History of the Debate Team

2022-2023 Season

3rd Annual SASIS Fall 2022

• Date: September 29th
• Debaters/Propositions
• Senior Aubrey Moorman: There should be a safe space for racists.
• Senior Lexi Hill: Human euthanasia should be legalized.
• Sophomore Lorelei Becktel: Assault weapons should be banned.
• Senior Romel Thurman: Safe spaces should be abolished.
• Freshman Clark Barrett: All psychedelic drugs should be legalized for recreational use.
• Junior Thalia Guettler: Vasectomies should be mandatory for adult males.
• Results
• 1st place: Lexi Hill
• 2nd place: Thalia Guettler
• 3rd place: Romel Thurman

Vanderbilt Democracy Dialogues on Democracy and Elections at Vanderbilt 2022

• Date: Friday October 14 – Saturday October 15
• Format: Policy Proposal (present and defend)
• Theme: Fixing our democracy and election issues
• Debaters: Seniors Romel Thurman and Lexi Hill (third years), junior Franco Bippus (first year) and sophomore Lorelei Becktel (second year)
• Results: 
• Top 4 out of 10 teams

St. Ignatius Dialogues & Jesuit Cup Tournaments at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) 2022

• Date: Friday October 28 – Sunday October 30
• Format: Venn Diagrams
• Theme: Healing Justice (focusing on homelessness, spirituality and formerly incarcerated)
• Debaters: Junior Thalia Guettler and freshman Trent Mora
• Results / Awards:
• Mora’s team won the championship in the Jesuit Cup
• Guettler’s team was a Jesuit Cup finalist
• Guettler received third overall speaker 

Social Justice Fall Championships at GWU 2022

• Date: Saturday November 12 – Sunday November 13
• Format: Public Forum
• Proposition: The worker cooperative model is preferable to the traditional firm model in the United States to promote a more equitable economy.
• Debaters: Seniors Aubrey Moorman and Lexi Hill and sophomore Lorelei Becktel
• Results / Awards:
• The team won a semifinalist award
• Lorelei received first place novice speaker and fifth place overall speaker

GU vs Howard Intercollegiate Exhibition 2023

• Date: Thursday, February 2nd
• Format: Public Forum
• Proposition: The worker cooperative model is preferable to the traditional firm model in the United States to promote a more equitable economy.
• Debaters: Seniors Aubrey Moorman and Lexi Hill and sophomore Lorelei Becktel against Nadrat Amos, Julian Garcia-Szyszka and Brielle Mitchell
• Results: Won

Social Justice Debates National Championships at Morehouse 2023

• Date: Friday February 10 – Sunday February 12
• Format: Public Forum
• Proposition: The worker cooperative model is preferable to the traditional firm model in the United States to promote a more equitable economy.
• Debaters: Seniors Aubrey Moorman and Lexi Hill (third years) and sophomore Lorelei Becktel (second year)
• Results / Awards:
• Placed fourth seed in the tournament
• The team won a semifinalist award
• Lorelei received first place novice speaker and second place overall speaker

British Parliament Novice Nationals at the University of Rochester 2023

• Date: Friday, February 17 – Sunday, February 19
• Format: British Parliament
• Debaters: Senior Lexi Hill with sophomore Lorelei Becktel // Sophomore Aubrie Bauer with freshman Clark Barrett
• Results / Awards:
• GU-Becktel/Hill advanced to finals out of 46 teams.

GU and USNA Intercollegiate Exhibition 2023

• Date: Thursday, April 20
• Format: Public Forum
• Proposition: It is in the public’s best interest that Deaf people should be allowed to serve in the U.S. military.
• Debaters: Freshman Trent Mora (first year) debating the affirmative with USNA senior Jason Santiago and senior Lexi Hill (third year) debating the negative with USNA junior Roy Choi
• Results: Hill/Choi, debating the negative, won.

2021-2022 Season

2nd Annual Stories and Speeches in Sign (SASIS) Fall 2021

• Date: Thursday, November 18
• Debaters/Propositions:
• Sophomore Daniel Miers: Anti-homeless structures should be banned.
• Senior LaToya Plummer: Critical Race Theory (CRT) education should be mandatory in K-12 public schools.
• Junior Aubrey Moorman: Convicted felons should be allowed to vote in prison.
• Sophomore Sam Marchese-Ragona: Humans should colonize space.
• Freshman Lorelei Becktel: The death penalty should be abolished in the United States.
• Junior Romel Thurman: Performance-enhancing drugs in sports should be legalized.
• Sophomore Charlie Spiers: Non-political federal agencies should relocate outside of D.C.
• Junior Lexi Hill: The two-term limit for U.S. presidents should be repealed.
• Freshman Najmo Jama: Standardized testing for college admissions should be abolished.
• Results:
• 1st place: Aubrey Moorman
• 2nd place: Lexi Hill
• 3rd place: LaToya Plummer

Social Justice Debates National Championships at Morehouse 2022

• Date: Friday March 25 – Sunday March 27 2022
• Format: Public Forum
• Proposition: The adoption of a mandatory racial desegregation policy for K-12 public schools is desirable.
• Debaters: Juniors Aubrey Moorman and Lexi Hill
• Results / Awards: 
  • The team won a quarterfinalist award
  • Aubrey received 1st place novice speaker / 1st place overall speaker
  • Lexi received 3rd place novice speaker / 10th place overall speaker

2020-2021 Season

1st Annual Stories and Speeches in Sign (SASIS) Spring 2021

• Date: March 3rd, 2021
• Debaters/Propositions
• Sophomore Lexi Hill: The COVID vaccine should be compulsory in the United States.
• Freshman Claudia Smistek: Americans should be patriotic.
• Sophomore Julie Ann Shoeman: Earth is not a globe.
• Sophomore Romel Thurman: Deaf people should be allowed to serve in the US military.
• Junior Joseph Palagano: The United States federal minimum wage should be raised.
• Sophomore Aubrey Moorman: Reparations should be made to descendants of enslaved Americans.
• Freshman Thalia Guettler: People with a felony conviction on their record should be allowed to vote.

GU vs GWU Intercollegiate Exhibition 2021

• Date: Wednesday April 21
• Format: Public Forum
• Proposition: It is in the best interest of the country to grant statehood to Washington DC.
• Debaters: Sophomore Lexi Hill and freshman Thalia Guettler against junior Shawky Darwish and sophomore Rush Patel
• Results: Won