Department of Speech Communication

Student Organizations & Activities

Kleinau Theatre

Saluki Debate

Graduate Student Organization

Links:

College of Liberal Arts

City of Carbondale

Speech Communication Discipline Links

2008 National Champions of Parliamentary Debate

Winners of the 2008 National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence

About the team

The Southern Illinois University Debate Team competes in intercollegiate debate tournaments across the country from September through March. The SIU debate team is a member of both NPDA (National Parliamentary Debate Association) and the NPTE (National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence), the sponsoring organizations for the two national tournaments held at the end of each school year.

The SIU coaching staff has a director and a graduate assistant, and four competitors. All current debate team members have extensive high school experience and are recruited by the director, though the team welcomes "walk-ons." Interested parties should contact the program director, Dr. Todd Graham, with any questions.

Team Pictures

Coaching Staff 2009-2010

Team Members 2009-2010

Director of Debate:

Todd
Graham

Todd received his Ph.D. from Arizona State University in Interpersonal Communication. His Masters Degree in rhetoric was awarded by Kansas State University, and his Bachelors Degree with a major in Broadcasting was from Missouri Southern State College. Todd has been the Director of Debate at Southern Illinois University since the fall of 2000. Previously, Todd directed the debate program at Northwestern State University for seven years from 1990-1997. During that time, the debate team at NSU won many tournaments and received several prestigious awards. The two awards that stand out are the overall CEDA (Cross Examination Debate Association) championship in 1994, and Todd was presented with the Pelham National Debate Coach of the Year award in 1995, an honors which was presented from Emory University and South Carolina University.

Email: tgraham@siu.edu

Kevin Calderwood, Chesterfield, MO
Senior; Political Science

Kevin is a senior studying Political Science at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. During the 2007-2008 season, Kevin won a National Championship title at the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence and was named the best individual speaker in the country by the National Parliamentary Debate Association. As a self-avowed "news junkie," Kevin can easily discuss a wide variety of current events, particularly those related to U.S. involvement in foreign affairs. Kevin looks forward to having an even stronger showing this year with his partner Brandon Merrell and aspires to become the United States of the debate community by securing some form of uni-polar hegemony, although he remains undecided if he would prefer to secure this position through the use of soft or hard power.

Brandon Merrell, Snohomish, WA
Junior; Economics and Political Science

Brandon is a junior majoring in Economics and Political Science at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. For the past two years, Brandon attended Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where he finished second in Lincoln-Douglas Debate at the 2008 Pi Kappa Delta National Tournament. Prior to college, Brandon competed for Snohomish High School, and in 2006 was the highest scoring first-year competitor in the nation. Brandon is an avid fan of Formula One racing and President of the SIU Pre-Law Society. He plans to attend law school and pursue a career in public service after graduation.

Mike Selck, Blue Spring, MO
Freshman; Speech Communication

Mike is a freshman studying speech communication at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Mike graduated from Blue Springs High School where he was a quadruple national qualifier, clearing to elimination rounds his junior and senior year, and winning the 9th place speaker award in policy debate at the 2009 NFL National Tournament. Mike Hopes to have a successful debate career at SIUC, and will likely be spotted sporting a snazzy sweater vest and his "lucky" debate bandanna. According to the rest of the team, you will always see Mike tied to his cell phone, but this is only because he has to check the validity of random fun facts that are ever-present on the SIUC team. After graduating from SIU, Mike will pursue a Masters in Speech Communication and intends to coach high school debate.

Richard Flores, El Paso, TX
Senior; Political Science

Richard is a senior majoring in Political Science from El Paso, Texas. He previously competed for Rice University for three years, and intends to pursue a Masters in Political Science upon graduation.

Graduate Assistant:

Kyle Cheesewright , BA ( Colorado State University: Speech Communication and Political Science), MA (California Sate University, Long Beach: Communication Studies)

Email: kcheese@siu.edu

Kyle is currently a doctoral student at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. As a competitor, he was constantly ranked in the upper echelons of the NPTE. As a coach, Kyle has worked at several programs trying to more fully integrate performative and critical modes of inquiry into competitive debate. Kyle is an active member of the SIUC Speech Communication Department, though in a futile move against cartography, refuses to select an area of focus. While Kyle recognizes much of the cruelty and barbarity associated with the consumption of flesh, he sides with David Foster Wallace on the question of its deliciousness.

Debate Schedule 2009-2010

The travel schedule for the SIU debate team will vary from year to year, and remains flexible to account for circumstances beyond the control of the debate team, such as number of entries at each tournament. The following is a list of tournaments that the SIU debate team is considering attending:

William Jewell College, Liberty, MO - September 18-20, 2009	Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX - January 15-17, 2010
Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA - September 26-27, 2009	Webster University, St. Louis, MO - January 29-31, 2010
Pan Pacific Championships, Hawaii Pacific University, Honolulu, HI - October 17-18, 2009	Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, CA - February 5-7, 2010
University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA - October 30-November 1, 2009	Willamette University, Salem, OR - February 27-28, 2010
University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA - November 6-8, 2009	National Parliamentary Debate Association National Tournament, Lubbock, TX - March 20-22, 2010
California State University-Long Beach, Long Beach, CA - January 8-10, 2010	National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence National Tournament, Azusa, CA - March 26-28, 2010

The SIU Debate Dawgs’ Successes:

2008 - 2009

The team of Kevin Calderwood and Adam Testerman became the first team ever to go undefeated through preliminary rounds of both the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence and the National Parliamentary Debate Association National Tournament, and finished 2nd at the NPTE. Calderwood and Testerman won several tournaments, including the Paul Winters Invitational at the University of the Pacific, and the both the Point Loma Nazarene University Round Robin and Point Loma Nazarene University Invitational. The team of Katie Thomas and Christopher Neill finished 6th at the National Parliamentary tournament of Excellence.

2007 - 2008

The team of Kyle Dennis and Kevin Calderwood are the 2008 National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence champions. The defeated competition from all over the nation including Washburn, Western Kentucky, Berkeley, Texas Tech, and UCLA. There Calderwood won the 4 th best speaker award and Dennis was 11 th . They also won the Point Loma Round Robin and open tournament, and the second half of the Long Beach Swing. They also reached the final round of the Webster tournament and Claremont. They reached semi-finals of The first half of the Long Beach Swing and both sides of the Mile-High swing. What an incredible season.

The team of Katie Thomas and Adam Testerman finished in 9 th place at the NPTE. They reached semi finals at the Webster Tournament, quarter finals at the second half of the Long Beach swing and octa finals of the first half of the Long beach Swing and Both halves of the Mile High swing.

2006 - 2007

The team of Kyle Dennis and Justin Hingtgen went undefeated in preliminary rounds (including a win over the William Jewel Round Robin’s champions) and cleared to the top 16 teams in one of the toughest season openers in the country with teams from all over the nation in attendance. After doing so well as to earn a bye through Double Octo Finals, the Dawgs lost a narrow round to a strong team from Washburn on a 2-1 decision. Kyle received special notice as the eighth best speaker out of all participants at the entire tournament.

Ariel Rodgers, a returning sophomore, and Katie Thomas, a new recruit from Colorado, have been invited to the prestigious William Jewel Round Robin—where ten of the best teams in debate get to duke it out for an early, but important, championship amongst some of the nation’s strongest competition. This marks the second year in a row that the Dawgs have been invited to compete in this round robin.

2005 - 2006

The debate team had an outstanding first year of competition. We were invited to three different round-robin style tournaments. These tournaments only invited who they considered to be the best 10 debate teams in the country. Two were first semester, The Claremont Colleges, and William Jewell College, and the final round-robin tournament was held second semester at Point Loma Nazarene University. These prestigious tournaments are considered to be the benchmark for debate programs. Any school getting invitations to one, let alone all three, is seen as one of the top Parliamentary Debate programs in the country.

Teams from SIU cleared into the elimination round of debates at open invitation tournaments such as Claremont’s National Open, Creighton, and CSU Fullerton. Our finest showings were at Colorado College, where SIU was the only undefeated team and top seeded team for the elimination debates. We advanced all the way to the semi-final debate before losing a close decision to the always tough and skilled Willamette University. The other feather in our cap for the 2005-2006 season was the open invitation tournament at William Jewell College. With a national field of over 70 teams from across the country, SIU advanced all the way to the final round, where we defeated the team from Loyola (which has been ranked as the best team in the nation). This meant that SIU was the champion of a large national circuit tournament in only our first year of Parliamentary Debate competition.

2008 NPTE Champions
SIU Debate '09-'10