2021 Report

SMU Wins its Sixth National Championship at IPDA Nationals in Louisiana

Price Morgan secured the junior varsity national championship at the IPDA Nationals in Shreveport, Louisiana, on April 16, 2019, after achieving a 6-2 win/loss record and winning five consecutive elimination rounds. Morgan triumphed with a 4-1 decision from a national panel of debate coaches based on his arguments regarding whether Hulu should be allowed to sell consumer data gathered from its subscribers. He was recognized as the #6 speaker at the tournament based on his speaker points and overcame the #1 rated speaker in the final round. One of Price’s coaches, Farmer fellow Matthew Lucci, also achieved notable success by winning the overall season national championship in junior varsity IPDA for 2018. Remarkably, both Lucci and Morgan clinched their titles with just one year of debate experience and no prior high school debating experience. SMU Debate fielded nine debaters across all five divisions of the 2019 tournament: team, novice, junior varsity, varsity, and professional. Five of the nine students advanced to elimination rounds in team, novice, junior varsity, and varsity divisions. Maggie Cook Allen and Price Morgan notably defeated and eliminated the #2 rated varsity team in the nation, securing a quarterfinal award. Stephen Frantz represented the varsity division as the #17 ranked varsity debater and won his double octafinals debate before bowing out in the octafinals. Maggie Cook Allen, seeded #29 in varsity with a 5-3 record, lost in the double octafinals round. Connor Pittman, ranked #4 in novice with a 7-1 preliminary record among over 120 competitors, also performed admirably. Berkley Breaux, competing in only her second debate tournament, completed a 5-3 record and progressed to the elimination rounds. Pittman, a journalism major, won two elimination rounds before being eliminated in the quarterfinals and was recognized as the 11th speaker based on speaker points.

This impressive showing marked the best performance of the SMU debate program at a national championship tournament in more than a decade. Over 150 colleges and universities from across the nation participated in IPDA debate during the 2018-2019 season. SMU’s nine debaters completed over 70 preliminary debates on a wide array of topics including health care, sports, international affairs, domestic politics, and entertainment. The students tackled more than 50 different topics and had 30 minutes to research and prepare for each debate. SMU Debate won over 58% of its preliminary round debates and an impressive 67% of its elimination round debates. The IPDA championship tournament featured more than 200 competitors from across the nation. SMU has participated in the IPDA debate format since 2015, with Jaden Warren winning the overall season national varsity debate title in 2016.

Entering the tournament as the number eight rated program, SMU's nine students remarkably finished fifth in the overall sweepstake rankings nationwide. More than 130 universities compete in the International Public Debate Association debate league, including notable institutions such as the University of North Texas, Texas Christian University, Liberty University, Idaho State University, University of Tennessee, University of Oklahoma, Exeter University (Great Britain), University of Colorado, California State University, Oregon State University, and Boise State University.

The SMU debate program receives support from the Vice President of Student Affairs, the Provost's office, Dedman School of Liberal Arts, and the Meadows School of the Arts. Additionally, the SMU Student Government provides substantial financial backing. This year marks the tenth year of SMU Debate since it was reestablished in the fall of 2008, and the program has proudly won six national titles in policy and IPDA debate.