SMU Speech and Debate won exceptional honors this week in Houston at the IPDA National Debate Championship, conducted among 40+ colleges and universities and 300+ undergraduate debate competitors.
Hyer Society Member, Finance major and Data Science minor Eric Ryan (’25) won the national title for top speaker in the varsity division. Evaluators awarded him the highest speaker points of any debater. These points are an indication of speaking quality and were awarded over eight different rounds by various judges. Eric was also selected as the second speaker in the world for the Seoul South Korea competition this past March.
All 11 SMU competitors did very well at the national championship. SMU had four quarterfinalists in four different divisions of debate (team, novice, varsity and professional). SMU won second speaker in the professional division and the team ranked 7th overall among the 45 competing schools.
SMU will compete for the first time ever at the end of this month in Washington, D.C. for the ACC Debate championship. As a member university in the ACC, the conference athletic league funds a debate tournament open to member schools. The ACC will pay all the airfare, housing and meals for our two SMU competitors: Evangeline Bulick and Emma Stammeyer.
For more information on SMU Speech and Debate, contact Dr. Ben Voth at bvoth@smu.edu.