National Educational Debate Association - History

History

NEDA began in the fall of 1994 at the Central States Communication Association convention in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. About thirty debate educators and their institutions left the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) because they felt CEDA tournaments were no longer conducive to the audience-centered debate to which they were philosophically committed and desired to teach their students. The resulting organization was co-founded by Gary Horn, professor at Ferris State University, and Larry Underberg, then a professor at the University of South Dakota. There were quickly nineteen other founding members of the association. In 1999, the Western division of NEDA became the Great Plains Forensic Conference.