Accolades started before the tournament began with several UMKC Debaters receiving season-honors. Senior Andrew Allsup and Junior Juan Garcia were awarded a spot on the CEDA Debate All-American Squad. This honor is awarded to 30 debaters each year across the country for debaters who have shown competitive success and character.

Several members of the UMKC Squad also received academic honors for maintaining exceptional grades while competing in intercollegiate debate. Seniors Peter Sadowski and Andrew Allsup and Junior Brandon Wood received Magna Cum Laude Awards. Senior Miranda Nichols and Junior Harsh Desai received the highest level award, Summa Cum Laude.

Friend of UMKC Debate and Executive Director of DEBATE-Kansas City, Gabe Cook was also honored at this ceremony as the CEDA Public Advocate of the Year. You can read more about his award here.

UMKC was in full-force at the CEDA National Tournament with 6 teams. Three of the teams finished with a 4-4 record. Two of the teams made it to the elimination rounds. Seniors Alex Bonnet and Peter Sadowski finished 5-3, and Senior Andrew Allsup and Junior Juan Garcia finished 6-2. Bonnet and Sadowski won their first elimination round against Arizona State University. They were eliminated in the double-octafinal round.

Allsup and Garcia won their triple-octafinal round against the University of Texas-Austin. They also won their double-octafinal round against Trinity University. Juan and Andrew lost in the octafinal round to the University of Kansas. This was an exceptional showing, and the first time that UMKC has reached the octafinals since 2007.

We are very proud of all the debaters that participated at the CEDA Tournament.

While most of the debaters are done with competition, Allsup and Garcia still have the National Debate Tournament (NDT) coming up this weekend in Atlanta, GA. One of only 78 teams nationally to qualify for the tournament, this will be their second NDT in as many years. The rest of the squad will help from home by producing evidence and argument support. Good luck this weekend to Andrew and Juan!

Latoya is currently debating at Emporia State University, where she debates with KC Central High School alum, Ryan Wash. Latoya and Ryan rank as one of the top 15 teams across the country. This past weekend, at the CEDA National Tournament, Ryan and Latoya lost in the semi-finals on a 2-1 decision to Whitman College. Latoya was the 6th overall speaker and Ryan was the 4th speaker at the tournament that included 160 teams from over 50 schools.

While in High School, Latoya and Ryan participated in DEBATE-Kansas City, which is a non-profit that facilitates competitive debate in the Kansas City region. Both Ryan and Latoya attribute much of their success to the inspiration, skills, and friendships they developed while in DEBATE-Kansas City.

Latoya continues to advocate for students of the KCMSD and DEBATE-Kansas City. In January she, Ryan, and Marcus Leach participated in a public debate about the future of Kansas City Schools. You can read about this event here.

Congratulations to Latoya on this impressive national award!

The Public Advocate of the Year recognizes a former CEDA debater or coach who during the past year made a positive contribution to public discourse on matters of social import. The award recipient need not have a direct relationship to intercollegiate debate, but must be someone who has made a significant difference in local, regional, national or international affairs.

Gabe was recognized for his important work advocating on behalf of students of the regions schools, most notably the Kansas City Missouri School District (KCMSD). Gabe has held several public events on the issue of district organization, oversight and management. DKC’s program “Competing Futures: a debate over Kansas City Schools” on January 31st was a well-attended public debate about the future of the district. The debate included former DKC and KCMSD students Latoya Williams-Green, Marcus Leach, and Ryan Wash.

Latoya Williams-Green, currently representing Emporia State University, was also named the Brian “Baby Jo” Johnston Debater of the Year for CEDA. This award, named for former UMKC Debate National Champion Brian Johnston, honors competitive success and a commitment to represent the highest values of the debate community. Latoya continues to advocate for students of the KCMSD and DKC.

Both Gabe and Latoya encourage you to share your thoughts on the value of debate with the KCMSD and the community at-large. You can communicate with them on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/KCMOSchoolDistrict?sk=wall.

Friday, January 27th

7:30-9:00pm Registration – Marriott

Saturday, January 28th
8:15am Breakfast & Pairings
9:00am Round 1 Preset
11:15am Round 2 Preset
1:00pm Lunch
2:00 pairings round 3
2:30 Round 3 HL
4:45 pairings round 4
5:15 round 4 HL

Sunday, January 29th
7:30am Rounds 5 Pairings – Breakfast Royall Hall
8:15am Round 5 HH
11:00am Round 6 Pairings
11:30pm Round 6
2:15pm Pairings Round 7
3:00pm Round 7
5:30pm Dinner/Awards – Royall Hall
7:00pm First elim

Monday, January 30th
All elims at Marriott
8:00am Release Pairings
8:45am Elims Begin
Elims Continue…..

DIVISIONS: We will be offering Open, Junior Varsity, and Novice Divisions. Please follow the CEDA guidelines for entering your team in the correct division. We will only collapse divisions if necessary. We will break an appropriate number of teams based on number of entries in a division. We need to have the first large elim at the school on Sunday night.

ENTRIES: Please have your entries to me as soon as possible. Drops after Noon Wednesday of the tournament week will still be assessed entry fees due to food, trophy, and judging costs.

TIME LIMITS: Time limits will be 9-3-6 with 10 minutes of prep time per team.

JUDGING: Each school is expected to provide qualified judges to accompany their teams. You are responsible for 4 rounds of judging for every one team entered, or 7 rounds for each 2 teams. Each person in attendance as a coach is expected to be committed for 3 rounds, if you require an exception for medical or other appropriate reasons, please email me. All judges are committed through the first FULL elim debate or one round past their teams’ elimination, whichever occurs last. Please do your best to hire judges if you need to as opposed to trying to hire them through us. If you do need to hire a judge, the fee will be $250.00 per uncovered team. Please give me plenty of notice if you need to hire someone. If you are bringing extra judges, let me know how many rounds they would like to be hired for. Judges MUST render a decision by marking a loser and a winner of each debate. Only one team can win and only one can lose. Judges not following this will have their ballot changed with a coin toss and have their best team’s record altered by forfeiting a win at the conclusion of prelims. We plan on using some sort of judge preference system in each division depending on entries and availability. If you are bringing more teams than you can cover, and are splitting your judge commitments among your coaches, it is vital that you have enough judges on elim day to cover at a minimum the number of teams you clear.

FEES: The registration fee will be $100.00 per team entered. We will provide Breakfast & Lunch on Saturday, and breakfast, Lunch & Dinner on Sunday.

TEAMS: Teams should be comprised of two debaters from the same school or two debaters, each from a different school. All teams, including hybrids will be allowed to advance to elims and win speaker awards. UMKC debaters may participate in the tournament and advance to elim rounds.

TAB ROOM: The tab room will be administered by the Matt Vega, Malcolm Gordon & Somebody Else. No decision regarding any team participating in the tournament will be made in the tab room solely by coaches associated with that team.

AWARDS: An appropriate number of team and speaker awards will be given in each division.

Elims: Brackets will not be broken in elimination debates.

HOTEL INFO: The hotel is the Kansas City Marriott – Country Club Plaza – Group Code “kafkafa” (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/mcipl?groupCode=umdumda&app=resvlink&fromDate=1/27/12&toDate=1/31/12). The block rate is $104, and includes wireless internet. Please use the block. While you might be able to find a slightly cheaper rate at another hotel close by, please remember that the tournament’s ability to function requires that we receive discounts on elim day conference rooms.
Kansas City Marriott Country Club Plaza

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/mcipl?groupCode=umdumda&app=resvlink&fromDate=1/27/12&toDate=1/31/12

TRANSPORTATION: If you are flying in to KCI and need a shuttle to the hotel,
please let me know immediately. We will shuttle any paperless teams and coaches for free. Alternatives include Super Shuttle, http://www.supershuttle.com/. You will not need a vehicle once you are at the hotel.

PARKING: I will let you know once I have a better idea on how many vehicles we are looking at.

SEXUAL HARRASSMENT/ETHICS: The CEDA statement on Sexual Harassment will be upheld. A tournament harassment committee will be appointed to deal with any issues that arise. The tournament and its participants will also adhere to CEDA Bylaws regarding the Statement on Ethical Principles.

ENTERING THE TOURNAMENT: Entry on the Bruschke website (debateresults.com).

If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to call or email me. We hope to see you in January!

Sincerely,
Matthew Vega
Director of Debate
University of Missouri – Kansas City
vegam@umkc.edu

Malcolm Gordon
Assistant Director of Debate
University of Missouri – Kansas City
gordonme@umkc.edu

The following weekend the squad attended a tournament at University of Central Oklahoma.  Juan Garcia and Andrew Allsup had a 5-1 preliminary record and defeated teams from University of Wyoming, Texas, KU, and Wichita State University to take first place.  This is the first tournament championship UMKC has had at the UCO tournament since 2005.  Last year Allsup and Garcia lost in the final round to Trinity University.

Director of Debate Matt Vega will be posting pictures soon.  The squad only has two more tournaments this semester- one at Wake Forest University, and one at UMKC.  The team will then have time to prepare for the spring semester travel schedule, which begins on January 2nd.

Friday, November 18th

2:00-2:30pm Registration Royall Hall
2:45pm Pairings
3:30pm Round 1 Preset
6:00pm Round 2 Preset

Saturday, Novermber 19th
8:00am Rounds 3 & 4 Pairings – Breakfast Royall Hall
8:45am Round 3
11:30am Round 4
1:30pm Lunch Haag Hall
2:15pm Pairings Round 5
3:00pm Round 5
5:30pm Pairings Round 6
6:15pm Round VI

Sunday, Novermber 20th
7:45am Release Pairings
8:30am Elims Begin
11:00am Awards
Elims Continue…..

DIVISIONS: We will be offering Open, Junior Varsity, and Novice Divisions. Please follow the CEDA guidelines for entering your team in the correct division. We will only collapse divisions if necessary. We will break an appropriate number of teams based on number of entries in a division.

ENTRIES: Please have your entries to me as soon as possible. Drops after Noon Wednesday of the tournament week will still be assessed entry fees due to food, trophy, and judging costs.

TIME LIMITS: Time limits will be 9-3-6 with 10 minutes of prep time per team.

JUDGING: Each school is expected to provide qualified judges to accompany their teams. You are responsible for three rounds of judging for every one team entered. All judges are committed through the first FULL elim debate or one round past their teams’ elimination, whichever occurs last. Please do your best to hire judges if you need to as opposed to trying to hire them through us. If you do need to hire a judge, the fee will be $200.00 per uncovered team. Please give me plenty of notice if you need to hire someone. If you are bringing extra judges, let me know how many rounds they would like to be hired for. Judges MUST render a decision by marking a loser and a winner of each debate. Only one team can win and only one can lose. Judges not following this will have their ballot changed with a coin toss and have their best team’s record altered by forfeiting a win at the conclusion of prelims. We plan on using some sort of judge preference system in each division depending on entries and availability. If you are bringing more teams than you can cover, and are splitting your judge commitments among your coaches, it is vital that you have enough judges on elim day to cover at a minimum the number of teams you clear.

FEES: The registration fee will be $60.00 per team entered. We will provide Breakfast & Lunch on Saturday, and breakfast on Sunday.

TEAMS: Teams should be comprised of two debaters from the same school or two debaters, each from a different school. All teams, including hybrids will be allowed to advance to elims and win speaker awards. UMKC debaters may participate in the tournament and advance to elim rounds.

TAB ROOM: The tab room will be administered by the Malcolm Gordon & Somebody Else. No decision regarding any team participating in the tournament will be made in the tab room solely by coaches associated with that team.

AWARDS: An appropriate number of team and speaker awards will be given in each division. C

Elims: Brackets will not be broken in elimination debates.

HOTEL INFO: We do not have a block, as I have no idea yet to the number of teams from out of town that are coming. There are several hotels that are just north of campus on Main Street.
I highly recommend this hotel:
Homestead Suites $79 doubles, $69 singles
http://www.homesteadhotels.com/property/Homestead-Studio-Suites-Kansas-City-Country-Club-Plaza-hotel.html#
There is also the Marriott, Courtyard Marriott, Best Western, & Holiday Inn.

TRANSPORTATION: If you are flying in to KCI and need a shuttle to the hotel,
please let me know immediately.

PARKING: I will let you know once I have a better idea on how many vehicles we are looking at.

SEXUAL HARRASSMENT/ETHICS: The CEDA statement on Sexual Harassment will be upheld. A tournament harassment committee will be appointed to deal with any issues that arise. The tournament and its participants will also adhere to CEDA Bylaws regarding the Statement on Ethical Principles.

ENTERING THE TOURNAMENT: Entry on the Bruschke website (debateresults.com).

If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to call or email me. We hope to see you in November!

Sincerely,
Matthew Vega
Director of Debate
University of Missouri – Kansas City
vegam@umkc.edu

Malcolm Gordon
Assistant Director of Debate
University of Missouri – Kansas City
gordonme@umkc.edu

William Jewell and K.C.U. Teams Share Honors

William Jewell college and the University of Kansas City won championship trophies in the 30^th annual college debate tournament which ended last night at Southwestern college, Winfield, Kas.

The team from William Jewell defeated the University of Nebraska in the finals in the senior men’s division. The team members were Gene Voigts, 3925 Randolph road, north, and Donald Herrigo (?), Emporia, Kas.

The junior men’s division championship was won by the University of Kansas City team of Roy Leeper, 2002 West Forty-seventh street terrace, Johnson County, and William Crawford, Carthage, Mo. They defeated the University of Oklahoma in the finals.

In the women’s division finals, Nebraska State Teachers college, Kearney, Neb., defeated Southwest Missouri State college, Springfield, Mo.

The competition attracted 130 teams from 49 colleges and universities in 11 states.

The winning junior men’s team from K.C.U. was the only undefeated entry in the tournament, winning nine consecutive debates.

K.C.U. Senior Group Undefeated in Tournament.

The University of Kansas City’s entry in the senior division of a debate tournament at East Central Oklahoma State college, Ada, Okla., was the only senior team to emerge undefeated from the 2-day contest which ended yesterday.

The K.C.U. junior division team earned a tie for second place with a record of five wins and one loss.

Participating in the contest were teams from 34 colleges and universities in eight states. The K.C.U. teams:

Senior division – Paul Black, Calumet City, Ill., a sophomore, and Richard Replogle, senior, son of Mr. and Mrs. F.N. Replogle, 6821 Brookside road. Junior division – William Crawford, Carthage, Mo., and Roy Leeper, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Leeper, 2002 West Forty-seventh street terrace, Prairie Village.

The senior team’s performance brought its record for tournaments this year to 24 victories and three losses.

Kearney, Neb., Title to Two Students from Here.

Two members of the University of Kansas City debate team won the championship trophy in an invitational tournament yesterday at Kearney State Teachers college, Kearney, Neb.

The winners are Roy Leeper, 2002 West Forty-seventh street, Johnson County, and William Crawford, Carthage, Mo.

Their topic was “Congress Should Have the Power to Reverse Decisions of the Supreme Court.” Each debated both sides.

They defeated Fort Hays college, Hays, Kas., Colorado State college, Greeley, Nebraska Wesleyan university, Lincoln, and the University of Wyoming, Laramie.

Two other K.C.U. students Paul Black, Calumet City, Ill., and Richard Replogle, 6821 Brookside road, won three debates and lost one in the tournament.