Debate trains students to communicate and engage with a wide variety of ideas in a winsome way. Students at Patrick Henry College compete in two styles of debate that is British Parliamentary and Civic Debate. They have traveled throughout the world for debate competitions. More than any other forensic activity at Patrick Henry College, Debate makes students to think classically as understand and respond to social, political and cultural ideologies. Debate provides a chance for the students to develop their professional and leadership skills to lead the nation in the future.

The civic debate is a research-oriented competition that provides students with favourable circumstances to contribute policy solutions for a global civic society and develop professional presentation and leadership skills. Intercollegiate debate tournaments are held by the Civic Debate Conference with a motive to engage with leaders on social justice and religious freedom issues, U.S. and European Union issues, and another cutting edge domestic and international issues. Patrick Henry College students have debated in front of qualified experts, including Ambassadors at the European Union and French Embassies in Washington, DC, and civil rights leaders at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Patrick Henry College students are frequently complimented for their whole preparation, excellent presentation skills, and their impressive speaking style. 

Although Patrick Henry College’s forensics teams have performed very well in recent years, yet the team’s leadership felt led to explore other leagues that rewarded a debate-style experience with Patrick Henry College’s institutional ideology, with sharper competition and argumentation. What they discovered was the World Universities Debating in the form of Union British Parliamentary style debate. While competing at the 2013 World Universities Debating Championships in Berlin, beating two teams from Cambridge and one from Dublin, Patrick Henry College’s Rhetoric Professor and Director of Debate Dr. Jim Tallmon was almost beside himself. He said that it’s now easy to finish within the top ten percent of teams in the world. He said that the experience of Berlin confirmed them that this is the place where they want to be and by God’s grace, they have the virtue to be competitive in this international league. To add, Blake Meadows a debater says that The World Championship was a pleasant experience both from a competitive overview as well as for the cultural dialogue. It was not just a chance to debate but an opportunity to influence the cultural conversation that is ongoing between the best and brightest people around the world.

International League

A junior student assistant coach, John Ehrett said that it was a very long journey to find such a good league that best augments Patrick Henry College’s ideals. So, to get things to the next level, we have to continue engaging with the world’s top debaters on the international stage. There is no better platform than Worlds Debate to lead the nation and re-shape the culture. International travel is one of the best ways to accomplish that Worlds Debate is a global debating league that lays emphasis on the wide knowledge of current events, quick wit, and rhetorical skills. It demands the best students from the best universities in the world, including many Ivy League schools, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, Limerick, and schools from Australia, Asia, Africa, India, and the Americas. Patrick Henry College’s debaters took part in debate competitions in Toronto, Oxford, Cambridge, and Berlin.

Patrick Henry College Debate has been able to successfully engage the culture of ideas and perspectives that the British Parliament represents. This venue of debate is an incredible cultural chance both to employ the ideas of others and to represent your own ideas. Before the Oxford and Cambridge tournaments, Patrick Henry College debate alumni helped current students to prepare. Isaiah McPeak, a former Patrick Henry College coach, and debater said that many Ivy League schools avoid quality debate leagues.