Written by Dylan Flynn
Photo by Rob Speed
Two members of the Bryan College debate team, Nathaniel Butler and Hayden “Nova” Couvillon, took first and sixth places, respectively, at the Tennessee collegiate championship of the International Public Debate Association.
Held at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, the tournament brought together students from colleges across the state to compete in the multi-round event.
The Bryan team, under the coaching of education department advisor Heather Neudigate, sent a delegation of five students to the event—four as competitors and one as a judge. After a grueling ten hours of research and debate, all members of Bryan’s team were eliminated from the tournament, with one, Nathaniel Butler, falling just a single vote shy of qualifying for the final matchup.
The style of debate practiced at this event, IPDA, involves the participant being given a surprise selection of topics, then having thirty minutes to research and prepare their arguments. According to Butler, this style allows for the debaters to be competitive without needing to have massive amounts of time to dedicate to research prior to competition, nor have an unnatural knack for impromptu speech.
He encourages any interested students to give debate a try. “We live in a society where there is so much talk, and yet so often we do not know what we are talking about. Debate, especially IPDA, allows us to get back to an understanding of how to develop and share ideas with others.”
While the conclusion of this tournament signaled the end of the competitive intercollegiate debate season in the state, the Bryan team is preparing for one final event this spring as part of the 100th anniversary commemoration of the Scopes Trial. On April 17, the team will hold a debate and lead an expert panel discussion at the Rhea County Courthouse on the subject of school vouchers—one of the most contentious in public education today.
