DANBURY, CONN. — Western Connecticut State University will become the epicenter again for collegiate debate competition in the Northeast region when the WCSU Roger Sherman Debate Society hosts the annual Hat City Debate Tournament on Feb. 22 and 23, 2014, on the university’s Midtown campus in Danbury.

The Hat City Tournament is expected to bring together more than 400 student debaters and team coaches from colleges across the Northeast to compete for the District 8 Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) Championship. The tournament also will feature competition in the National Debate Tournament (NDT) District 8 qualifier round and the Parliamentary/Worlds Debate regional.

Since first entering intercollegiate competition a decade ago, the Roger Sherman Debate Society at Western has established a reputation for defeating rival teams from larger universities and colleges across the region and nation. The society set new milestones in the 2013 Hat City debates when Kylah Broughton, of Newark, N.J., and Eugene Ben Allen, of Naugatuck, became the first WCSU team to win a regional championship and Broughton captured the top individual Speaker Award for the tournament. Western students have continued to post strong showings in the 2013-14 season. Colleen Mair, of Milford, and Leon McIntosh, of Bridgeport, reached the quarterfinals and Mair achieved third top speaker for their division in the society’s most recent competition at Rutgers University.

Roger Sherman Debate Society president Taylor Pasquence, of Bethel, noted the Hat City Tournament attracts debaters from leading private and public universities across the region because it includes CEDA, NDT and Worlds competitions within a single tournament and offers a final opportunity for participants to qualify to compete against the best teams in the nation at the prestigious National Debate Tournament.

This year’s Hat City Tournament will include six rounds of cross-examination debate by student participants at the novice and junior varsity levels. All debates will address the 2013-14 CEDA/NDT topic, which poses the resolution that the U.S. federal government “should substantially increase statutory and/or judicial restrictions on the war powers authority of the President of the United States” in one or several of six specified types of operations.

The public is invited to attend the debate rounds on Feb. 22 and 23 and admission will be free. Information on locations for the District 8 CEDA and NDT debates will be available at the Warner Hall registration site.

Registration for debaters will be held from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 21, at the Best Western hotel, 11 Stony Hill Road in Bethel, and beginning at 7 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22, on the first floor of Warner Hall on the WCSU Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury. The registration fee for entry is $45 per person, with an additional fee of $30 for each uncovered round of judging. Complimentary breakfast and lunch for debate participants will be provided on Feb. 22 and 23.        

For more information, contact Roger Sherman Debate Society president Taylor Pasquence at pasquence003@connect.wcsu.edu or the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.

Online registrations for tournament participants may be submitted at the following links:

District 8 NDT qualifier: https://www.tabroom.com/index/tourn/index.mhtml?tourn_id=2635

Northeast Regional CEDA Championship: https://www.tabroom.com/index/tourn/index.mhtml?tourn_id=2637

Northeast Regional Worlds Championship: https://www.tabroom.com/index/tourn/index.mhtml?tourn_id=2638

Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England’s best small private universities.