High School Outreach / Summer Institute
The University of Richmond Debate Team offers an intense advocacy program unlike any other in the country. The team believes in prioritizing education and is dedicated to providing students with maximum opportunity to actualize their knowledge of and passion for debate by bringing them together with nationally recognized debate instructors in an intimate, small group-learning environment.
Learning the skills of policy debate means learning how to advocate arguments. Speech and debate are not only indispensable to critical thinking but central to public policy and public discourse. Beginning before Plato and Aristotle and continuing through the deliberations of the present day, debate is a communicative process that teaches ethical citizenship and a radically participatory democracy. Being able to conduct research and express an argument are essential parts of one's progress as an individual.
The University of Richmond National Debate Institute
Students attending the policy debate institute of the University of Richmond Summer Scholars (URNDI), an intense research and debate workshop, work with two professors of rhetoric (both national champion debaters) and members of the nationally competitive Richmond Debate Team. Dr. Kevin Kuswa directs the Richmond Debate Team and has been teaching debate for almost twenty years. He is joined by Professor Kelly Congdon in his third year at the University who has coached many policy debate programs, including at Georgetown High School and the University of Pittsburgh.
High school students attending URNDI can learn more about Richmond's debate program via the program's fact sheet. For specific information about attending the University of Richmond, students should contact the Office of Admissions.
