MEDIA ADVISORY

DATE: Friday, Nov. 2-Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012

EVENT: The University of Michigan Debate Program will host its 17th annual national high school debate tournament, drawing nearly 700 debaters, coaches, judges and parents from about 20 states, including California, New York and Florida.

The tournament will provide competition in the Varsity and Novice divisions of two-person (policy) debate.

Unlike what millions of television viewers saw in the recent presidential debates, where candidates presented their views and counterpoints in a casually spoken pace, high schoolers participating in the debate rapidly give their points at a pace of 400-words per minute. The debate’s policy topic will be “Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its transportation infrastructure investment in the United States.”

PLACE: Rooms in a dozen Central Campus buildings, with the tournament headquarters in Angell Hall, 435 S. State Street. Map: http://campusinfo.umich.edu/article/central-campus-map

INFORMATION: For tournament information, see www.michigandebate.com/tournament.php 
or www.tabroom.com/index/tourn/index.mhtml?tourn_id=1530 or contact Aaron Kall, at (734) 239-3996 or akall@umich.edu. For information on the U-M debate program’s summer camp, see www.michigandebate.com or http://ow.ly/eSK1U. To view a clip of the debaters at camp last summer, see www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQnxQmBM0Dk.