BCDL Debate Manual
WOOD-RIDGE JUNIOR SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL BERGEN COUNTY DEBATE LEAGUE SCHEDULE Season 2015-2016
COACH: Mrs. Gaven
EMAIL: OOGLE VOICE: # 201-304-1546
Special Events:
Tuesday, September 29th-Baylor Debate Clinic @ Dumont High School
- We leave @3:00pm and will be back @8:30pm! Cost is 25.00-covers affirmative briefs and lecture on how to tackle this year’s resolved!!!! Bring money for pizza dinner!
Varsity Debate Schedule - during school day
We leave school between 7:45am - 8:15am and return around 2:35pm
- Friday, October 16th @ Tenafly, 9:35 am
- Friday, October 30th @ Dwight Englewood, 9:05am
- Friday, November 13th @ WOOD-RIDGE, 9:35am
- Friday, December 4th @ River Dell, 8:50 am
- Friday, January 8th @ Ridgefield Park, 8:45 am
- Friday, January 29th @ Bergen Academies, 9:00 am
- Thursday, February 25th @ Bergen Academies, 9:00 am
Varsity Championships will be Tuesday, April 19th @ Tenafly High School- 9:00 AM-4:00PM
(Our best team and three judges will compete!!!)
Junior Varsity Debates - all start at 4:00pm
We leave at 3:00pm and return around 6:30pm
- Wednesday, October 21st @ Bergenfield
- Tuesday, November 17th @ Leonia
- Tuesday, December 8th@ Bergen Academies
- Monday, January 11th@ Tenafly
- Wednesday, February 3rd@ Bergen Academies
- Tuesday, February 23rd @ WOOD-RIDGE
- Wednesday, March 16th@ Becton
JV Championship is Thursday, April 21st! @ Holy Angels Academy @3:30 pm-7:30pm
2015-16 NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
POLICY DEBATE TOPIC
SURVEILLANCE
Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially curtail its domestic surveillance.
The controversy between national security objectives and privacy became a hot one for debate since it was disclosed in June of 2013 by former defense contractor Edward Snowden (supported by journalist and former debater Glenn Greenwald) that the NSA is engaging in extensive surveillance inside the United States in order to fight crime and reduce the threat of terrorism. The magnitude of the disclosure shocked many people, including elected representatives, who were unaware of the extent of the surveillance. Many civil rights advocates view the surveillance as an assault on liberty while law enforcement and national security officials see the programs as essential weapons in the war on terror, the fight against nuclear weapons proliferation and the general protection of U.S. national security. Possible affirmative cases include establishing general probable cause and reasonable suspicion requirements, banning the collection of metadata, restricting the collection of email or chat content, limiting the amount of time that information can be stored for, elimination of Section 215 of the Patriot Act and FISA Court reforms as they apply to the domestic arena. Advantages will focus on privacy, totalitarianism, commerce and racism. Negative positions can focus on terrorism, nuclear proliferation, crime and kritiks of reform-based approaches.