CEDA/NDT
The 2024-2025 NDT/CEDA Topic Area is Energy/Climate.
Resolved: Exact wording announced later in the summer.
History of Modern Policy Debate
The Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) (/ˈsiːdə/ SEE-də) is the largest intercollegiate policy debate association in the United States. In cooperation with the National Debate Tournament (NDT) Committee and the American Debate Association (ADA), CEDA formulates the annual intercollegiate policy debate topic used in tournament competition throughout the nation. CEDA acts as a tournament sanctioning agent, providing through its Constitution and By-Laws, a framework for normalizing tournament practices and procedures. CEDA sanctions over 60 tournaments annually nationwide including a National Championship Tournament (nicknamed the People's Championship) that brings together over 100 individual debate teams from across the nation to compete on the basis of research, persuasive speaking, argumentation, and philosophy. Founded in 1971 as the Southwest Cross Examination Debate Association, CEDA is now the primary national association promoting policy topic intercollegiate academic debate. Disagreements over rules and the direction of NDT competitive practices including concerns about speed, elitism, mistreatment of competitors and coaches led to a split in the policy debate community and the founding of the Southwest Cross Examination Debate Association. Two of CEDA' s most important functions are: a) to serve as a governance support system for existing & new programs and b) works in partnership with the American Forensics Association (AFA), the professional association for scholars and teachers in the field of applied argumentation and debate, to examine the trajectory of the activity and the inclusiveness of its practices. In the mid-nineties, CEDA and the NDT agreed to debate the same topic each year with the same time limits, effectively merging their tournaments schedules enabling NYU, Columbia & Cornell to clash regularly with Harvard, Bard & Dartmouth, Michigan to debate Michigan State, and UC-Berkeley to battle Redlands. The NDT began at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1947. It was organized and conducted by the Academy at West Point for its first twenty years. In 1967, the NDT entered a new era. The American Forensic Association assumed responsibility for the tournament and began rotating where it would be hosted to different schools every year since.
Who can debate in which divisions?
Any undergrad is eligible to compete in the open division of CEDA tournaments if approved by their coach. Competing in open doesn't disqualify a student from competing in novice or JV if they're still eligible. Students shall have exhausted their eligibility to earn points in a given academic year when they participate in three or more debate tournaments during that year. All students may debate in the open division of any tournament. For the other divisions, here is how eligibility is determined. A. A novice is defined as an individual with no more than 24 rounds of team policy debate at the high school or college level, or CEDA non-policy debate, or 50 rounds of debate (including Lincoln Douglas, public forum, parliamentary, and policy debate). If a debater competes in no more than 24 rounds of team policy debate during his/her first year as a novice at the college level, they retain novice eligibility during their second academic year in debate. However, if debaters have more than 24 rounds of team policy debate during their first year at the college level but have not advanced to elimination rounds at two tournaments during that first year of novice eligibility they are entitled to a second year of eligibility until advancing to elimination rounds in two tournaments or upon completion of the second academic year. B. Junior varsity - Any debater with under 100 rounds of policy debate is eligible for junior varsity. However, any debater with more than 100 rounds of policy debate who has not won an elimination rounds at three tournament in junior varsity, varsity or open at the college level will be allowed to stay in junior varsity until they do so. The elimination round provision only applies to those tournaments that clear to at least full quarters in the division and does not count for partial elimination rounds. An exception will be made for Junior Varsity National Tournaments. This exception only applies to the year in which the student was forced to progress. A waiver process for this section may be established by the Executive Council for extraordinary situations.
Alex Sherman (LS/CAS '21) and Jack Booth (CAS '20), West Point Champions and back-to-back NDT qualifiers. First team in history to successfully navigate the Ivy Gauntlet at NDT Districts.
Helpful Websites
The rules and performance standards for each organization are available electronically.
Highlights
Cumulative Debater Awards Summary Last Five Years
-
78 speaker awards
-
64 team awards were won by 46 different debaters
-
36 National Debate Scholars (13 Summa, 11 Magna Cume Laude, 9 Cum Laude, 3 Honorable Mentions)
Awards Held By the Coaching Staff
-
Over 15 Awards for Coaching Excellence
-
24 Academic and Service Awards
-
2 National Coach of the Year Awards
-
3 Critics of the Year
-
18 Student Competitor National Awards (NDT Qualifications, CEDA All-Americans, MVPs, National Debate Scholars)
Major Individual Team/Speaker Highlights
2024
-
CEDA Alumnus of the Year – Justine Daniels
-
Iowa National Round Robin Champions Vikram Saigal & Emmanuel Makinde
-
Big Tent Online - JV Champions - Akhil Khade & Anaya Joshi
-
7-1, 4th Seed - Havard National Invitational - Vikram Saigal & Emmanuel Makinde
-
Gotham Debates – Co-Champions - Shreeram Modi/Eugene Toth & Ivan Ziabkin/Max Layden (Open Division)
-
University of Minnesota – Co-Champions - Jessie Tai/Reeya Kansra, Jasmine McClure/Nicole Sekulic, & Luigi Anguilla & Elena Li (Junior Varsity Division)
-
5-2, 13th Seed - Wake Forest Shirley National Invitational - Vikram Saigal & Emmanuel Makinde
-
NDT Qualifiers - Emmanuel Makinde/Vikram Saigal & Shreeram Modi/Eugene Toth
-
Gotham Debates – TOP SPEAKER - Shreeram Modi
-
University of Minnesota – TOP SPEAKER - Jessie Tai
FINANCIAL AID
NYU's Commitment to Affordability
Since 2021 NYU has met the full demonstrated need of our traditional first-year undergraduate students in New York without the expectation that students will take out loans.
President Linda G. Mills expanded this commitment by announcing the NYU Promise. Starting in Fall 2024, first year undergraduates admitted to the NYU New York campus:
-
Families with income less than $100,000 will not have to pay tuition
-
NYU will meet 100% demonstrated need
-
Scholarships will be adjusted to meet tuition increases each year
Contact the Finanical Aid office for advice on your specific situation. If you are a domestic student, the primary forms you need to apply for all NYU and federal aid are the Free Application for Financial Student Assistance (FAFSA) and the CSS Profile. International Students only need to fill out the CSS Profile. The NYU Committee for National Scholarship Competitions invites applications each year for a number of national scholarships, fellowships, and grants. To apply, you must prepare well in advance.
Beyond Financial Aid
Debate is alive and well in NYC creating local and virtual opportunities for talented NYUCEDA debaters. Between coaching positions, hired judging, job opportunites, fellowships, tutoring, summer institutes and campus competitions, NYUCEDA debaters have earned millions as undergrads since the program's inception. The NYU Global Debate Fund hosts the annual Presidential Global Debates, one of the most lucrative intramural college debating competition in the world offers over $30,000 in cash, travel & prizes to eligible NYU students on any NYU global campus annually.
Training Resources
NYU Learning Center
These documents have been prepared by the Director to aid in your preparations for debate tournaments from tournament basics to advanced strategy. Read them. It will make you better.
