Seawolf Speech & Debate sweep Portland State

By: Lori Keim Dec 14, 2005

ANCHORAGE – The Seawolf Speech and Debate Team dominated last weekend’s tournament hosted by Portland State University. The tournament featured competition from the Pacific Northwest. It was the Seawolves last competition before heading to Dublin, Ireland, to attend the World Universities Debating Championships on December 26.

After six rounds of debate, three Seawolf teams advanced to the semifinal round of the competition. Michael Rose (Junior - History) and Rose Helens-Hart (Senior - JPC) and Lindsay Eberhardt (Senior - Political Science) and Dana Ovsak (Junior - History) ended the competition with winning records but met tough competition in the semifinal round, where teams were required to debate whether privacy should be considered a basic human right. Tom Lassen (Junior - Political Science) and Chris Kolerok (Junior - Economics) advanced through the semifinal round to face two teams from Western Washington University and one from Oregon State University in the final round.

Defending the position that a mandated reduction in consumption of meat would have deleterious effects on indigenous populations and would result in surplus agricultural products being dumped on developing nations' economies, Lassen and Kolerok demonstrated the excellence of Seawolf debate by taking first place at the tournament.

The Seawolf speakers also comprised half of the top ten speakers at the tournament and took top honors as a squad based on their collective performance.

On December 26, the team leaves for Dublin to compete in Worlds. This competition, the second-largest student competition in the world (second only to the Student Games, an athletic competition) will draw competitors from around the world for eight days of debating on issues ranging from economic topics to human rights resolutions.

For more information, please contact Steve Johnson (786-4391) or Chanille Lewis (786-4354).

Lori Keim ● University Relations ● (907) 786-1465 ● (907) 884-4064