Be part of a full squad competitive debate team with a legacy of over 25 years of championship policy debate. Benefit from our full-time coaching staff and travel throughout the school year. Learn everything you need to join LU Debate and compete with a winning team at LU Debate Week.
Tuition scholarships are available for eligible first-year college debaters with or without experience, and returning junior varsity and varsity debaters.
With the Debate Team, you’ll learn how to grow in graduate-level research and presentation skills that will prepare you for your future. Get trained in critical thinking and argument strategy, and gain practical communication skills.
Debate has introduced me to a world of people, cultures, and ideas that have helped shape who I am. It has shown me that learning critical thinking and complex problem-solving isn’t just found in the classroom.
Dr. Amanda Koch
There is nothing like competitive debate to encourage deep research and sharp thinking while also building empathy with other viewpoints.
Dr. Zach Gautier
My experience doing college debate at Liberty was so practical in refining the key skills that I’ve needed in my career - critical thinking, research, writing, speaking, and the ability to see both sides of an issue. It also allowed me to manage the rigors of my master’s and doctoral work.
Travel With the Debate Team
The competitive debate season spans the entire academic year, so you can expect to travel multiple times each semester. All travel expenses are covered by LU Debate.
Huge congratulations to Liberty ST (Will/Elijah) and Liberty EY (Elaine/Hunter) for closing out the Junior Varsity Division at JV Novice Nationals, hosted by Fairmont State University 🏆🔥
Both teams entered elims as the #1 and #2 seeds—dominant from start to finish. • Liberty ST went UNDEFEATED, finishing 6–0 in prelims • Liberty EY followed closely with an impressive 5–1 record
And the speaker awards didn’t miss either 👏🏽 🥇 1st – Elaine 🥈 2nd – Hunter 🥉 3rd – Will ✨ 5th – Elijah
An incredible showing from both teams proud of the work, the growth, and the results. Go Flames! 🔥🔥
🎉 Congratulations to Liberty CL (Jayden/Emmalee) and Liberty SS (Alanna/Will) on qualifying for the 80th National Debate Tournament, hosted by the University of Houston!
🔥 Liberty CL was the TOP seed, going 6–0 in districts! Jayden finished as 2nd Speaker, and Emmalee earned 3rd Speaker—an incredible showing!
💪 Shoutout to Liberty KT (Nova/Elijah) for finishing 7th overall and narrowly missing qualification only because Liberty had already qualified two teams. (The NDT allows just two teams per school to qualify out of districts.) An absolutely huge accomplishment!
An outstanding showing for the Liberty Flames!
Thank you to Mike and the rest of the @towsondebate on hosting a GREAT tournament. We had a great time being in person this year and seeing everyone! Go D77777!!
Congratulations to Liberty KT (Nova / Elijah) for making Varsity Finals at the Gotham Debate Tournament hosted by The New School. They entered elims as the 2nd seed and delivered all the way through.
Shoutout to Liberty SS (Alanna / Will) for reaching the semifinals as the 3rd seed, and to Liberty EY (Elaine / Hunter) for advancing to quarterfinals as the 4th seed. Every one of these teams went 5–1 in prelims, top to bottom consistency.
Congrats as well to Kate and her swing partner Ryan (St. John’s University) for breaking to octofinals.
On top of strong elim runs, Liberty cleaned up on speaker awards: 🥇Elijah — 1st 🥈Alanna — 2nd 🏅Elaine — 4th 🏅Nova — 5th 🏅Will — 7th 🏅Hunter — 10th
