The Rhode Island Urban Debate League

The Rhode Island Urban Debate League (RIUDL) exists to provide access to the trajectory-changing activity of policy debate to students, teachers, and communities in the urban core of Rhode Island. Founded in 1999 with support from the Open Society Institute, the Urban Debate League is a partnership between the state’s urban core districts and the Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University.

The League is a vibrant debate community in the public schools of Rhode Island’s core urban cities (currently Providence, Central Falls, Pawtucket, and Woonsocket). Focusing primarily on the extracurricular activity of policy debate, the League cultivates the skills of teamwork, research, leadership, critical thinking, and critical literacy in students who are at risk of falling behind their peers who attend more affluent public and private schools.

Composed primarily of minority and immigrant students, the Providence school district has a dropout rate approaching 40%, and a college matriculation rate of approximately 22%. It is also an incredibly international district: in the K-12 student body, there are students from 96 countries, speaking 49 distinct languages. Acquiring the language and advocacy skills of policy debate, and enjoying the camaraderie and adventure of debate tournaments, is crucial to these students, whether they are from Liberia, Cambodia, or right here in Rhode Island.

For nearly 20 years, the high schools in RI urban high schools offered no forensic activities at all. Beginning in 1999, Brown undergraduate students began organizing small teams in 3 local high schools. Tournaments steadily grew, teachers and principals added their support, and the word began spread amongst the students. Today, there are 10 public schools fielding teams at League tournaments, representing over 70% of the high schools in urban districts. More than 100 students participate in debate tournaments each year. For the first time since the late 1980's, teachers are recognized and compensated as debate coaches by their schools, and together with Brown student coaching-assistants, they help youth to uncover their voices as instruments for public action and personal development.

The League also coordinates public debate events that engage students in timely local and national policy discussions. Adult representatives from differing viewpoints are paired with student debaters to develop their positions. Topics in the past 5 years include the Patriot Act, Truancy Courts, exit-exams for high school graduation, and the war in Iraq. RIUDL debaters have also traveled to tournaments in Boston, MA; Newark, NJ; New York City; Washington, D.C.; Chicago, IL; Lexington, MA; Houston, TX; and Atlanta, GA.

The goal of the League is to make debate accessible to urban high school students who stand to benefit most from the skills that debate provides. Debate builds critical thinking, research, and communication skills. It also offers an effective substitute for physical aggression by empowering the voice of young people, increases the probability of college attendance after graduation from high school, and builds channels of communication through barriers of gender, age, race, and economic status.

What We Do:

Who We Serve, 2007-2008:

Our Successes:

Why Debate? Why Now?

Debate Works:

Research shows that competitive academic debate leagues help close the achievement gap and prepare low-income youth for college. Urban Debate Leagues have a track record of:

• Improving Academic Performance: Debate competition motivates students to immerse themselves in public policy research and to practice and perform spoken and written argumentation for hundreds of hours outside of the school day. Urban debaters increase their grade-point-average, attendance rates, literacy scores, and critical thinking skills. They also tend to avoid high-risk behaviors.
• Building a Bridge to College: While the vast majority of urban debaters have parents who did not go to college and peers who often do not graduate from high school, UDLs send more than 75% of their students to four-year colleges. UDLs have college partnerships that provide access to campus facilities and student mentors. Participants gain tools to succeed in college.
• Developing Leaders: According to a survey by the National Forensic League, 64% of U.S. Congress members competed in debate or speech in high school. Debaters are disproportionately represented in leadership of law, business, and academia. With expanded horizons, and by learning to lead and compete, urban debaters are equipped to improve their schools, strengthen their communities, and ultimately broaden the nation’s leadership base.

Debate is Making a Comeback:

It’s not just the upcoming presidential race that has debate on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Across the country, in cities, suburbs, movies, books (even the Tony Danza Show), the importance of and need for debate is being recognized by more and more people. Here’s a glimpse of recently arrived and coming attractions:

• Joe Miller’s award-winning book "Cross-Ex," published in late 2006 by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, will soon be arriving in paperback.
• Denzel Washington directed and stars in The Great Debaters, alongside Forrest Whitaker, premiering in December 2007 (to garner awards consideration). Be sure to check out TheGreatDebaters.org, an NAUDL site about debate and the film.
• The comedic film Rocket Science, about a high school debater, debuted to critical acclaim in fall 2007.
• Two documentaries titled "Resolved," about Urban Debate teams, will be distributed in 2008, and have been covered favorably by National Public Radio.