The National Debate Tournament at fifty: w(h)ither the NDT?

• Author: Parson, Donn W.

The success of the seer Nostradamus seems in large part a product of his skillful use of ambiguity. Unlike the End-of-the-World visionaries who specified the date and even time of Armageddon, only to revise the details to disappointed followers the "day after," Nostradamus' predictions contained sufficient situational ambiguity to avoid being clearly disproved. Describing the National Debate Tournament of 2046 or even predicting its changes en route will require all the visionary ambiguity the language can provide.

One way of predicting the future is rediscovering patterns of the past. If the curse of ignoring history is having to relive it, perhaps examining the history of the NDT may reveal ways in which reliving history can be more productive or even enjoyable. Hence a vision of the future might well begin with an examination of our past.

The past five decades of the National Debate Tournament have been ones of permanence and change (Parson, 1995). With two major exceptions, the aspects of permanence seem to dominate the tradition of the NDT. Among the permanent aspects are fifty years of policy topics, and a format that has varied only slightly over the years, first to include cross examination in the format, and then to adjust the constructive speeches and rebuttals by one minute. The tournament has varied in size, from a low of 32 teams to a high of 78 teams. Current procedures have provided tournaments ranging from 72 to 78 teams.

The methods of team selection have varied over the years. Initially all teams were chosen through geographic regions; later ten and then sixteen first round at-large teams were selected before district teams competed for bids. More recently, up to sixteen second round at-large teams have been chosen after district selection, and up to six of these teams could be third teams from a participating school.

Thus there have been changes, but most changes have been minor or cosmetic in nature. Two major events, however, have changed the tournament in substantial ways. The first of these was the departure from West Point. When West Point Commandant William Westmoreland informed George Ziegelmueller, then President of the American Forensic Association that the Academy would no longer host the tournament, the NDT began a pilgrimage across the nation with a different host each year, and with a National Tournament Committee in charge of the tournament and its selection process. The NDT Committee also picked a...