The Loyola Marymount University debate team placed ninth among 316 colleges and universities from around the world at the World Universities Debating Championships, Dec. 27, 2008,-Jan. 3, 2009, held at University College Cork in Cork, Ireland. It was the highest finish in LMU debating history.
LMU was one of the 10 American teams that advanced to the finals, out of a total 32 teams. The only U.S. team that advanced farther was Harvard, which placed second in the tournament.
LMU debaters Kevin Kiley and Mike Aguilera comprised the LMU team that tied for 9th place, along with Princeton and MIT. Other U.S. universities with teams in the tournament included Yale, Stanford, Duke, Brown and Johns Hopkins.
“This showing once more places LMU debaters among the top echelon of debaters from prestigious universities throughout the world,” said Barbara Busse, dean of the College of Communication and Fine Arts. “There is no other LMU activity which directly places LMU Westchester undergraduates and graduate students in competition with exceptional students from the nation and the world.”
The participants debated topics such as whether countries should criminalize adultery and ban abortion.
The debate team will compete in the Trinity University Round Robin and the Trinity Invitational in Dublin in late January and at the London School of Economics in mid-February.