UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE

P R O G R E S S I V E P R O G R A M S
There’s no debating
a winning tradition
UAA debaters flourish in
World Championship environment
Fresh from success at World
Championships, UAA debate team
looks to the future, unwilling to
rest on laurels
F
or UAA communications associate professor
and coach Steve Johnson’s internationally
renowned debate team even a “New York
minute” seems long enough to make a point.
Just ask debaters from Harvard,Yale, Oxford,
Cambridge, MIT, and an array of other
prestigious colleges and universities that have felt
the pressure applied by a well-turned phrase or
the helpless realization that their UAA
opponent is simply a quicker study. There’s just
no debating success.
When asked how a team from remote Alaska
can produce such winning tradition on the world
stage, Johnson says,“UAA has an award-winning
debate team. UAF has a nationally competitive
rifle team. It comes as no surprise to me that
Alaskans excel in arguing and shooting.”
For more than 10 years, orators from
tradition rich, well-endowed schools, have
learned the hard way how talented and focused
Seawolf debaters can be under Johnson’s
leadership. A parliamentary debate national
championship in 2002 and continued success at
world and national
competitions have elevated the program to a
level of prominence far exceeding expectation
when it began in 1982.
Once a “drifting” college freshman himself,
Johnson discovered the joy of intellectual
challenge in debate and turned it into a life-long
passion. “I knew the moment I stepped on stage
and faced the audience in my first debate that I’d
found my life’s work,” he recalls.
Determined to share his passion, he has
taken an upstart program to the upper echelons
of intercollegiate debate, but not without sacrifice
and perseverance. Funding is always on his
mind. But contributions from university alumni
and the community, along with support from the
university, help provide the resources necessary
for fielding a team at a world-class level.
It’s all about being resourceful. The team for
example, well in advance of competition,
prepares and reviews volumes of material related
to current events, world politics, controversial
issues, matters of public policy, and ongoing
philosophical debate, from which a “for and
From left: Chris Kolerok, Rose Helens-Hart, Steve Johnson
(Head Coach), Lindsay Eberhardt, Adriel Mathew, Hilary Seeger,
Chanille Lewis (Assistant Coach), Dana Ovsak, and Tom Lassen.
against” perspective is derived. Debaters must
be prepared to present arguments on both
sides of an issue.
At this year’s world competition, two of the
compelling topics of debate were whether a
legally-enforceable right to a minimum
standard of living should be recognized and
whether Japan should be given a permanent seat
on the UN Security Council.
“Our student competitors are very well
versed on a myriad of topics and have spent
many hours working issues from all
perspectives” the coach adds. “In competition,
once one of our teams is given a topic and
perspective for debate we refine our thinking
and hone-in on the elements of a logical position
and presentation.”
In recruiting debaters or identifying
prospects it is glaringly obvious when someone
has what it takes to be great. Not unlike
athletics, music, or theater – talent is talent.
Johnson’s job is to help refine it, channel it, and
mold it in a team environment.
“We have just 15 minutes to prepare once a topic has been announced and only 14 minutes
to articulate our position.Talk about pressure. UAA’s four two-member teams thrive on it.”
The key for the individual is focus. But it
helps when a competitor is knowledgable about
a topic, can validate a position, exudes confidence,
loves to argue and is expecting the audience to
hang on every word. Is it a performance?
Certainly, but with substance, the coach feels.
“It’s all about matter and manner,” Johnson
says. “At some point you may realize that your
opponent has an equally compelling and valid
argument and then it becomes about
strategy and tactics.”
In parliamentary debate, each speaker has
seven minutes, the first and last of which are
protected. During the middle five minutes,
positions are subject to challenge, question, and
interruption from the other teams in the round.
The presenting competitor must decide whether
to acknowledge a challenge or ignore it, making a
team strategy essential.
“An opponent’s challenge often presents an
opportunity to emphasize your own position and
we work hard on identifying those situations,”
Johnson explains.
The UAA faculty-run debate program
periodically displays its competitive prowess on
campus debating issues of public policy and by
hosting local high school competitions.
Johnson believes that this type of exposure is
essential in identifying future Seawolf debaters.
The team will also host the inaugural Cabin
Fever Debates intramural competition this
Spring semester in an effort to promote the art
of debate and enable all UAA students the
opportunity to compete for prizes and slots in
the U.S. Universities Debating Championship.
A member of the National Parliamentary
Debate Association (NPDA), the nation’s largest
intercollegiate debate organization, UAA not
only excels as a team, but has produced two
national rookies of the year.
While the country typically witnesses the
staged folly of candidate debates during
presidential campaigns, it’s not everyday we’re
exposed to well thought-out discussion of
important issues by a group of bright, articulate,
albeit somewhat animated and very opinionated
young people in a public forum. Unless, of
course, you’re Steve Johnson who knows better
than most how fortunate UAA is to field a
debate team that provides a voice for one of the
state’s greatest resources, today’s Alaska
college student.
You could make the argument that
spending the winter holiday break in Ireland
discussing issues of international significance
and profound ideology was worth the trip.
That is, if you’re a member of the highly
touted UAA debate team which returned
from Dublin after competing in the World
Universities Debating Championship where
it finished in the top third of 233 teams from
29 countries, including Russia, South Africa,
China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Bangladesh.
The eight-day tournament featured more
than 740 one-hour debates at University
College Dublin, where the Seawolf’s four,
two-person debate teams each competed in
nine preliminary rounds. Among the schools
UAA faced in the “Swiss-draw” format that
matches teams of similar skills were Oxford,
Cambridge, Harvard, and Yale. All four
UAA teams finished with winning records
bettering teams from Princeton, MIT,
Fordham, Vassar, and Brown. The
University of Toronto won the championship.
UAA’s top two teams included Rose
Helens-Hart, a senior majoring in
journalism and public communications, and
Michael Rose, a junior history major; and
Tom Lassen, a political science junior
teaming with Chris Kolerok, an economics
junior. This tandem finished just three points
shy of qualifying for the single-elimination
championship round. The Seawolf teams of
Lindsay Eberhardt and Dana Ovsak, and Ben
Ferguson and Hilary Seeger also placed high
in the tournament.
“Championship competition brings out
the best in our teams, demonstrating once
again that UAA’s debating program belongs
with the best in the world,” said coach
Steve Johnson.
14 Accolades
—Debate team coach Steve Johnson
Accolades 15