UNC’s team ties for first-place in the ACC Debate Championship’s coastal division!

Building upon a longstanding tradition of debate between ACC schools, this year’s tournament featured teams from ten ACC schools, including Boston College, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Pitt, Virginia and returning champions Wake Forest.

The tournament brings the same intense, tournament style, school-versus-school model of competition that characterizes ACC athletic competition into the classroom, said Christian Lundberg, an associate professor in the department of communication in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences and the event organizer.  More importantly, it demonstrates that the ACC is as dedicated to fostering competitive excellence in academics as it is to fostering athletic competition.

The topic for the debate was “Resolved: That the United States should adopt substantially stricter gun control regulations, including a prohibition on carrying firearms at college and university campuses.”  Competitors had to prepare to debate both sides of the question, alternating between defending both the affirmative and the negative during the contest.

I think it is phenomenal that the ACC supports academic competition, and especially that it supports debate, said Lundberg.  One of our most pressing public problems is that we have lost the ability to talk through tough partisan issues reasonably, and the ACC Debate Championship provides concrete proof that the ACC values the deliberative skills that are crucial to academic success, and to the success of American democracy.

{excerpt; to read the full article visit The College of Arts & Sciences}