For the first time in over a decade, Middle Tennessee State University’s Blue Raider Debate Team recently played host to the International Public Debate Association National Championships and Convention, welcoming hundreds of the nation’s top debaters to campus for rounds of friendly sparring on topics of the day.
“This was the largest national debate tournament in IDPA (International Public Debate Association) history, which allowed us to showcase MTSU to the entire nation on a very prestigious scale,” said debate team president Liam Boardwine, a communications major from Smyrna.
Held on campus Friday through Monday, April 10-13, the event welcomed 54 colleges and over 400 students from California to Virginia for the competition, culminating in an awards ceremony recognizing the top debaters.
Collaborative production for competition
The undertaking was an “all-hands-on-deck” collaboration with the debate team students and the Department of Communication Studies faculty over the past two years, said MTSU team member Anessa Loftin of Cookeville.
“We used almost every public building on campus, with around 150 rooms filled with competitions at the tournament’s peak,” said Loftin, communication coordinator for the Blue Raider Debate Team.
Pat Richey, MTSU’s director of forensics — who has coached the Blue Raider team to 11 individual and team national championships — said he had full confidence the team could “pull it off.”
“This is probably the largest event any of them will run in their lives. It’s a huge amount of preparation. But our debate team members tend to be some of the best students,” said Richey, who served as tournament director with Boardwine, student team president, while other team members and department staff handled general support.
Boardwine also helped Loftin, who partnered with Department of Communication Studies lecturer Dominick Cinefro-Prelis to monitor thousands of ballots. Other event coordinators included:
• John Aduroja, vice president of debate and Honors College mechatronics engineering major from Ogun State, Nigeria, monitored the ballots and served as a team leader.
• Sebastian “Gus” Sanders, an international relations major from Lawrenceburg, took the helm of the tournament help desk.
• Communication Studies faculty Rebecca Richey, lecturer, and Jessica Bozeman, assistant professor, monitored incoming judge ballots.
• Debate team students and many alumni handled judging and tournament support. Alumni such as James “Alex” Fingeroot and Skye Irish flew in from Seattle, while Johnny Locke flew in from Boston to help judge.
Building skills, confidence
IPDA is a national debate league that hosts tournaments across the country. Its mission centers on making debate approachable for a wide range of competitors — from newcomers, experienced debaters and even professionals.
The format is intentionally audience‑friendly and the competition provides an opportunity for individuals to develop their advocacy skills in a forum that promotes appropriate and effective civic and civil communication, explained Richey.
The national competition began on Friday, April 10, with five rounds of team debates, followed by elimination rounds that evening. Convention panels and individual competitions in four divisions were held on Saturday. Competition continued Sunday and concluded Monday, April 13, with an awards ceremony that filled the Tennessee Room in the James Union Building.
Although some Blue Raider members were competing, most were focused on managing and organizing the tournament’s logistics, Loftin said. However, Tala Abukhdair, a political science major from Murfreesboro, advanced to the Triple Octo Final Elimination round and later advanced to the Double Octo Finals of the IPDA.
Abukhdair admitted it was “chaotic” juggling the competition while also helping with tournament operations.
“But the experience of seeing so many people from different schools compete and participate was rewarding. We were all in it together,” said Abukhdair, noting that teammates were an “outstanding support system” throughout the competition.
That camaraderie helped make the championship a “huge success,” Loftin said.
“We are very proud and honored to have been able to host such an important tournament, and we’re grateful to all of those who made it possible along the way,” Loftin said. “Getting to host competitors from across the nation and showcase MTSU and MTSU Speech and Debate team in this way was just incredible.”
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