Ten years of demographics: Who debates in America.

• Author: Stepp, Pamela L.
• Position: Statistical Data Included

Pamela L. Stepp and Beth Gardner (*)

In the preface of Freeley and Steinberg's (2000) tenth edition of Argumentation and Debate they highlight text revisions about the influence of culture on perceptual reasoning and cultural restrictions on argument development (Freeley & Steinberg, 2000). Further Freely and Steinberg (2000) added two new values to the text's well-known list of values for participation in intercollegiate debate. Along with the traditional educational values of preparation for leadership, critical thinking, and purposeful inquiry, additions include computer competencies and the development of multicultural sensitivities by providing opportunities for participants to interact with a variety of people from diverse backgrounds (Freely & Steinberg, 2000). These changes in a well-known highly successful debate text emphasize that intercollegiate debate is no longer an exclusive white male activity or is it?

Over twenty years ago Americans began to pay attention to diversity when Workforce 2000 (Johnson & Packer, 1987) informed us that more women, minorities, immigrants, and physically challenged individuals would be entering the workforce. The American Council of Education (1988) projected that by the year 2000 one third of school age children in the U.S. would be Hispanic, African American, American Indian or Asian American. Kathleen Hall Jamieson (1995, p. 140) categorized men demographically as "other" when she found that in 1992 women in the United States constituted 51% of the total population. She emphasized that these numbers would help guarantee that more women would enter jobs in education, business, and government. As reported in The 1999-2000 Chronicle of Higher Education: Almanac Edition ("Nation," p. 7), university and college enrollment in the United States includes 55.8% women and 26.2% minorities. Since Johnson and Packer's (1988) and the American Council of Education's (1988) predictions appear to be fairly accurate, it is time to explore whether the valuable educational intercollegiate debate activity is inclusive and representative of today's college population.

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Is Intercollegiate Debate A White Male Activity?

There has been concern about the demographic population in intercollegiate debate. In the 1980's research by Logue (1986) and Friedley and Manchester (1985) about participation in National Debate Tournament (NDT) debate reported less than 20% of the debaters were women. In the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA), Medcalf (1984) and Logue (1986) found close to 30% participation by women. Logue (1987) also reported in a study of debate including tournaments on the East Coast that less than 10% of the competitors included minorities.

In the 1990's The 1992 Report on the 46th National Debate Tournament and the 1993 Report on the 47th National Debate Tournament indicated a continued low participation rate for women of less than 20%. Loge (1991) found less than 6% African American debaters debating in a study that included 64 schools. Loge (1991, p. 80) also noted at the NDT in 1992 only 2% of the debaters included African American men and no African American women debated at the NDT that year.

The most comprehensive race and gender demographic study in intercollegiate debate (Stepp, 1997, p. 179) reported that during the five-year period from 1991 to 1995, 55% of competitors were male and 45% were female competitors at the CEDA national tournaments. Minority participation averaged only 13% These figures did not represent the female and minority student populations at United States colleges and universities (Stepp, 1997).

Poor Retention of Women and Minorities in Debate

A serious problem that has plagued the debate community is retention of women and minorities. Although research about beginning debaters is limited, several individuals have addressed the issue of novice retention of women and minorities. In a study of judging bias against women and minorities by the dominant white male culture, the novice division of debate was reportedly much more diverse than junior and varsity divisions (Rogers, 1997). The study tracked the participation rates of women and minorities at 17 tournaments and revealed that at 12 regional tournaments 43% of the competitors in the novice division were females and minorities. Women and minorities dominated the championship elimination rounds and represented 51% of the competitors. After the first elimination round, women and minorities comprised 40% of the competitors, and 20% received speaker awards in the top five. These numbers come much closer to representing the 1999/2000 college student population (55.8% women and 26.2% minorities accordin g to The 1999/2000 Chronicle of Higher Education: Almanac Edition) than the Open Division participation rates, which included less than 20% female and minority participation combined.

Demographic data collected at one of the largest invitational tournaments in the country (Stepp, 1997) indicated that 55% of the competitors in the novice division were white females, and 11.2% were minorities. In the junior varsity division, the numbers began to drop and included only 40% white women and 5.6% minorities, further decreasing to only 22% white women in varsity. There was a higher percentage of minorities, 8.4% in the varsity round than the junior varsity round.

Ninety-seven schools responded to a survey that explored why novices leave debate (Stepp, 1994). The three most frequently cited reasons included other activities, too much research, and the rapid speaking delivery of junior and varsity debaters (Stepp, 1994). Other significant reasons were emphasis on the game of debate, competitiveness, concerns about social life, excessive coaching time, a lack of fun or rewards from debate, and perception of racism.

The results from the novice survey also indicated that schools lose approximately half their novices when it is time to move into the upper divisions of debate, and that male, female, and minority participation was fairly equal to the participation of white males in the novice divisions at schools. Teams became much less diverse in junior and varsity debate. Demographics collected at National CEDA Tournaments from 1991-1995 indicated that 55% of the competitors were male, 45% were female, and 13% were minorities (Stepp, 1997). These percentages include novice debaters since every school is allowed to bring four teams to the national CEDA tournament without restrictions.

If women and minority students join intercollegiate debate, they must value the educational principles of debate such as critical thinking, research and information management, and communication. Researchers have begun trying to discover what is it about the activity that turns women and minorities away. One of the most significant barriers for women and minorities is discrimination (Loge, 1991; Stepp, 1997). Under-represented debaters have to participate in a debate structure and culture formed by the dominant group of white coaches and debaters (Logue, 1993; Stepp, 1997). Discrimination occurs when women adopt male standards by behaving aggressively in cross-examination, speaking rapidly, and exhibiting other competitive behavior (Bjork, 1993; Crenshaw, 1992; Logue, 1993). Women also will participate at a lower level than men and drop out of debate to participate in other activities because they have to tolerate sexist behavior and language from opponents, fellow teammates, and judges (Thomas, 1991). While African-American debaters face discrimination in debates as well, Loge (1991) believes that the biggest reasons that they leave the activity after debating as a novice are lack of role models in teammates and coaches and uninteresting debate topics. Typical debate topics are uninteresting to women and minorities because they do not allow a diversity of students to make connections to their own personal lives (Bartanen, 1995).

To find answers about why women and minority novice debaters do not move up into the open division of the activity, Rogers (1997) attempted to determine whether white male culture expresses positive bias towards white male debaters and negative bias towards subdominant women and minorities. Rogers (1997) examined whether there was a significant difference between the judges of the two cultures, and whether there seemed to be differences attributable to cultural identity and the success of competitors. There were 113 respondents including 80 males, 24 females, and 9 ethnic minorities. Their results indicated a strong...