The Rutgers University Debate Union (RUDU) was founded in 2001 and is a full member in good standing of the American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA). APDA is the elite league of intercollegiate parliamentary debate, comprised of nearly all of the top-ranked colleges and universities on the eastern seaboard, as well as some additional western schools. Notable participants include the entire
Ivy League, Stanford, the University of Chicago, MIT, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Swarthmore, Williams, and Amherst. Competitions take place nearly every weekend throughout the academic year, from September through December in the fall and January through April in the spring, culminating in an annual National Championship. An additional North American Championship, a joint competition between APDA and CUSID, the elite Canadian parliamentary league, is held each January. Meetings are run by the Debate Coach in conjunction with student leadership, which consists of an elected six-member executive board. Meeting activities focus on the refining of skills and strategy to maximize student success in competitions. These include lectures and drills on rhetoric, information and background on a variety of subjects (such as law, economics, foreign policy, and philosophy), logical argumentation and analysis, and the basic format and structure of debate rounds. Each meeting is concluded with two full practice rounds for participants, judged by the Debate Coach and (at times) varsity debaters, with extensive critiques designed to maximize participant development. After struggling in obscurity since its founding in 2001, RUDU has recently enjoyed a meteoric rise to success and notoriety on APDA. In 2009-2010, the team first cracked the cumulative annual College of the Year (COTY) rankings, finishing the season at 24th in the league after advancing to elimination rounds at several tournaments. The next year, however, the team blossomed into a full-fledged contender, placing itself near the top of the rankings in every category. The team finished 2010-2011 ranked 5th in the league, behind only Yale, Harvard, Brandeis, and Boston University, having peaked at 2nd earlier in the season. Having never qualified a team for the National Championships in nine prior seasons, RUDU qualified five individual debaters, enabling Rutgers to send four full teams to Nationals instead of the usual one. RUDU won three tournaments, a top speaker award, and several top novice speaker awards. Rutgers’ best team was ranked 7th in the league in the Team of the Year (TOTY) standings and its best first-year debater ranked 2nd in the Novice of the Year (NOTY) list.
2011-2012 found RUDU back in the top ten, finishing the year ranked 9th. Four debaters qualified for Nationals, with three full teams attending. RUDU made three final rounds, won a top speaker award and two top novice speaker awards while placing two debaters in top ten NOTY, at 3rd and 10th. RUDU also placed sixth at the 2012 North American Parliamentary Debate Championship, by far its highest finish in history at a title tournament. The most recent season, 2012-2013, was RUDU’s best ever, finishing the year ranked 3rd. Seven debaters qualified for Nationals, with five full teams attending. RUDU made four final rounds, winning two tournaments, won two top speaker awards, earned 4th NOTY, placed ten speakers in the SOTY rankings, and finished 9th at the National Championships. Rutgers broke a record 41 times to varsity out-rounds and closed the season on a 14-weekend streak of breaking varsity, spanning more than a full semester. RUDU always welcomes new members and visitors at meetings, which are held Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:00 PM in Murray Hall 210 on the College Avenue Campus.
