Cal Poly Debate Team: Semifinalists at San Diego Invitational Tournament

The Cal Poly Debate Team became the only California school to advance beyond the preliminary rounds of the Sunset Cliffs Classic Forensics Tournament, which took place on Feb. 7-8, at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. Drawing competitors from across the western United States, the tournament hosted several top schools, along with other state institutions such as UCLA, Pepperdine University and Claremont McKenna College.

Two Cal Poly debaters — Brooke Matson (Communication Studies) and Emilio Horner (Political Science) — were semifinalists for their argument concerning the spread of Western feminism. Matson and Horner held that the spread of Western feminism was a positive event, encouraging a shift towards more inclusion and tolerance by educating women and encouraging them to have a stronger presence in the public sphere. Such a shift, Matson and Horner argued, could stimulate more demand for liberal democratic values in government.

Horner and Matson, in their second and first years of debating respectively, have emerged as a formidable force in the debating community.

The debate team will continue to debate during the elimination rounds at the University of Denver Intervarsity Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 21, and Sunday, Feb. 22.