Lion fans looking to cheer on a winning team at Loyola Marymount University might cast their eyes to West Point this weekend (April 22-23), where the Debate Team has a shot at making American debate history.
Only Harvard University’s team has ever made it to the final, sudden-death rounds in each of the three major national debate tournaments. In part, that is because the competition is so tough, but a bigger factor is that each of the tournaments features a different style of debate, requiring different proficiencies.
The LMU team, made up of 20 undergraduate and graduate students, has a broad array of skill sets and just might do it, according to its faculty coach, Jay Busse, professor of communication studies. “What I like to see is our students raise the bar,” said Busse.
And that has been happening this year, over and over again, as the team has competed in won or placed well in tournaments held in Africa and London, as well as a host of cities across the United States.
Most recently, James Kilcup, a graduate student in philosophy, and Bobby Cashen, a graduate student at the School of Education, finished second in cumulative speaker points at the national U.S. Universities Debating Championships at the University of Vermont April 1-3.
There were more than 400 competitors and individually, Kilcup finished third overall, and Cashen tenth. Taking the top two spots were debaters from Harvard Law School. Earlier in March at Stanford, the LMU team won every round and finished 26-0.
The first leg of the debaters triple crown was at the National Debate Tournament at the University of Texas at the end of March, where an LMU team of Jack Ewing, a junior in communications studies, and James Mollison, a senior philosophy major, made it to the finals and finished ninth. As they had all year at the NDT tournaments, they debated the issue of immigration.
Cashen and Kilcup will be the competitors at West Point for the third and final leg, where 64 teams from across the country will meet in a three-day marathon under the auspices of the American Parliamentary Debate Association. There, the topics will not be set in advance. The team will be given a topic as they take the stage and the home or government team will decide who takes pro and con.
For Kilcup, the attraction of debate stems from something that continues to bother him about his fellow students; no one wants to argue politics.
“What I notice is that people in class and socially, shut down quickly if politics comes up,” he said. “It is refreshing to find people who are curious, intelligent, well-informed and willing to engage in critical debates about these things without developing an animosity.”
Cashen, who was a college lacrosse player before an injury sidelined him, finds debate an outlet for his competitive nature. ”I was able to fill that void with debate,” he said. “It is incredibly competitive and it is very difficult to win and to win consistently. I also had the qualifications in being interested in reading and critically engaging with the material. Debate was an outlet for both.
Both Cashen and Kilcup may pursue legal careers after LMU. Busse calls debate a natural for that, but also for other professions, including sales and reporting. It develops your oral communication skills, ability to work in teams, writing skills, intelligence and logic. “Debating improves time-bound, problem-solving aptitudes,” he said. “You also have to be credible and sincere.”
The focus this week for the pair and their coaches is honing all those skills and getting ready to match Harvard’s record.
“I would love to be in the room when Harvard and Yale go back and they have to explain that they lost to Loyola Marymount and, it is acceptable,” said Busse. “It breaks down some of the prejudices and biases for other small schools. The more success we generate, it makes people more inclined to set aside their intellectual prejudices that you have to go to a Harvard, a Stanford, an Oxford a Cambridge to be able to understand the world’s problems.”
UPDATE:
LMU got within one victory of qualifying for the elimination rounds at West Point, but the team of Cashen and Kilcup lost to Rutgers by a razor-thin margin despite tying them on individual speaker and team speaker points.
The team finished 3-3, and amassed the most points among all teams that finished with a 3-3 record in the qualifying rounds of the tournament, which was held the weekend of April 22-23. For the year, the Cashen and Kilcup team went 34-4; an LMU record and among the best in the nation.
For the tournament, Kilcup ranked 17th overall in the individual rankings, out of 156 speakers. Most of the competitors had qualified by winning an APDA Tournament this season.
“The 3-3 outcome is frustrating but not surprising,” said Busse, putting the result into a broader context. “When debating the best people, in an impromptu format, anything can happen. There were 78 teams and 41 tournament winners in attendance.”
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April 18, 2011
News Contact: Peter M. Warren | 310.338.2389 | peter.warren@lmu.edu