Two University students caught the world debate community by surprise by finishing in the top eight in a competition that had never seen a public school team advance past preliminary rounds in its 26-year history.
University senior Jason Lear and graduate student Aaron Donaldson went to Ireland during winter break to compete. On New Year’s Day, officials announced which teams would advance into the elimination round of the World University Debating Championships in Dublin.
Only 32 of the 324 teams would advance.
“When the announcer got to 28 or 29, we thought we didn’t have a chance,” Lear said.
In the University’s first appearance at the championships, it advanced, snagging the 32nd slot.
“There were tiny pockets of celebration, but everyone else was pretty speechless and didn’t know what was going on,” Lear said. “We later found out there was a mistake and we were actually 31st, but 32nd was more exciting.”
Most people connected with the competition had never heard of the University of Oregon, which had just made history as the furthest advancing public school in the competition.
The duo didn’t stop there.
“With each round we were getting more confident. We were determined not to be put off by the quality of the competition,” Lear said. “We made a lot of friends with kids from Japan, Ireland, England and Australia that didn’t make it past the prelims, and we picked up some fans and supporters along the way. People were generally surprised how well we had done as a public school.”
Lear and Donaldson advanced into the round of eight – against the University of Chicago, the University of Sydney and Hart House (University of Toronto) – where they were eliminated.
“Standing in line for coffee, I’d be hear people talking about the Oregon team. There was a buzz going around,” said Paul Hood, coach of the University team. “We went from being unknown to having a strong reputation just like that.”
Other universities at the event included Oxford, Yale and Cambridge.
“It was a great thing to see the surprise we created,” Donaldson said.
The World University Debating Championships is the most prestigious of its kind. It is also the largest non-athletic student competition in the world, said David Frank, professor of rhetoric with the University’s Clark Honors College.
Lear, a political science major, had never competed in the British parliamentary style of debate used in the world championships. Donaldson, who is working on a post graduate degree in political science and rhetorical health care policy, had little experience with the style going into the competition.
The style features four teams of two in each round. The teams are given the motion (topic of debate) 15 minutes before the debate starts. Teams may use printed or written material before and during the debate, but the use of electronic equipment is prohibited. In the debate, two teams argue one position and two teams provide an opposing side.
“Your working with one team, but competing against all three,” Donaldson said. “It’s unique because it’s an aggressive competition with two teams and a cooperative competition with the other.”
After each of the nine preliminary rounds, judges would award three points to the first place team, two points to second, one to third and zero to fourth. The University team won five of the nine preliminary rounds. In the elimination rounds, two teams from each debate advanced.
The world style of debate differs in many ways from the American style, Donaldson said. The international debates depends more on the presenter’s analysis, rhetorical excellence and persuasion ability rather than winning specific arguments. A team could actually lose a debate but still come out ranked on top.
“That would never happen in the U.S,” Donaldson said.
The judging process was different too. Instead of deciding winners by a majority vote, like in American debates, judges would come to a consensus on what team performed the best after each debate.
Hood judged the preliminary rounds and could not watch his team, but he was in the crowd for the elimination rounds.
“Obviously all the speakers were very bright minds, but Jason
and Aaron were better than mostat speaking in front of the large crowds that watched the debates,” Hood said.
Lear said that he and Donaldson referred to the fact that they were there from a public school and were perceived as underdogs, drawing laughter from the crowd.
“We found that using satirical humor was a real effective way to prove our point,” Lear said.
Donaldson said many of the classes he and Lear have taken at the University helped with the preparation of the event, including a human rights class the two took together. Aside from the competition, both students found the experience eye opening.
“We had conversations with brilliant people from all over,” Lear said. “It was amazing just to talk politics with people who live on the ground in hot spots all over the world.”
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