UL Lafayette debate team members place among top five speakers

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette debate team members Justin Cantu and Dustin Domangue were placed third and fifth overall speakers at the recently concluded 68th Annual Appalachian State University Debate Tournament.

Lafayette debaters competed against students from Vanderbilt University, Liberty University, Wake Forest, Florida, Louisville, University of Georgia and a number of other universities from the east coast. To the surprise of many east coast schools, the UL Lafayette debaters once again emerged as forces with which to be reckoned.

UL Lafayette debaters Brandy Staton and Samantha Marks defeated James Madison University in octo-finals by demonstrating that a proposed trans-Afghan natural gas pipeline would undermine the ability of Iran and Pakistan to complete their pipeline—resulting in regional instability. On the affirmative, Stanton and Marks presented arguments for the development of nature preserves in order to stabilize the Afghani ecosystem and to prevent an environmental refugee crisis.

Justin Cantu and Dustin Domangue, both from Breaux Bridge, once again advanced all the way to the final round for their second straight tournament. By Sunday evening, all schools had been eliminated from the tournament except for UL Lafayette and Liberty University of Lynchburg, Va. (Liberty is the current National Champion). There were six teams from Liberty and two teams from UL Lafayette remaining in quarterfinals. Cantu and Domangue defeated five of the six Liberty teams, including Liberty’s top team in semi-finals. Cantu and Domangue took second place on another close decision. Overall, they defeated seven of the eight Liberty teams in head-to-head preliminary rounds and elimination round competition.

On the affirmative, Cantu and Domangue supported the development of Afghanistan nature preserves in some rounds. In other rounds, they argued for a ban on the use of cluster bombs in Afghanistan. Their research demonstrated that more than 98 percent of the persons killed by U.S.-manufactured and deployed cluster bombs are innocent non-combatants. With a “dud rate” of more than 20 percent, the use of such devices creates unmapped minefields in Afghanistan and Lebanon.

When debating negative, they successfully argued that the United States must maintain a hard-line policy against Iran; that the legalization of opium production in Afghanistan would cause massive deforestation and increased heroin use; and improving relations with Syria would likely trigger a takeover by hardliners in both Syria and Israel.

UL Lafayette participates in intercollegiate policy debates in which students from around the nation debate a single research-intensive topic throughout the year. This year’s topic focused on foreign policy issues:

Resolved: the United States federal government should increase its constructive engagement with one or more of the following governments: Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestinian Authority; and it should include to them an offer of a security guarantee and/or a substantial increase in foreign assistance.

The debate team will be traveling to the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of North Texas in January, and the team is preparing for the National Championship Tournament in March. The team will host the Mardi Gras College Policy Debate Tournament the week of Jan. 25, 2008. Participation on the debate team is open to all students. For more information contact Dr. Scott Elliott, 482-6090, sme2607@louisiana.edu.