With the sponsorship of the Office of the Chancellor, the Illinois Policy Debate Team which is institutionally supported by the Institute of Government and Public Affairs and Campus Honors Program will be organizing and hosting an intramural debate tournament to be held on April 19th and April 23rd at a location to be determined. The resolution for the debates will be--

Resolved: That the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign should issue punitive sanctions for students who engage in expression that degrades, intimidates, or incites violence on the basis of race, sexuality, gender, ethnicity, religion or disability.

The purpose of the debates is to help revitalize a culture of academic debate and free expression on the University of Illinois campus and promote campus dialogue on the subject of harmful and free speech.

The tournament will feature a pool of thirty-two teams, each consisting of two members. The general campus population is invited to watch the debates in Lincoln Hall and in particular the final round of competition, which will be held between the top two teams of the tournament. Judging for individual debate rounds, will be conducted by faculty members, graduate students, and select members of the Illinois Policy Debate team.

The winner of Illinois Debates will win receive a grand prize of $500, the finalist (runner-up) will receive $100, and the semi- finalist will receive $50, each amount to be split between the team members. Awards will also be given to the top ten speakers of the tournament as judged by the preliminary debate rounds.

This event is the 2008 capstone for the ongoing Chancellor's Series on Critical and Contemporary Issues, and is significant in that it is the first tournament of its kind in over three decades. The UIUC campus has been known in the past as a prime location for both intramural and invitational debate tournaments. Illinois Policy Debate, with the support of the Chancellor's Office, Institute for Government and Public Affairs, and Campus Honors Program are seeking to revive this tradition.

Application

Completed applications should be submitted electronically to illinoisdebate@gmail.com. Please direct any questions regarding this application to the Co-Directors of this project: Peter Campbell, pcampbe3@uiuc.edu or Chime Asonye, casonye2@uiuc.edu.

You may download the application here.

The Illinois Policy Debate team is institutionally supported by the Institute for Government and Public Affairs and the Campus Honors Program.

Applications are due NO LATER than Tuesday April 8th at 5pm.