<p>I prefer LACs, but I've noticed they tend to be overwhelmingly liberal. Can anyone think of an LAC or comparable institution where there are diversity of viewpoints. Also, any info regarding schools with good debate would be appreciated also.</p>
<p>Northwestern's debating team is awesome. NU is also not <em>overwhelmingly</em> liberal, although like any top college there are definitely going to be more Dems on campus than Republicans.</p>
<p>thanks, lilybloom</p>
<p>Look into Dartmouth, it's certainly less "overwhelmingly liberal" than its peers, and feels very LAC-like.</p>
<p>i hear emory debate is also pretty good. their page says that their team has been #1 since 97 (?)
<a href="http://www.college.emory.edu/about/facts.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.college.emory.edu/about/facts.html</a></p>
<p>UMich also won a lot of championships i think</p>
<p>Northwestern’s program is the oldest in the country. It also has won the most championships in it league. Northwestern is, however, not a LAC by far.</p>
<p>thanks everybody
any opinions on amherst, williams, haverford?</p>
<p>Dartmouth</p>
<p>Haverford has quite a bit of debate too. Amherst is a little less.</p>
<p>passion, At Williams you would definitely find a diversity of viewpoints. Like all Eastern LACs the faculty and administration are generally personally liberal, but they do seem to try to give reasonably fair -- if not exactly equal -- time and space to instructors and speakers who lean to the right. Same with the student body; they are ready to listen to both sides. I don't know much about debate, per se, at Williams but I can tell you that arguing is a serious passtime. :)</p>
<p>My impression of Haverford is that the ambience, though respectful, is overwhelmingly liberal. Amherst is difficult to characterize. The current administration seems to be taking the school farther left than its heritage or even its student body.</p>
<p>Other LACs that I would put in the middle-road category would be Hamilton, Kenyon, Skidmore, Conn College.</p>
<p>georgetown has the oldlest college debating group in the nation</p>
<p>"georgetown has the oldlest college debating group in the nation"</p>
<p>-Whate does this mean?</p>
<p>Cornell's ILR school. </p>
<p>Cornell University as a whole has a slew of debate teams of various sorts, but the ILR curriculum is heavily focused on debate. Consider this if you're interested in </p>
<p>Cornell is a big school, though the ILR school inside of the University is not (around 900 students). You'll be in a close knit school with all of the resources of a large research-based Ivy League University. </p>
<p>Zoom through this page for info:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/admissions/%5B/url%5D">http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/admissions/</a></p>
<p>This is, of course, assuming you're interested in doing something with debate beyond just a random hobby in college.</p>
<p>I don’t think any of the top debating schools will be just a random hobby. My friends on the debate team spend many, many hours working on their craft; it’s a large part of their college experience.</p>
<p>If Georgetown had the first college debate squad in the country, whom did they debate until the second debate squad in the country was formed?</p>
<p>There is a huge variety of types of college debate and leagues in which it takes place, so any claim that any one school is "the best in the country" ought to be qualified by at least some modifier...or otherwise taken with a large grain of salt.</p>
<p>The league in which I debate, APDA, uses the parliamentary format and comprises most of the private colleges and universities on the East Coast, plus a few outliers like Chicago and Stanford. In this league at least, Yale and Princeton are considered the best and Georgetown has not even had a team for some time.</p>
<p>Now I don’t know if this is like the college newspaper argument wherein many schools claim to have the “first” in some way or another, but I’m pretty sure Northwestern has the first debate program. It’s also the best in its league.</p>
<p>maybe i'm crazy, but I always considered my work on debate teams to be hobbies. Yes, I put many hours of hard work into them, but it was more because I was having a great time doing something I enjoy. I didn't get paid, but it was alot of fun. I always considered it just a hobby on top of school. Luckily, my major (ILR, as brought up before) allows me to devote alot of time to debate in the classroom so I can use my time out of class to pursuit other interests and hobbies that I like.</p>
<p>lol, tourguide does have a good point. </p>
<p>How can you have a first debate team? </p>
<p>I bet you guys were undefeated that faithful first season!</p>
<p>Northwestern's debate team is most likely to be the policy debate team. It's well renowned.</p>
<p>and policy debate will be no hobby but a way of life, if you want to have any success. Many top debaters can spend 40 hours a week researching and working on debate</p>