Texas Committee Shines at CX Topic Selection Meeting
By Jana Riggins | Thursday, August 13, 2009 12:20 PM
Texas took the lead at the 2009 Cross-Examination Debate Topic Selection meeting held August 7-9. Although the meeting was held in Grand Island, New York, our state had the largest participating delegation, with four coaches and one student authoring study reports for topic consideration and four additional Texas delegates active in Marshall subcommittees.
Each year, the CX Topic Selection meeting is sponsored by the National Federation of High School Associations and hosted by the local site state association. Representatives from states throughout the nation participate in the selection process to produce topics, five of which are tapped for a national balloting.
Preparing study reports were UIL representatives Rachell Grant from Hallsville ISD, Matthew Murrell from Round Rock McNeil HS, Kenneth Rohrback from Three Rivers and Noah Abolafia-Rosenweig, student at Smithson Valley High School, assisted by his coach, Drake Mikeska. Other delegates included Chad Flisowski, Gay Hollis, and Aaron Timmons. I served on the Wording Committee and as the official voting delegate for Texas. Dr. Rich Edwards from Baylor University served as consultant to the committee.
By rule, this year’s topic considerations were international in scope. The committee considered eight topics including the areas of Latin America, North Korea/Iran, Southeast Asia, Russia, China, overseas military deployment, international drug trafficking and the United Nations.
Through a process lasting three days, topic papers containing research on a given problem area are studied and potential affirmative and negative cases discussed. Then specific resolutions are initially worded. The Wording Committee rigorously analyzes every word in each resolution draft to ensure a balanced and limited topic. Before the Topic Selection Committee’s work is done, the field is narrowed to five topics that are placed on a national ballot. Each state association then conducts voting.
Texas topics fared extremely well at this year’s meeting. Four advanced to the national ballot: Latin America, United Nations, Russia and China. The Leaguer will feature articles from each of the authors informing coaches of the timeliness and debatabiity of their well-researched topic areas. The full copy of their study reports delivered at the August meeting can be accessed from the National Federation Web site: www.nfhs.org.
Balloting will begin in September. Coaches will receive a ballot in the mail from UIL but may also access the ballot online. Online ballots are not interactive but must be downloaded and printed to secure official signatures from the debate coach and superintendent or approved administrator. Unsigned ballots or ballots missing appropriate signatures will not be counted.
The first ballot will ask coaches to rank the five topics in order of preference, with a rank of one being their top choice. Once those ballots are tallied nationally, the two topics receiving the lowest cumulative scores will advance to the final ballot. This ballot will be sent out from the League office in October and should be returned before winter break. The topic for 2010-2011 will be released in early January.
Watch the Leaguer for interesting discussions from the authors about their study of the problem areas. Next year’s topic selection meeting will be held in Deerfield, Illinois near Chicago. Contact the League office if you are interested in writing a study report and being a part of this fascinating process firsthand.