UO Forensics Debate & Speech

Parliamentary Debate is formatted off of traditional British parliament. It consists of two teams of two including the government team (affirmative) and the opposition team (negative)The teams receive their resolution 15 - 20 minutes prior to the debate and while UO Forensics places a heavy burden on research, pre-printed evidence is not allowed in the competition.

The round consists of 6 speeches; the Prime Minister Constructive (7 mins) the Leader of the Opposition Constructive (8 mins), the Member of Government (8 mins), the Member of the Opposition (8 mins), the Leader of the Opposition Rebuttal (4 mins) and the Prime Minister Rebuttal (5 mins). Cross examination is allowed after the first minute and before the last minute of the first four speeches.

Parliamentary Debate was integrated into UO Forensics in 1998-99 and the team has been competitive since. In 2001, UO's Alan Tauber and Heidi Ford finished as national champs winning the first ever National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence (NPTE). 2003 saw Damon Martichuski and Kevin Stone finish in the country's top four, dropping in semi finals at the formidable National Parliamentary Debate Association National Tournament.

Last year, 2004-2005, the team had a combined record of 13 and 3 in preliminary rounds at NPDA and currently has several teams vying for qualifying spots at NPTE 2006.

Above: Brad Krupicka and Adam Lorts.