Trinity Debate

The Trinity Debate Team competes in intercollegiate NDT-CEDA Policy Debate. Debate at Trinity has a long and vigorous history.

Housed in Human Communication and Theatre department at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, we are a nationally competitive squad with diverse argumentative interests. In 1908, Trinity began debate with two clubs, The Trinity University Debating Club and the Bryan Dialectician club. By 1912, the Texas Inter-Collegiate Debating League was organized with Trinity, Southwestern University, and T

exas Christian University. Trinity also cultivated a hearty debating culture within the University, with regular and fierce debates between the Philosophronian and Ratio-Genic literary societies. Trinity's Debating League became a formidable opponent in matches throughout the state until 1950, with Trinity hosting many of the tournaments. In the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, Trinity hosted the Trinity University High School Speech Festival, directed by Frances Swinny, which brought some of the state's best high school debaters to Trinity. Trinity also maintained a modest team that debated university teams in the area. With George Grice's arrival at Trinity in 1974, Trinity began to make a name for itself on the national debating scene. In 1977, Trinity's final CEDA rank was 15th and they maintained a CEDA ranking within the top 25 schools nationally for ten years. In 1980, Trinity was considered to have one of the top five debating teams in the country and finished the season with an 11th place CEDA ranking. They were ranked 11th again at the CEDA tournament in 1986 under the leadership of professor Hardy-Short. With professor Frank Harrison's arrival in 1988, speech activities at Trinity concentrated on policy debate, an orientation we maintain today. Harrison was a final round participant at the 1961 National Debate Tournament for King's College and ultimately placed third. During Harrison's tenure, Trinity teams reached the elimination rounds and frequently won their division in every major tournament in the country. He consistently qualified teams for the National Debate Tournament (including a 1994 sweet sixteen performance) and for the elimination rounds of the American Debate Association (including varsity and junior varsity championship teams). Harrison was one of the founders of the American Debate Association and, in 1991, hosted the National Debate Tournament at Trinity. After Harrison's retirement, professor Jarrod Atchison's and then Sarah Topp continued Trinity's tradition of excellence. The 2010 team won the Naval Academy championship and made a Sweet Sixteen NDT performance. Atchison also inaugurated public debates on campus and established an ongoing relationship with the Houston UDL. Topp's program was consistently ranked in the top 25 in the country, winning several tournaments, having many teams advance into the late elimination rounds of a variety of national tournaments, and qualifying two teams for the 2011 and 2012 NDT tournaments. Under the new leadership of William Mosley-Jensen, Trinity Debate looks forward to a bright future. Mosley-Jensen has resuscitated the tradition of holding an annual retreat in the hill country for the team to hone their arguments and perfect their debating skills. Under his direction Trinity attended a prestigious invitation only tournament in the Fall at Weber State University, and finished in the top 25 for the 2014-2015 competitive season. Meet the Coaches

William Mosley-Jensen is the director of debate at Trinity. As a debater at the University of Wyoming, Will qualified for the National Debate Tournament all four years and was one of the first Wyoming teams to compete in elimination rounds in nearly 30 years. Prior to joining Trinity he held a Graduate Assistant Coaching position at the University of Georgia while completing his Ph.D. Collin Roark is the assistant director of debate at Trinity. While at the University of Texas-Dallas Collin was a first-round debater and competed in the elimination rounds at the National Debate Tournament. Prior to joining Trinity he was a Graduate Assistant Coach at the University of North Texas, where he completed his M.A.

09/25/2025

Hello Tigers! We are in the midst of the 1869 Challenge-- Trinity's annual giving drive!

Trinity debate is currently ranked 14th in the US by the Cross Examination Debate Association. We recruited a record number of students to debate for us this year and are excited about the prospect for even greater success as the season progresses. Unfortunately, we are severely constrained by our budget realities.

In 2020, Trinity debate lost 23% of our overall budget due to COVID restrictions that affected all departments. The team is still under that restricted budgetary environment. Given the rate of inflation and escalating travel costs, we are operating with roughly 60% of the funding level from 2004. To completely make up the difference would require around $22,000.

Travel funds are vitally important to debate success and your contribution would make an incredible difference for our team. It means traveling more students, to more tournaments, and reaching even higher levels of competitive success.

Thank you for all of the support over the years. Trinity Debate is made better by the community of which we are a part!

https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/63799/donations/new?designation=debateactivitiesfund&

04/20/2025

Trinity Defeats Harvard at the National Debate Tournament!! Strong finish for the Tigers, as Brooklyn and Ruth ended their season ranked 37th in the entire US!

Congratulations to Brooklyn King ’27 and Ruth Patterson ’26 for making their mark on the national stage! The Trinity Debate duo placed 37th at the National Debate Tournament, with wins over Harvard, Oklahoma, and more. They finished the season ranked 2nd in their district, ahead of teams from programs like UT-Austin and Baylor.

09/24/2024

I would like to thank everyone who has generously supported the team over the past year! We wouldn't be able to travel to tournaments and achieve the success that we do without your help.

Tomorrow begins the 1869 challenge, starting at 4:50 pm CDT. The link to give is here: https://givingday.trinity.edu/giving-day/93339/donate, and if you find that you wish to continue your very generous support for the program, you should select "other student activities" under the department or program, and "debate" under the fund designation.

1869 Challenge FY 24-25 | Donate Giving Day Powered by ScaleFunder

04/13/2024

Trinity Debate finished the National Debate Tournament (NDT) ranked 32nd overall!! Jack Moore (Senior - Political Science) and Brooklyn King (first-year) finished 4-4 with 14 ballots, narrowly missing elimination rounds. Ruth Patterson (Sophomore - Classical Languages, Art History) and William Walker (Sophomore - Sociology, Education) finished 3-5 with 9 ballots. Go Tigers!!!

02/29/2024

Trinity Debate has qualified two teams to the National Debate Tournament (NDT)!! Senior Jack Moore & First-year Brooklyn King and Sophomores Ruth Patterson & William Walker were the 4th and 5th seeds out of District 3. Avery was a huge help over the weekend with research and pre-round prep, thanks Avery!!

Jack was also recognized as the Top Speaker at the qualifying tournament!! Go Tigers!!

09/27/2023

Today begins the 1869 Challenge-- Trinity's annual giving drive! We started the drive a few minutes ago, and it runs for the next 24 hours. This is a great way to support the Trinity Debate Team!

As I'm sure you are aware, travel funds are key for debate success; and your gift, of any amount, is going to make an incredible difference for our team. It means traveling more students, to more tournaments, and reaching even higher levels of competitive success.

Please follow this link and give to the Trinity Debate Team: https://givingday.trinity.edu/giving-day/78145/donate?des=407405&dept=78152

04/03/2022

Trinity Kenny Nelson and Jack Moore are debating Baylor MN in round the 7th at the National Debate Tournament!! Both teams are 3-3, so this is a big debate!!

11/08/2021

Winning Arguments Trinity Debate program provides strong opportunities for incoming first years

08/17/2020

Incredibly excited to announce that Nathan Rothenbaum will be rejoining Trinity Debate as the Assistant Director!!! Nathan (along with his partner Maggie) was ranked 18th overall his senior year at Trinity, and the team is looking forward to having him back as a coach.

02/10/2020

Congratulations to Ian Dill and Ansh Khullar on earning a first-round bid to the NDT!!! This is the first time in the history of tiger debate that a Trinity team has been recognized for such an honor!!!

11/05/2019

After three days of grueling debates, Ansh Khullar and Ian Dill ended the Harvard tournament in the top 16!!! They defeated notable teams from the University of Georgia, Michigan State, the University of Michigan, and the University of Pittsburgh before being defeated in the round of 16 by the University of California - Berkeley. Congratulations!!!

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Telephone

+12109998582

Website

https://new.trinity.edu/academics/departments/human-communication-and-theatre/human-communication/debate

Address

1 Trinity Place
San Antonio, TX
78212