MSU Debate Team receives three invitations to national tournament Contact: Greta Stahl, MSU Debate Program: (517) 432-9667, stahlgre@msu.edu; or Kristin K. Anderson, University Relations: (517) 353-8819, ander284@msu.edu
March 20, 2007
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University will send three debate teams to compete in the National Debate Tournament in Dallas, making it the only public school nationwide to receive three invitations.
Besides MSU, five private schools were granted three bids to the tournament, set for March 30-April 2. Each year, 78 two-person teams are invited to compete.
“Getting three invitations is a particular honor given the list of other schools, including some of the elite academic institutions in the nation,” said Greta Stahl, director of the MSU Debate Program. “I’m very proud of our students to be on that list.”
All of the students invited are in MSU’s James Madison College. They are senior honors students Debbie Lai of Troy and Varsha Ramakrishnan of Burbank, S.D.; senior Andrea Reed of Dallas; and juniors Garrett Abelkop of Alpharetta, Ga., Amit Bindra of New Berlin, Wis., and James Durkee of Everett, Wash.
Stahl credits the three invitations to the 61st annual tournament as having a highly successful team with strength and depth.
“We don’t just have two good students,” she said. “We have a strong squad and a lot of students who work to make the squad better.”
MSU is the defending national champion and hopes to win its third title within four years.
This year’s debate topic is, “Resolved: the United States Supreme Court should overrule one or more of the following decisions: Planned Parenthood v. Casey; Ex parte Quirin; U.S. v. Morrison; and Milliken v. Bradley.”
“It’s not very easy to get into the tournament,” said Stahl, who was a 2004 national debate champion as an MSU senior. “We compete against other very motivated and hard-working students from universities around the nation.”
For more information on the MSU Debate Program, visit the Web at www.debate.msu.edu.
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