The National Debate Tournament

The goals of the NDT have remained fairly constant during the past fifty years. The Charter of the National Debate Tournament indicates that the NDT is committed to "the growth of programs of excellence in forensics education in institutions of higher education in the United States," to "encouraging the opportunity for quality debate for students of all institutions of higher education," to "maximizing the number and geographic representation of participating schools," to "maximizing the competitive quality of participating schools," and to "conducting a tournament consistent with the educational objectives of intercollegiate forensics competition" (Charter 1). First and foremost among those goals is that that NDT is designed to encourage opportunities for student participation in intercollegiate debate. Thus, any degree-seeking undergraduate student meeting AFA and NDT eligibility requirements may participate in NDT-style debate and attempt to qualify to attend the National Debate Tournament. Students qualifying for the NDT are thus enrolled in both public and private, and two- and four-year, institutions of higher education. NDT attempts to encourage a quality experience for those students participating in NDT-style debate. Students may thus qualify to attend the tournament through three separate processes. The first qualification process is the "first-round at-large," where sixteen two-person teams are invited by the National Committee to attend the NDT based on their competitive success during an academic year. The second qualification process is through the various districts or regions. Each geographic region receives a number of qualification slots determined by participation in debate by schools in that region during that academic year. Districts may then award those slots to individual teams based on the results of a district tournament or by other means, such as a district ranking process. The third qualification process is the "second-round at-large," where the NDT Committee invites up to sixteen teams to attend the NDT, again based on their competitive success during the academic year. The various qualification processes seek to guarantee that the tournament features the best teams in NDT-style debate competing for the national championship. Third, the NDT seeks to be a tournament grounded in sound educational objectives. Thus, the National Debate Tournament Committee continually reviews tournament rules and procedures to assure that the tournament fosters sound competitive and educational practices. One of the most significant changes for the 1996-1997 competition season is the decision to debate the topic used by the Cross Examination Debate Association. The NDT Committee decided to use the "joint topic" in hopes of providing more local and regional travel opportunities during the season, and also to encourage more crossover between the NDT and CEDA organizations. The NDT community believes there are several benefits to participation in NDT-style debate. Among those are an increase in student confidence and speaking ability, significant improvement in student critical thinking and analytical skills, demonstrated progress in student information processing competence, and an expansion of student organizational proficiency. …