U of MN Parli Debate Society
NPDA Is Better
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Since inception the leaders of the UMPDS have refused to consider attending tournaments in the National Parliamentary Debate Association. There has been only ONE person to attend any out-state NPDA tournament...and that was in September 2001. See what you are missing out on!.

Better Judging

In NPDA there is fair judging...more so than in APDA. This means that with a well coached and well trained team UMPDS can compete and win consistently in NPDA. In APDA there are several other requirements that lead to favorable ballots beyond just the present debate round. They are history of the schools attendance at previous tournaments by that school (if they feel shunned the scores will reflect that angst); previous history and attendance at the parties (the wilder the person is the better their scores will be); social status of schools (which is why the worse MIT or Stanford teams do consistently better than Hillsdale teams that are superior); and ideology just to name a few.

Disclosure...They Have To Tell You Why You Lost

In NPDA most tournaments allow disclosure.  This is where the judges tell you why you won or lost.  This is beneficial for a number of reasons. 
 
This gives you immediate feedback that you can use in the next round.  I just think of one tournament where my teammate kept saying "Well" every other word and did not realize the magnitude of it even when I told him between rounds.  It took 3 judges telling him before he realized it and corrected that.  In APDA the entire tournament is blown because he does not get that feedback.  In NPDA the correction can be made during the tournament.
 
Most people in APDA will vote for their friends and make up any reason to do so.  It becomes more difficult to do that when they have to look you in the eyes and tell you why you lost.
 
You know those ballots that you get back and there is nothing on them?  Now you will get something from that judge besides a blank ballot.
 
What about those ballots that you get back and leave you with unanswered questions?  Now you can get those answered during the tournament.

Breadth Of Competition

The more the merrier...and the better the pool for competition.  Among the wide variety of schools in NPDA are schools that are considered powerhouses in United States debate.  Claremont College is one of them.  University of Wyoming and Northern Arizona are also among them.
 
Some other very competent student bodies are participants in NPDA tournaments.  UCLA, Notre Dame, Purdue, Rice and hundred and hundreds more.
 
The National Tournament for NPDA hosts well over 150 schools easily.  There are so many teams that the tournament breaks to Triple Octos AFTER the play-in round.
 
Want variety, breadth and a higher level of competition?  Choose NPDA.  Want the same old, repetitive handful of schools?  Choose APDA.

Better Run Tournaments

...coming soon...

More Debating Than Waiting

It is a common fact that APDA tournaments are so punctual.  Actually they are so far behind schedule that there is more waiting between rounds than there is actual debate.  The wait for the announcement of the next round's pairings typically will last longer than the round itself.
 
For more debate than wait go to NPDA.  If you like sitting around waiting more than actual debating than APDA is the way to go.

It Is NOT About Being Drunk

A quick look through the APDA tournament invitations will show that one of the main aspects of the APDA tournaments is the partying. That is to be expected of a college function, but for those interested in competition this is not the circuit to be in.

There should not be a tournament where the "social" aspect controls or influences the actual balloting. There should not be a debate circuit where the norm is to have members arriving at the later stages of the tournament under the influence.

If you want your scores to be influenced by the amount that you drink then APDA is for you. If you want pure competition, then APDA is not for you.

Only Today Counts In Today's Ballots

One thing that APDA does is seed teams before they even start a tournament.  Based on what exactly?  That is generally unknown to anyone but those organizing that specific tournament.  Unknowns are ranked according to the reputation of their school.  That means that a new team from our school will be ranked against a top and established team simply because of the schools' previous performance.
 
Yes, sports seed tournaments all the time.  But those "previous" standings do not carry from year to year like they do in APDA.  Seedings only occur in year-end tournaments thus rewarding the actual better team...and it is very clear who is seeded BEFORE the tournament begins.

Debate Against The Best Debate Teams

Among the wide variety of schools in NPDA are schools that are considered the premier in United States debate.  Claremont College is one of them.  University of Wyoming and Northern Arizona are also among them.  Many of the good schools in NPDA recruit and offer scholarships for their teams.
 
Oh, certainly APDA has the (elitist) Ivy League schools.  Remember all of the manners that APDA enforces subjective judging at the expense of objective judging.  These problems are highly enforced in Worlds.  It is because of these poor methods of judge control that APDA is regarded as an inferior debate circuit--you can't trust the ballots to be fair.
 
So who is better?  I have seen the best in NPDA and the best in APDA.  Hands down the best in NPDA are not just better but far superior to any team in APDA.  If UMPDS wants to be better they must compete with the best at debate (in NPDA) instead of trying to run in the secret society of APDA.

Judges Aren't Also Your Competition

Judges are facutly for the most part.  In most tournaments all judges are faculty members.  This is good because most faculty are able to be objective in their judging. 
 
This is very much unlike APDA where all of the judges are either students on the host debate team, students from another non-host debate team or roommates/neighbors of those students.  Considering the fact that UMPDS does not attempt to host any tournaments this aspect of judge characteristics works against UMPDS members.  How?  Because host judges are, by matter of human nature, more likely to help other teams that host.  They understand that those other teams will soon be judging them.
 
By not having debaters judge fellow debaters one subjective element of judging is removed.
 
In fact, NPDA has prohibitions against debaters judging in any tournament because they know how badly this spoils the objectivity of those judges.

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