University of Rochester Debate Union

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University of Rochester Debate Union

The University of Rochester Debate Union is an intercollegiate team that competes in CEDA, ADA, NDT, Civic, and Worlds Parliamentary debate competitions.

We meet every Monday @ 6pm in Dewey 1204 The University of Rochester Debate Union is an intercollegiate club that competes at CEDA, ADA, NDT, and Worlds Parliamentary debate sanctioned debate tournaments regionally, nationally, and internationally. Unlike many similar programs throughout the nation, our squad focuses on bringing new people into the activity. No previous experience is needed all yo

u need is the desire to learn how to argue and win. Debaters gain the opportunity to travel with the team to other college campuses such as Cornell University, New York University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Harvard University, United States Military Academy at West Point, University of Texas at Dallas, University of Vermont, Binghamton University, and Northwestern. We engage in competitive discussion of including topics as far ranging from current geopolitical climate, domestic political reactions, the philosophical undertones of policymaking, individual and group rights, and the scientific basis upon which decisions are evaluated.

04/05/2026

Emily and Gaurav will be debating in the novice break at CEDA!!!

Please send energy!!!

03/26/2026

No, we didn’t go to Worlds a year too early, this was just the Ottowa IV. Despite the cold we braved our way up north and were rewarded with a fantastic tournament, with great organizers, yummy food, and only a bit of snow. We can’t wait to come back in December to compete again - until then, thanks for having us!!

03/25/2026

Congrats to our SJD contingent for their outstanding showing at the Morehouse Championships!!! Erin, Monica, and Nicole ALL broke to quarterfinals 👏 👏 👏 And peep us with our friends from AND Gilda Daniels, the topic scholar for this year!

03/18/2026

Our last tournament from 2025 was also our first of 2026, the BP World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria!! This was an incredible opportunity to travel across the world, and debate and judge with students from universities we never would get to compete with otherwise. We were sleep deprived, often hungry, but always in awe of the experience. Can’t wait to tackle WUDC again next year, only four hours from Rochester, in Ottowa!!!!

03/14/2026

Seniors Erin, Monica, and Nicole have reached Quarterfinals at their last Social Justice Debates National Championship!!! Send them some supportive energy as we take on UVM!

02/26/2026

Love and appreciation to the Suffolk squad for hosting the Northeast Regional Championships this year! The URDU had a wonderful time competing in the novice and Spanish divisions!

The team brought home 3 speaker awards!
Justin Carrero, competing at his tournament ever, received the 10th place speaker award in the Spanish division!
Gaurav Barve, at his second tournament, received 9th place in the novice division.
Emily Cook received 7th place and was killing it in speaks!

The gang had a great time competing and learning. We are looking forward to the last few tourneys of the Spring.

02/16/2026

Policy had a great time at the Gotham Debates at The New School. Despite the cold, we saw the sights, and some great wins! Congrats to:

Rochester MJ (Aisha and Faith) for debating up and going 3-3 in open!

Rochester BC (Gaurav and Emily) for going 4-1, making them third seed, to Gaurav, who did great at his first tournament ever, and to Emily, for being 8th speaker in the novice pool!

Rochester PZ (Gia and Diana) for jumping in at the last moment at their first tournament ever in the novice pool!

Rochester AV (Douglas and Riya) for both jumping in headfirst, but also Riya for trying a new format in the novice pool!

And shoutout to Rochester OR (Lara and Ashaz) for putting on their judging/coaching hats and helping out this weekend. The students become the teachers!

We're so proud of all our teams, especially those who gave policy a try for the first time this weekend. Thank you Vik Keenan and The New School for hosting!

02/06/2026

Another amazing tournament from last semester, USUDC @ UPenn! This was such an awesome and high level tournament to attend, from getting to check out the city of Philadelphia, to competing against so many incredible talented schools, to eating delicious ice cream to celebrate Faith and Carter breaking in at outstanding 12th place at one of the most prestigious tournaments in the nation, and ending the weekend as quarterfinalists. Congratulations to them!!

02/03/2026

Another tournament from last fall, congrats to our debaters who competed at Rutgers! Erin and Nicole were quarterfinals and Riya was 3rd Novice Speaker!!! 👏👏👏

01/21/2026

Hey everyone! Debate social media kind of took a hiatus as we wrapped up the end of the fall semester. But as we return in 2026, we want to make sure we cover everything we missed in these past few months, so all of the amazing debaters who kicked butt get their flowers here! So watch out for a couple other posts covering those tournaments before we get into the spring semester and all of the travel and fun that entails.

First up we have the SJD online opener! Erin was 4th open speaker and she and Nicole made it to finals!!! What an incredible accomplishment for these two amazing seniors!

11/24/2025

Rochester felt the spirit of the Shirley at the Wake Forest ADA Fall Champs/Shirley this past weekend! The Shirley is one of the best tournaments we have the privilege of attending all year, and it was great to see our friends on the national circuit, as well as get some great coffee. Both of our JV teams broke to out rounds and our varsity team went a valiant 3-4 in the face of a very competitive pool.

Let's hear it for:

Rochester JS (Faith and Aiden) for winning tenth and eighth top JV speaker, respectively, and for making it all the way to quarters!

Rochester BC (Sophie and Emily) for making it to doubles, and a special congrats to both of them for doing so despite both of them taking on new speaker roles, and Emily debating up a division in her third ever tournament!

Rochester OR (Lara and Ashaz) for going 3-4 in an incredibly competitive varsity pool of 138 teams!

Thank you Wake Forest for another fantastic tournament; we had an absolute blast and cannot wait to pick up again next semester!

Address

Rochester, NY

Website

http://rochester.edu/debate

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