Who are we?

The Roger Sherman Debate Society is WCSU's debate team. We are an organization promoting more and better debate both at WCSU and throughout the nation. Debate competition includes traveling to universities across the nation and competing against peers from almost every university in the country. We compete in Cross Examination Debate Association sponsored policy debate and World's Format Debates.

Weekly meetings are held on Tuesdays between 4 and 7 pm in Haas Library 216.

The Roger Sherman Debate Society is operated by an executive board of students and by a small staff:

Fall 2009 Executive Board: Fall 2009 Staff:

Sara Waterfall, President and Co-Captain Wynn Gadkar-Wilcox, Co-Director and Coach

Debra Salvato, Vice President and Co-Captain DL Stephenson, Co-Director and Assistant Coach

Mary Salvato, Secretary Josh Flores, Graduate Assistant

Van Vu, Treasurer

Why Debate?

Competitive debate is an opportunity to show that your ideas are the best and students from WCSU are just as good, if not better, than students from the former mentioned institutions. We pride ourselves on our competitive nature. Acting as a member of the team demands rigorous effort be put towards research, speaking and argument formation. Meeting the demands of competitive policy debate instills skills useful in academia, law, business, and other professions. Members of our team have gone on to tackle the demands of law schools across the country. Participating in debate has a net effect on the improvement of LSAT, GRE, GMAT, and other standardized test scores as well the improvement of GPA. For students who set high goals, debate is a true path to accomplishing them. Students from any discipline of study are encouraged to be a part of debate as each discipline can bring new and diverse ideas to the table. For those students interested in reaching for the stars, WCSU debate is at your finger tips.