Forensics

The Western Debate Union is a large, inclusive debate program with over 75 years of history of excellence in debate across a variety of formats regionally, nationally, and internationally. Throughout its history, the program has been active with policy debate, parliamentary debate, and public debate. The Union believes that the power of debate should not be limited to competition; the program embraces community-building and civic engagement in all of its endeavors.

The Debate Union emphasizes an approach that embraces academic rigor while remaining student-centered. Western Debate is unique in that it is both consistently ranked among top national programs and a place where every Western student is able to hone their argumentation, research, and debating skills regardless of their experience level. While other programs only recruit experienced competitors from high school, Western has consistently fielded successful teams made up of students from our classrooms. Our graduates go on to law school, other graduate school programs, jobs in service to the community, and are successful in private enterprise due to their training. We are open to any major from campus and do not require past experience in high school, just a desire to compete for the team.

The Debate program is funded exclusively through DRAC support. The Department of Communication, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, or any other administrative budget does not provide revenue to debate. We are also the only state school in Washington to have a full-time faculty member direct the program and have official institutional recognition and support.