University of Vermont - The Lawrence Debate Union

The Lawrence Debate Union

The university's debate team, which competes in both the American Policy Debate and British Parliamentary debate formats, is one of the oldest organizations on campus, and receives funding from a private grant. The Lawrence Debate Union has sent students abroad to promote cultural understanding. In 2007, students traveled to Slovenia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The school has also sent students to the World University Debating Championship held in Ireland, Turkey, and Botswana, breaking into elimination rounds in the 2011 World University Debating Championship. Domestically, the LDU has also won the title for Northeast Universities Debating Sweepstakes champion for the past four years. The program is currently ranked seventh in the top schools for British Parliamentary debate in the world, and is the third ranked American university on the list, behind only Yale and Cornell. It encourages participation of all interested UVM students, and sponsors public debates at UVM and for the Burlington community.