Speech and Debate Program Hones the Art of Civil Discourse

Stories You May Like

Agree to Disagree: Course Promotes Discussion of Thorny Issues

Math Major Wins Silver in an Unlikely Sport: Chessboxing

Undergrad’s Start-Up Lets You ‘Hear’ through its Eyeglasses

Cornell’s globally ranked teams continue a tradition of reasoned verbal sparring that goes back to the University’s founding

By Joe Wilensky

Ryan Yeh ’13 calls it “stressful, exhilarating, and everything in between”: having just 15 minutes to prepare a speech on a previously unknown topic, with no online searching allowed. It was a common scenario during his time competing for the Cornell Speech and Debate Program—and eventually, he says, it became second nature.

For decades, the program—which draws more than 100 students from across the University each academic year—has garnered top global rankings, fielding teams that compete in tournaments across the nation and around the world.

Housed in the ILR School, it supports intercollegiate teams in four styles: policy debate; worlds debate, traditionally called British Parliamentary style; Spanish-language worlds; and individual speech.

(Only the worlds events feature the 15-minute prep that Yeh so vividly recalls; policy debate and some speech events have far more lead time.)

“It’s civil discourse: this idea that you have an argument, and you’re not going to resort to ad hominem attacks, name-calling, or demagoguery,” says ILR senior lecturer Sam Nelson, the program’s longtime director. “You’re going to use logic to make your point, and reasoned decision-making is going to result.”

You’re going to use logic to make your point, and reasoned decision-making is going to result.

Program director Sam Nelson

Speech and debate on the Hill traces its roots to the University’s earliest days, when campus debating societies (and public debates at local literacy societies) were commonplace. The Class of 1894 even endowed an annual tournament, which continues today.

While Cornell fielded teams on and off over the ensuing generations, the program’s current incarnation developed in the early 1980s under Pam Lustig Stepp, PhD ’93—who was then in CALS’ communication department, and later became a senior lecturer in ILR.

Now, dozens of trophies pack the shelves in the program’s Ives Hall headquarters, where members hang out, practice, and hold weekly meetings.

In 2025–26 alone, teams traveled to Bulgaria, Colombia, and Mexico, as well as to competitions in the U.S.—including the American Forensics Association’s national tournament in Portland, OR, where the Big Red had its best showing in 35 years.

“Debate didn’t just welcome different perspectives, it demanded them,” recalls Yeh, a double major in economics and psychology in Arts & Sciences who won a prestigious tournament in Toronto as a student.

“My opinions weren’t enough; I had to prove them, justify them, defend them, and be willing to change them.”

My opinions weren’t enough; I had to prove them, justify them, defend them, and be willing to change them.

Ryan Yeh ’13

The program, he says, forced him out of his comfort zone, especially when he was tasked with advocating for positions he passionately disagreed with—for example, arguing against limits on fossil fuels, when he strongly believes in the urgency of the climate crisis.

“I went toe-to-toe with some of the sharpest minds at Cornell and in the world,” says Yeh, who went on to earn a JD from Yale and is now the VP of a cryptocurrency firm.

Stories You May Like

Agree to Disagree: Course Promotes Discussion of Thorny Issues

Math Major Wins Silver in an Unlikely Sport: Chessboxing

One of Yeh’s classmates, ILR alum Angela Lu ’13, also credits the program with broadening her horizons and honing her critical thinking skills.

“I became fluent in adopting and understanding different perspectives, being curious or decisive depending on the situation—and never attaching my ego to my ideas,” says Lu, now a management consultant in the healthcare industry who holds an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.

Nelson, who has led the program for nearly a quarter century, is ILR’s director of forensics. The term—from the Latin forensis, meaning “before the forum”—has long referred to an inquiry presented publicly via arguments, evidence, and a search for truth.

I became fluent in adopting and understanding different perspectives, being curious or decisive depending on the situation—and never attaching my ego to my ideas.

Angela Lu ’13

Each summer, Nelson and his assistants run a debate camp on the Hill for hundreds of middle and high school students from around the world, and have even mentored a team through the Cornell Prison Education Program.

Nelson also teaches ILR classes on speech and debate, which both fuel interest in the program and emphasize the importance of civilized discourse in today’s charged political climate.

“If someone persuades you that you’re wrong, you can then adopt their ideas and be stronger—and that’s called growth,” Nelson observes. “But if you disprove them, it’s possible they will have that same open-mindedness and change their ideas, or at least modify them. So everybody gets stronger.”

Alex Zhang ’27, the program’s current president, first got involved in debate as a high school student in Hong Kong.

He has been struck by the Cornell program’s friendliness and openness: anyone can join, no application required. In his freshman year alone, he traveled to competitions in Toronto and Montreal, at the UK’s Oxford University, and even to Vietnam.

An operations research and information engineering major in the Duffield College, Zhang ultimately aims to launch startups—and says that speech and debate has given him an invaluable edge.

“When I talk to potential investors, I’ll have to convince them why I’m the founder they should invest in,” he says. “And when I’m talking with clients, I’ll need to show them why my product should be important to them, and why they should trust me.”

Alex Zhang ’27, the program’s current president, has been struck by the Cornell program’s friendliness and openness: anyone can join, no application required.

The program also fosters close friendships—and has spawned at least a dozen marriages, including that of attorneys David Quigley ’95 and Angela Whitehead Quigley ’96 (whose daughter, Arts and Sciences student Hannah Quigley ’26, is currently on the speech team).

“You don’t just learn how to talk—you learn how to hear,” David observes, noting that he and Angela honed abilities that allowed them to communicate well across differing political beliefs as undergrads.

“Not everyone is going to end up married as a result,” he adds, “but it’s a skill set.”

Top: A debate at Ithaca's State Theatre in 2018. (Rachel Philipson)

Published April 29, 2026

---

Other stories You may like

• 

  • Alumni

  Nobelist Explores Women’s Role in the Workplace—And Lives It

• 

  • Ask the Expert

  Getting Your Facts Straight: Tips on Media Literacy

• 

  • Bear Hugs

  Sisters Team Up to Raise Awareness of a Rare Genetic Syndrome