Urban Debate Fall Newsletter
Read the NAUDL's Fall Newsletter to learn about 2012 Urban Debate National Championship, urban debate at the Apsen Ideas Festival, developments in local Urban Debate Leagues, and more.
Click here to read the newsletter >>
Support Urban Debate through Unsaid: A Novel
Former debater and NAUDL supporter Neil Abramson is helping to promote urban debate through his new novel Unsaid. Mr. Abramson has agreed to donate $2.00 - the proceeds of each sale - for every book purchased through a referral from the NAUDL.
Help support urban debate today by buying this wonderful novel from Amazon or your favorite bookstore. Then send an e-mail to Unsaid@urbandebate.org to credit your purchase to the NAUDL.
San Francisco Chronicle features the Bay Area Urban Debate League
The San Francisco Chronicle ran a front page article on August 11, on how the BAUDL helps at-risk kids find their voice. The full article will be available online August 13.
Read More >> (Full article available August 13)
Leadership Memphis Interviews Memphis Urban Debate League director Dwight Fryer.
"A battle of words is one thing - not exactly the most positive of
connotations - but a debate, now that’s something entirely different.
And who should know better than Dwight Fryer (EP 2004), the
League Director for the Memphis Urban Debate League? We sat down
with Fryer to talk about the role that debate clubs and competitions
play in students’ lives, and were pretty surprised at just how effective
the academic sport can be in boosting confidence levels, school
attendance, and most importantly, college enrollment."
Read the rest of the interview here >>
2011-2012 NAUDL Core Files
The Argument & Research Kits and Core Files for the 2011-2012 policy debate topic have been released.
The 2011-2012 resolution is: The United States federal government should substantially increase its exploration and/or development of space beyond the Earth’s mesosphere.
Urban Debate Featured in Inside Counsel
The NAUDL and its Executive Director Linda Listrom are featured in a May 2011 issue of Inside Counsel, which focuses on the diversity pipeline.
According to the article, "Providing minority and low-income students with that kind
of confidence, along with a foundation of academic rigor, is the
idea behind Urban Debate Leagues, which began in 1985 in
Atlanta and went nationwide in 1997. Budget cuts in struggling
school districts have led to the disappearance of debate teams
from most urban high schools, so NAUDL works with inner-city
school districts to re-establish such programs in those schools,
organize the high-school teams into debate leagues, and support
their activities."
Memphis Students Debate School Consolidation
Urban debaters in Memphis took on an issue close to home this past weekend, when the Memphis Urban Debate League Advisory Board (MUDLAB) hosted a public debate on the controversial local issue of school consolidation. Students from Kingsbury High School and Whitehaven High School debated a proposed school system merger between Memphis City Schools and Shelby County Schools. After a month of research on the issue, the four budding civic leaders put their advocacy skills on full display, arguing that student interests needed to be taken into account in the decision to consolidate or not. The NAUDL recognizes the MUDLAB and its board chair, Jim Sdoia, and director, Dwight Fryer, for supporting this type of inquiry for Memphis students. Most importantly, the NAUDL congratulates debaters Arlana Addison, Ebony Bailey, Ashley Ray, and Angel Conway for tackling a controversial topic that touches the lives of so many students.
Follow the developing story at My Fox Memphis (1, 2) and the Memphis Commercial Appeal (1, 2). To learn more about the Memphis Urban Debate League and how you can support debate in Memphis, visit the MUDLAB's website www.memphisdebate.org.
