The National Educational Debate Association.

• Author: Underberg, Larry
• Position: Special Issue: Visual Argument-Part 2

PURPOSE/GOALS

The National Educational Debate Association (NEDA) was formed to promote a particular style of debate. Perhaps the most efficient way to convey a sense of the nature of the Association is to indicate the basis of its initial formation. NEDA is the product of a consensual agreement among its founding members concerning the philosophy they believed should guide intercollegiate debate. This conviction, expressed in the Association's mission statement and ratified by its charter members, constitutes the foundation for all efforts of the Association:

This Association believes that debate should be a practical educational experience and that performance by participants should reflect the stylistic and analytical skills that would be rewarded in typical public forums (i.e., courts, congress, the classroom, civic gatherings, etc.). To facilitate this mission, the Association will host a variety of tournament events open to students and directors willing to abide by and enforce Association standards of ethical, responsible, humane and communicative advocacy. Association tournaments are viewed as an extension of the speech classroom. Specifically, the skills we teach as effective in persuading a public audience are also the skills rewarded at Association events. Ideally, a debate is an exchange that, when witnessed by a member of the general public, would be viewed as comprehensible and enlightening.

Understanding the direction implied by the mission statement provides the best possible indicator of the focus of NEDA and the climate that prevails at its tournaments.

COMPETITIVE PRACTICES

NEDA sponsors ten tournaments each year (though non-sanctioned, experimental events using NEDA topics are frequent). In an effort to offer tournament events that closely approximate "public forum" exchanges, NEDA sanctioned tournaments employ a diverse judging pool, assigning half of all ballots to "non-debate" judges which include administrators, faculty members, business persons, politicians, lawyers, subject area experts, and others. In those instances where coaches adjudicate rounds, there is an understanding that they evaluate student performance by assessing, in part, whether the exchange would be appropriate in or make a substantial contribution to the public dialogue.

NEDA tournaments parallel what most students are accustomed to from their high school or collegiate debate involvement, but its "public audience" focus has occasioned alterations...