In a small, three-room office inside the whitewashed University Annex, University Forensics Program members can be found conducting research and performing mock debates at almost any time of the day.
Two debaters in particular, Katie Bergus@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Bergus@@, a University junior neurobiology major, and Megan Gaffney@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Megan+Gaffney@@, a University sophomore philosophy major, have formed a dynamic duo that has been scoring points and earning national recognition on an unconventional type of playing field: the debate stage.
Recently, Bergus and Gaffney have sealed their second-place ranking in the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence@@http://npte.debateaddict.com/@@ after several months of success, including capturing a first-place finish at the Northwest Parliamentary Warmup at Bellevue College last September.
“We’re the opposite of each other, but we’re like the same person,” Bergus said. “We come from very dissimilar knowledge bases, which allows us to really cover all of our grounds. We can fill in the gaps very well.”
Established in 1876, the University’s Forensics Program@@http://leadership.uoregon.edu/get_involved/classes/341@@ not only touts a rich history that dates back to the University’s founding, but has also had the recent prestigious proclivity of capturing national titles. In addition to the national titles that the University’s Forensics Program garnered in 2001 and 2009, University alums Hank Fields and Matt Gander @@http://champions.uoregon.edu/uo-debaters-bring-home-two-national-championships@@stunningly captured two national debate championships last spring by beating out 63 other teams at the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence at the University of Denver@@http://today.ttu.edu/2011/03/debate-qualifies-for-the-national-parliamentary-tournament-of-excellence/@@ and teams from more than 150 schools at the National Parliamentary Debate Association’s national championship tournament at Colorado College.@@http://www.parlidebate.org/@@
In the University’s Forensic Program, students are taught how to participate in two specific types of debates: policy debates and parliamentary debates. In policy debates, teams are provided with a topic that they research for an entire year and then present their arguments for two-hour rounds in competitions. In parliamentary debates, teams are provided with a random topic and then given 20 minutes to research and prepare their arguments for a 45-minute debate round — these topics then change throughout the competition and can range from U.S. military policy to alternative energy.
However, the research for debate competitions begin long before they even occur. In fact, apart from their full-time class schedule and part-time scholastic obligations, Gaffney and Bergus estimate that they spend nearly 60 to 70 hours a week reading extensive amounts of articles, books and public documents to formulate general arguments and to obtain background knowledge about a wide range of subjects.
“The annex is where the debate office is on campus, and it’s probably a second home to us,” Gaffney said. “The time needed to do research for a debate is more than a full-time job, so the majority of the time that is not spent in class or sleeping is probably time that we spend in the office.”
The ability to conduct copious amounts of research, formulate an argument, think on the fly, communicate with individuals of different perspectives and perceive both sides of an issue are some of the largest academic benefits that both Bergus and Gaffney have gained. Even so, both explained that the camaraderie among fellow debaters can be something that is even more special.
“The people that I have met in debate are just unrivaled,” Bergus said. “They’re some of the best people that I know; they’re my best friends. When I envision myself in 20 years from now, they’re people that characterize my high school and college experience.”