Jon Stinson & Matt Stinson; Leland Miller & Kyle Benson; George Joy & Justin Stephan; and Melanie Leydon and Austen Mersereau--squared off in a debate about whether the children of illegal immigrants should be granted US citizenship.
When the dust settled, Mersereau and Leydon were on top and took home the Champion title as well as a $1000 cash prize.
Megan Rogers was picked as the top speaker of the tournament and was awarded the Quianna Clay Prize for Excellence in Debating.
Topics debated in the 2011 Cabin Fever Debates:
Round 1: The United States federal government should prohibit the entertainment and media industry from distributing sexually graphic content when the character but not the actor is underage.
Round 2: The time has come to impose regime change in North Korea.
Round 3: The U.S. should suspend all aid to Egypt until free and fair elections are held.
Round 4: The U.S. should declare access to the Internet to be a human right.
Round 5: Teachers' pay should be tied to their students' performance.
Round 6: The U.S. federal government should be prohibited from requiring citizens to purchase health insurance.
Round 7: The Sea Shepard Conservation Society is justified in its efforts to interfere with Japan's whaling in the Antarctic.
Round 8: Congress should refuse to raise the federal debt limit.
Semifinal 1: This house supports Wisconsin's effort to curtail collective bargaining rights for public employees.
Semifinal 2: This house supports the use of aggressive entrapment to identify and foil potential terrorists.
Championship Round: The US should not automatically grant citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are illegal immigrants.
- 2010 Results
2010 Results
The 2010 Cabin Fever Debates concluded with a Final Round on the motion "The University of Alaska should allow individuals to carry firearms on campus." Opening the debate in favor of the motion were Jonathon and Matthew Stinson. With them on the Proposition bench were Brittany Bennett and Leland Miller. Opposing the motion were the teams of Clayton Dale and Adriene Slaymaker in the opening position and Catherine Helle and Peter Finn in the closing opposition position.
Ultimately, Jonathon and Matt Stinson were selected as the Champion team and received the $1000 cash prize. Both were invited to travel with the competitive team to the 2010 US Universities Debating Championships hosted by Regis University in Denver, CO.
- 2009 Results
2009 Results
The 2009 CFD featured 28 teams from UAA's student body, from which eight teams advanced to the semifinal round. Four teams further distinguished themselves by advancing to the final round of competition. In the final debate, eight debaters discussed whether or not "the United States should prosecute the Bush administration for war crimes." Two teams were charged with supporting the motion. In the position of Opening Government was "Schrute Farms" (Kelcie Ralph & Faith Caparas). Supporting them in the Closing Government position was "The Vikings" (Nils Sandtroen & Eric Romig). Challenging the motion were the teams of "Nobama" (Ryan McKee & Hannah Scott) in the opening position and "Code Red" (Christy Strong & Kyle Benson) in the closing opposition. Ultimately, the team of Ralph & Caparas prevailed, each earning a $1,000 cash scholarship and a spot representing the University at the US Universities Debating Championships hosted by the University of Vermont.
Motions Debated:
Round 1: The State of Alaska should invest its public funds according to the principles of socially-responsible investing.
Round 2: The NATO Alliance should negotiate with the Taliban to achieve stability in Afghanistan.
Round 3: Any stimulus package should require that materials and goods purchased with stimulus dollars be bought from American sources when possible.
Round 4: The State of Alaska should require either parental or judicial consent for minors seeking abortions.
Round 5: The United States should declare that a military strike to curb Iran's nuclear program is off the table.
Round 6: The US Federal Government should ban the advertisement of junk food in children's media.
Round 7: The University of Alaska should abandon academic tenure.
Semifinal 1: The State of Alaska should reinstate capital punishment.
Semifinal 2: The State of Alaska should offer direct financial incentives to individuals who become fluent in a dying Alaska Native language.
Final: The United States should prosecute the Bush Administration for war crimes.
- 2008 Results
2008 Results
On March 4th, the Seawolf Debate team hosted two semifinal round debates. The first semifinal round dealt with whether the US federal government should apologize to its Native peoples. Following the recent decision of the Australian parliament to issue a formal apology to its Aboriginal peoples, the issue of how the US should interact with its Native peoples is again at the forefront. Senator Sam Brownback (R - Kansas) has sponsored such legislation for the past four years but has not been able to convince his colleagues that it should be passed. In the Cabin Fever Debates, the motion was defended by the teams of Puppies & Kittens (Michael Duffy & Zachary Johnson) and F Street (Zachary Mannix & Vasilios Gialopsos). On the opposition, the teams of Emma Goldman (Amie Stanley & Michelle Hart) and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Tara Devlin & Ryan Starr) countered their arguments. In a very tight debate, teams F Street and Emma Goldman were selected to advance to the final round.
The second semifinal round focused on whether the US should boycott the Beijing Olympics. Given Steven Spielberg's recent decision to give up his post as an artistic advisor to the Beijing Olympics and ongoing concerns about China's human rights record, the political message inherent in this high-profile sporting event cannot be overlooked. Arguing in favor of the boycott were the teams of that won team (Brett Frazer & Marcus Welker) and Princes, Unicorn, Rainbow (Zachary Liszka & John Roberson III). On the opposition were Dimond (Faith Capras & Craig Valdez) and Sojourner Truth (Jonathon Sanchez & Solomeia Kojin). In this round, the opening teams (that one team & Dimond) provided a solid foundation for the debate and were chosen to advance to the final round.
On March 6th, the final round of the Cabin Fever Debates contemplated one of the most pressing issues of the day: should the US pull out of Iraq? The promised drawdown of troops following last year's "surge" seems stalled, with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates joining Gen David Petraeus in suggesting that the planned withdrawal be suspended to assess the security of Iraq. Given looming questions about the long-term role of US troops in Iraq and the number of families in Alaska affected by these decisions, this debate resonated with the local audience.
The final round found Dimond (Faith Capras & Craig Valdez) in the role of opening government and Emma Goldman (Amie Stanley & Michelle Hart) in the role of closing government. The opening opposition was represented by the team that won team (Brett Frazer & Marcus Welker) with F Street (Zachary Mannix & Akis Gialopsos) on closing opposition. This, too, was a hotly contested debate. In the end, Stanley & Hart convinced the five-member panel of adjudicators that they deserved to be the tournament champions. Meanwhile, Gialopsos was selected as the tournament's best speaker, having put on an impressive display of rhetoric throughout the entire event.
Motions Debated:
Round 1: Polar bears should be added to the Endangered Species List
Round 2: Tax rebates are the wrong way to stimulate the economy
Round 3: Earmarks are an inappropriate way for Congress to distribute resources
Round 4: The State of Alaska should abandon the practice of predator control in its management of wild game populations
Round 5: The U.S. should end military aid to Israel
Round 6: No nation should have exclusive rights to the Arctic
Round 7: Torture is a legitimate tool in the War on Terror
Semifinal 1: The U.S. federal government should apologize to its Native peoples
Semifinal 2: The U.S. should boycott the Beijing Olympics
Final: The U.S. should withdraw all combat troops from Iraq by the end of 2009