Bloomington, IN – (Jan 12^th, 2022) The Indiana University Debate Team hosted their annual debate tournament on the weekend of January 8-10. The tournament provided an opportunity for forty-four competitors from ten states the opportunity to compete in two divisions of debate, Junior Varsity and Varsity.

The tournament featured six preliminary rounds of competition, where students argued on both sides, on the topic “Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially increase prohibitions on anticompetitive business practices by the private sector by at least expanding the scope of its core antitrust laws”. Followed by a single elimination tournament where the top eight Open, top three Junior Varsity teams advanced based on the results from the preliminary rounds.

The Junior Varsity division showcased competitors with little to no experience in debate and held a partial Semifinal round featuring teams from Cornell University, Missouri State University, and Samford University. The Final Round saw top seeded Devansh Jotsinghani & Richard Li from Cornell defeat Justin Albright & Jenna Shockley from Missouri State on a 3-0 decision. In addition to winning the tournament, Richard Li from Cornell was recognized as the Top Speaker of the division.

The Open division is the highest level of competition in CEDA debate and cleared to a Quarterfinal Round featuring teams from Missouri State University, Samford University, the United States Naval Academy, the University of Minnesota, Wayne State University, and Western Washington University. The Final Round saw second seeded Sawyer Emerson & Joey Tarnowski from Samford defeat top seeded Matt Wilkinson & Zach Kauffman from Missouri State on a 3-0 decision. In addition to winning the tournament, Sawyer Emerson was recognized as the Top Speaker of the division.

The tournament marked the fourth tournament of the Spring competitive season and provided a total of four thousand minutes of speaking time for undergraduate students. Students engaged in a minimum of three debates in favor of the resolution and three opposed, requiring them to test their hours of research and preparation on both sides of the topic. The format enables students to build skills in critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.

About CEDA

Cross Examination Debate Association was founded in 1971. CEDA is currently responsible for formulating the annual intercollegiate policy debate topic used in tournament competition throughout the nation. Throughout the season, CEDA calculates National Sweepstakes Standings, the national and regional rankings of member institutions based on compiled tournament results.