CDL Monday Memo — vol. I, no. 7 — August 20, 2012

Very brief post-vacation Monday Memo today.

Don’t hesitate to contact us at the CDC — 312-427-0524 — to let us know how we can help you get your 2012/13 debate season started.

1. CDL in the Summer Media

Marshall H.S. debate coach Jim Dorrell was interviewed by MSNBC, discussing the difficult conditions and high stakes endemic to urban public education. About 2:45 into the video Jim refers to the power of academic debate to help him improve his students’ life chances. MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry later refers back to debate as the kind of program that we should find a way to replicate.

And Chicago Lawyer did an extended piece on Legal Prep Academy and its use of debate (and other programs) to expand the diversity pipeline into the legal profession.

2. SY2013 Season Calendar Notes

The finalized SY2013 Season Calendar is on the CDL programming site, where it will remain all year.

We’re in the process of confirming all of the tournament sites for the year, so if you get an email or call from David regarding your school’s hosting — which all schools have agreed to do, as part of their membership in the league — please respond promptly, so that we can meet our goal of confirming all sites for the year prior to Labor Day.

3. Two Additional Debate Contests

There are two non-CDL debate contests that you might be interested in — entirely optional, and not directly affiliated with the CDL.

(i) The 2012/13 Bickel & Brewer International Public Policy Forum

This is a combined written-oral debate competition, that culminates in final rounds held in April, 2013 at New York University. It is in its 12th year, and is very welcoming to urban debate programs. Schools from around the country, and around the world, participate. This year’s topic is “Resolved: Adaptation should be the most urgent response to climate change.”

More information on the B&B IPPF website.

(ii) The Ronald Reagan Foundation Great Communicator Debate Series

This national debate competition for high school debate programs is being done to correspond to the 2012 Presidential Debates.

This is a new event, so we don’t have a lot to tell you about it from experience, but more information is available on the Reagan Foundation website.

4. Reminder: CDL Public Debate at the DuSable Museum of African American History on Thursday, August 23rd

A reminder here that debaters from Williams Prep School of Medicine and King College Prep will will take part in a public debate about school discipline and restorative justice at the DuSable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Place, this Thursday, August 23rd, beginning at 6:30pm.

Immediately following the debate will be an outdoor screening of the 2007 film “The Great Debaters,” produced by Oprah Winfrey and starring Denzel Washington as the best-looking and most charismatic male debate coach who ever lived. The film is a very entertaining story, based on real events, of the 1937 national inter-collegiate debate championship won by Wiley College, an historically black college in west Texas.

All are welcome to this fun, free, pre-season event.