With a high national ranking and success with its first two tournaments, Sacramento State’s debate team is off to a strong start this season.

The team won its first competition at the Golden Gate Season Opener at San Francisco State. Michelle Penuliar, a senior government major, and Cam Le, a senior criminal justice and philosophy major at Sac State, beat Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in round one and San Francisco State in round two. Penuliar and Le are in the novice division. Penuliar won the third place speaker award and Le won sixth place.

Chantel Crane, senior government major, and David Rekow, sophomore government and communications major, knocked the University of California, Berkeley team out in the semi-finals of the open division at the Santa Rosa International tournament on Oct. 11. Crane and Rekow lost to another UC Berkeley team in the finals and took second place.

Debate coach Kristen Tudor, communication studies professor, said it was a great tournament and of the four Berkeley teams at Santa Rosa, Sac State beat them all at one point.

“We were the only team to beat some of their teams,” said Tudor.

Tudor said the hard work of the varsity debaters is paying off and she is really proud of them.

Sac State’s team is ranked 25th in the nation and second in its region, which includes Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, San Francisco State, Santa Clara University, Folsom Lake College and Chico State, according to the Cross Examination Debate Association’s website.

Tudor is in her seventh year as the debate coach at Sac State. She started out coaching at Santa Rosa University.

To prepare for a tournament, Tudor said the team looks at case lists online and decides what strategy to use. The team has three to four huge, plastic tubs filled with evidence to prove or disprove an argument.

“It (has) been said that the average debater does as much work on an argument as a grad student does writing a thesis,” Tudor said.

Tudor’s goal is to give each of the 15 members of this year’s team a chance to debate. The debate team is divided into three groups. The first is the novice group, made up of students who have never debated before. The second is junior varsity, which includes students with some experience in debating. The third is varsity, which is made up of experienced students who have won debates.

Tudor said each group has a set of partners called a team. Teams can move up to a higher level of competition during the year based on their performances at tournaments.

Kenneth Dandy, graduate student in communication studies and assistant coach for the debate team, said one of the benefits of debating is that it is a specialized program. He explained that there are three types of debating. The first focuses on policy debates, the second is parliamentary, which is impromptu, and the third is persuasive debating. Dandy said Sac State’s debate team competes in policy debating.

Dandy said policy debating gives students critical thinking and research skills. He said many hours are spent doing the research for a debate.

Dandy explained he first teaches students the basics of debating, and then teaches them how to set the opposition up during the debate.

“Imagine trying to teach someone to swim who has never seen water,” Dandy said. “It’s indescribable in the moment.”

Theresa Perry, a graduate student in communication studies who is an assistant coach, said policy debates are very different from the presidential debates people watch on TV.

Perry said it is important to teach the students to debate the issues, not the opponent. She said too often in life, people end up hating someone based on a belief. Perry teaches the student how to separate the person from the belief or issue and still remain friends.

Perry said there is tremendous value in learning how to gather evidence and being able to critically examine an article to determine if there is sufficient evidence to support the argument.

“Every debate is an educational experience,” Perry said.

Mike Petrillo, a senior math and philosophy major, has been on the debate team for two years.

He said being on the debate team gives students the opportunity to talk about things in an intellectual way. He said when trying to be persuasive, using intellectual arguments makes it easier to understand the point being made.

Petrillo explained using emotion during a debate is very tricky. The rule is to remain calm, but he said if you want to deliver a point, using emotions can be a persuasive tool. He said it is an important skill to harvest when having a discussion or dialogue with another person.

The debate team as a whole picks the topic used to practice for the semester. Petrillo said this year’s topic is the reduction of agricultural subsidies. Students debate both sides of the issue and have what is called a switch side debate. Students make four points in favor of the issue and four points against the issue.

Petrillo and others from the debate team agreed studying a wide array of subjects and having that knowledge is an asset that can be applied to any major. It also creates an opportunity for students to have a better understanding of the subjects studied. Petrillo said debating is a great advocacy tool and students learn to choose their words wisely.

There are rules to follow in a debate and Petrillo said certain things are frowned upon. Debaters should not use cursing, and should try to avoid yelling and directly pointing out the other person in a debate.

Petrillo said being on a debate team helped him to learn not to take criticism personally and to have more self-control.

Rekow said to prepare for a tournament, each student on the debate team researches a subject from a prepared list and creates pre-scripted responses. The students continue to look for time-sensitive changes on a subject until the tournament begins. It is important to have the most recent evidence listed in the argument. All of the team members review and discuss the strategy they are going to use at the debate.

Rekow explained different strategies are used based on which school they are debating. Some schools use a very elegant, philosophical, abstract and ethereal style. Others use a more traditional and logical format.

Rekow said the greatest thing for debates now is the use of digital information. Prior to the Internet and laptops, students had to go to the library and make copies of pages out of books. Now, everyone brings a laptop and a flash drive to the tournaments.

“The debate team fosters an encouraging environment. We commiserate with teams when they lose and we celebrate with teams when they win,” Rekow said.

Perry said students on the team get the opportunity to travel and develop a network with students and professors from other colleges.

“Being on a debate team is not as geeky as you think,” Dandy said. “It creates a great social network.”

Sally King can be reached at [email protected]