Upon hearing the word “strategy,” many people picture a game of chess, soldiers preparing for battle, or even a football team in a huddle. But what about debaters preparing for a round?

While some may think of debate merely as a screaming match between two fiery people with opposite beliefs, others, such as members of the debate team at Tech, view the term much differently. Tech’s debate team is composed of a number of students with different values, political affiliations, beliefs and academic majors. The one thing they have in common, however, is their love of argumentation.

Dr. Thomas Vaughn, speech communication professor at Tech, is in his third year as faculty advisor for the debate team. He and his team meet weekly to review current events, practice debating each another and discuss strategies.

The team attends four debate tournaments a year, competing against some of the largest universities in the country. In 2005, the Tech debate team won the Red River Swing tournament in Shreveport, La., bringing pride and recognition to Tech. At the tournament, senior Brandon Haubert earned the top five speaker award.

According to Vaughn, Tech has recently developed a national reputation “as a team you can’t take lightly” in parliamentary debate. “Tech students are just as intelligent and sophisticated as the students at a “Big 10” school,” he added.

In paraphrasing a common belief of the former debate team advisor, Dr. Robert Bolen, Vaughn said, “Tech is currently not in a position where it can compete against large SEC schools in athletics, but we can beat them in debate, because the brain is not limited by the size of the body or how fast you can run.”

According to Vaughn, students in debate must be intelligent and learn to give quick, reasoned responses on the fly. “It doesn’t matter what your politics are, you’ve got to be able to argue both sides of the case.”

He also explains how many students benefit from debate by gaining courage.

“I’ve never seen a person enter the debate team and not leave it changed,” Vaughn said.

“In all three years that I’ve been here, I’ve had universally positive responses from everybody that’s been on the team.” Senior Alexis Brown reflects Vaughn’s enthusiasm for debate in her personal experience with the team.

“I’m an engineering major going pre-med, yet I’m still able to debate because it’s just so much fun.”

Brown said she would recommend the debate team to any students who enjoy politics or arguing current events. Vaughn also encourages students to join the debate team and is looking to create new opportunities for debate at Tech in the future.

He is considering holding a Moot Court competition at Tech where students can argue both sides of an actual court case before a panel of professional judges. “There are really bright students here and an event like this would give them a chance to shine,” he said. Although participating on the debate team is fun and energizing, Vaughn admitted it could be stressful at times. Win or lose, Vaughn said his students always represent the school well and exercise good sportsmanship in all of their rounds.

“I’m just really proud of them.”

To learn more about the debate team, contact Vaughn at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it