Hawaii Pan Pacific Championship Results

Aloha colleagues,
The Hawaii Pacific University Sea Warrior Debate Society hosted the second annual Pan Pacific Championship Debate Tournament, October 18-19 at the Hawaii Loa Campus. Twenty debate teams representing 10 universities from Hawaii and the mainland competed in World style debate for the title of Pan Pacific Champions of debate! Rocky Mountain College (Katie Berst and Allison Reidmohr) won the overall Championship title and a team from Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) (Craig Ursuy and Cody Corcelius) won the title of the overall best team from Hawaii.

This year the tournament featured topics on democracy in Zimbabwe, protecting ocean resources, women in international peace negotiations, selling human organs for profit, expanding NATO and the financial bailout.

Teams from the Claremont Colleges (Claremont, CA), Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles, CA) Northwest University (Kirkland, WA) and Rocky Mountain College (Billings, MT) reached the grand final round held at the Kalama Beach House in Kailua, HI and debated on whether the Israeli-Palestinian crisis could be solved without violence. Before the final round, teams were treated to Hawaiian style BBQ on the beach and a Hula presentation performed by award-winning HPU students from the Hawaiian Culture Club. Other institutions represented at the tournament were Portland State University, Reed University, California State University San Bernardino, Linfield College, and the University of Hawaii.

Next year’s Pan Pacific Championship will tentatively held next Oct. 9-11. See you next year in paradise!

Mahalo!
Rose Helens-Hart
Director of Debate
Hawaii Pacific University