"It's been a great year," says Bryan Brito, director of debate at Bates, whose 2002-03 Brooks Quimby squad ranked among the top 25 of the 68 best teams in the nation competing at the American Parliamentary Debate Association Nationals, held at Brandeis University in April.

In 12 out of 18 tournaments attended, Bates debaters had at least one team ranking in the top 10. The impressive record included appearances in the United Kingdom at Cambridge University, where Bates placed 12th overall in a field of 92 teams, and at Oxford University, where Bates debaters took 16th overall, with 80 teams in competition. Domestic contests at Columbia, Smith, Harvard, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Dartmouth, Wellesley and Mount Holyoke included standout performances by a wide variety of Bates debaters, including Andrea Hopkins '05 of Kalamazoo, Mich., who received the Oren Nelson Hilton Award for Best Extemporaneous Speaker. Hopkins placed first in the novice speaker category at Smith College and debated with Mike Metzger '06 of Wellesley, Mass., to secure first-place novice team at Dartmouth University. Katie Celeste '06 of Croton, N.Y., and Jeremy Fisher '06 of Mount Kisco, N.Y., ranked as the first-place novice team at Wellesley College.

Most of this year's novice debaters will be back next year as varsity debaters, says Brito, who measures success in growing student participation. Last year the team had three active teams attending competitions; this year, Bates fielded seven and eight teams regularly. "We're probably the largest non-Ivy League team out there," says Brooks Quimby President Ryan Shepherd '05 of Norway.

The Bates debaters embarked on a two-week team tour during Short Term, heading for West Coast exposition debates at Foothill and Claremont colleges. For the tour's second half, they'll return for three more public contests with alumni debaters at the Cato Institute, a non-profit public policy research foundation in Washington, D.C.; at the College Board in New York City; and at the Boston law firm of McDermott, Will & Emery.

Dates, locations and resolutions for the two-week tour follow:

6 p.m., Tuesday, April 29, Foothill College
Resolution: United States should reinstitute the draft

1 p.m., Thursday, May 1, Claremont College
Resolution: The Supreme Court should rule against Michigan affirmative action

7:15 p.m., Thursday, May 1, Claremont College
Resolution: U.S. invasion of Iraq has done more harm than good

7 p.m., Monday, May 5, The Cato Institute
Resolution: The Washington, D.C., gun ban should be repealed

6 p.m., Wednesday, May 7, The College Board
Resolution: Standardized tests should not be used in the admissions process

7 p.m., Thursday, May 8, McDermott, Will & Emery
Resolution: The system of college grades should be abolished

For more information about debate at Bates, including individual results for 2002-03, see: http://abacus.bates.edu/people/orgs/debate/index.html