"This year, of the top six junior varsity debaters in the nation, three were from USC," said David Berube, team coach. "Junior varsity nationals is for students in their first or second year of college competition, and we made it to the semifinals there. Overall, this year we ranked in the top 30 of national college debate teams."

The collegiate debate season runs from the third week in September to the first week of April. During that time, teams attend 10 to 12 tournaments across the nation. There are three levels of national collegiate competition, and USC participates in two of those--varsity and junior varsity.

"We've finished in the top 25 nationally for the past decade," said Berube, associate professor in the Department of Theatre, Speech, and Dance. "This year is our weakest showing, even though we did really well. Our team was largely a freshman group, and much smaller than usual. The ranking is a reflection of the size of the team."

It's also a reflection of the number of coaches, he said. "USC is unusual because its debate team has just one coach. Most of the large state universities have three to seven coaches, even though many are graduate assistants."

This year, USC's team had six active members, creating three two-person teams. In collegiate competition, these teams debate one resolution all year. It's a broad topic, and they must debate both affirmative and negative.

"This year's topic was U.S. foreign assistance to Africa," Berube said. "These kids know more about Kenya than anyone I know."

Elyn Blackman, a freshman, said she was excited by the topic. "I thought debating Africa was important because it increased our knowledge and understanding of the world as a whole, and because the subject is often absent from course curriculum."

Sophomore Alan Hancock agreed. "It provided a forum for us to improve our knowledge of Africa, which was a hole in our education." While the team members now have more time to devote to end-of-the-semester papers and exams, their coach will spend his time recruiting.

"We try to recruit outstanding high school debaters out of high school," said Berube, who has coached the USC Debate Team for 13 years. "We will more than double the team this fall. We have some students coming from Texas, Utah, and Kansas, and transfers from Arkansas and Utah. The recruitment class looks excellent and includes a McNair Scholar. One reason for the high quality of our recruits is that Dean Joan Hinde Stewart from liberal arts has made a real effort to get the debate scholarship program going."

The debate topic for the upcoming year will be announced in June. That's a good plan, say team members.

"If we knew the topic now, we'd just start researching it, and we definitely need a break," Blackman said.