The Whitman College Speech and
Debate team is proud of its fine tradition.  We
offer a comprehensive intramural and
interscholastic program of competitive speech. 
On our campus, we host the Dovell-Gose
Oratory Contest and Intramural Debates.  Both
activities involve students who are interested in
improving their speaking skills and
communication about contemporary issues. 
Interscholastically, we offer competition at the
novice, junior and senior level in CEDA debate,
Individual Events, and Parliamentary debate. 
We travel extensively in the Northwest and,
particularly in the spring, throughout the country
at national circuit tournaments.
 The comprehensive focus of our squad
matches the liberal arts education of Whitman
College.  Whitman College is a nationally
ranked liberal arts school, rated in the highest
category of Barron#s Guide to Colleges.  We
have excellent programs in politics, English,
history, biology, education, economics, among
many others and we have cooperative programs
with Columbia, Duke, and the California
Technology Institute in engineering and
forestry, the Monterey Institute in international
business, and Columiba in law.
 At Whitman College, the quality of your
education will be excellent.  The average class
size at Whitman is 14 with a student/faculty
ratio of 11:1.  You will work personally with
professors--not teaching assistants.  Your
course work will expose you to a diversity of
learning experiences including social sciences,
humanities, fine arts and physical sciences. 
The faculty is excellent.  The students with
whom you will study are hard working, caring
people who are among the nation#s brightest
based on their SAT scores and GPA.
 Northwest Forensics is one of the
strongest forensics areas in the country. 
Designated tournaments that occur twice each
semester feature virtually all competitors in the
Northwest, assuring the highest quality
competition against students who are among the
best in the nation.  You also will find the
atmosphere friendly and supportive.  Many of
the best friends of students on our squad are
from other schools in our district.
 When you join our squad, you will
improve your speaking and debating skills.  We
have business meetings for 30 to 45 minutes on
Tuesday night and after that--it#s time to get to
work!  We review ballots with students after
every tournament.  We have practice debates
and speeches. We discuss strategies with our
teams. Students do rebuttal drills,
extemporaneous and interpretive reading
practice and more.  We work with an approach
emphasizing group work and #team unity.# 
Students who compete on our squad receive
one or two credits each semester for up to 12
credits.
 Whitman debaters have broken at every
national level tournament they have attended for
the past two years.  In the past three years, we
took first place in CEDA debate at 12
tournaments, we were in quarterfinals at the
Long Beach State University Tournament,
semi-finals at the Northwest CEDA
Championship, and quarterfinals at CEDA
Nationals.  Our individual events competitors
have qualified for the NIET 17 of the past 18
years, Pat Page was the number one speaker
two years in a row at the National tournament
and we have won numerous awards in
extemporaneous, impromptu, persuasive and
interpretive speaking.  Our new Parliamentary
debaters are gearing up after tying for first
place at the last Northwest Sanctioned
tournament.
 We have many resources including
Lexis, portable computers, campus computers,
five assistants who help with the squad including
our new Assistant Director Natalie Yarwood
(18th speaker, 1995 CEDA Nationals); Jennifer
Becker (5th place, 1993 CEDA Nationals);
Jared Phillips (33rd place, 1995 CEDA
Nationals); Loan Lam, student assistant, and
Erin Carlson, intramural debate student
director.  Bob Withycombe, Associate Dean of
Faculty, and former National CEDA President,
also assists with the squad.

For more information about Whitman College
Speech and Debate contact Jim Hanson at:
email--hansonjb@whitman.edu
office phone--509-527-5499
fax--509-527-5039

Postal Mailing Address:
Jim Hanson
Director of Forensics
Whitman College
Walla Walla WA 99362

P.S.--Students interested in applying for a
scholarship should contact Jim Hanson by
February 15.  Presidential Scholarship
applications are usually due by February 28.