Chip Dickerson '06 Builds Debate Successes

In the intense and challenging world of competitive intercollegiate debate, Frank "Chip" Dickerson '06 has swept major awards at more than half of the national invitational tournaments this year, placing him among just a few who consistently receive top honors at multiple competitions.
With debate partner Allison Westfahl '07, the pair won the Southwest regional championship in December. Dickerson additionally has been the top individual speaker at the three most competitive national invitational tournaments this year, placing ahead of hundreds of college students from institutions such as Northwestern, Grinnell, U.C. Berkeley, Rice, and Notre Dame.
"It is remarkable for a student to win a top individual speaking award at a single national invitational tournament," says John Meany, CMC's director of forensics. "To do that four times clearly marks him as one of the best debaters in the United States in the past several years."
The successes have been rapid since Dickerson, as a freshman, joined the ranks of The Claremont College Debate Union, a five-college program centered at CMC and the nation's largest debating society. More than 100 students participate in competitive, professional, public, and outreach programming each year. In 2005-2006, students will attend more than 40 tournaments in the United States and abroad.
Dickerson was a high school student in Winnetka, Ill., when he first looked to debate for intellectual challenge. Although his training as a teenager was not in the same format used in most intercollegiate debate tournaments, he was a quick study, and became an early force in the Debate Union's growing successes. During his first three years, he contributed to the Union's finishing in the top five in the nation. He also has won multiple team and individual awards at the national championship, including eighth place overall speaker in a field of more than 450 contestants last year.
Success at this level is achieved through considerable oral communication and critical thinking skills, Meany says. Championship debaters like Dickerson must appeal to a broad range of debate critics and address sophisticated arguments from talented and experienced opponents. In a single tournament, says Meany, a debater participates in as many as a dozen, hour-long debates for which neither the topic, nor the side for which the debater will present, is revealed until minutes before a match. "Chip's consistent excellence reveals a profound understanding of political, economic, and social events and the ability to communicate ideas more effectively than other highly trained contestants," Meany says. The New York Times has become an admittedly invaluable tool for Dickerson's preparation, while tuning in to political blogs provides him "a greater depth of analysis and sometimes better access to breaking news," the CMCer says.
Something he always does, too, when walking in for a debate round, is consult with partner Allison Westfahl. "She is brilliant," Dickerson says, "and always ready to help me out of an argumentative jam. She is the good cop to my bad cop, and absolutely essential to our success as a team."
Meany meanwhile calls his star debater an extraordinarily generous person.
"Chip contributes to the success of all of our debate teams through his leadership in peer mentoring and novice debate instruction. He is always eager to share his considerable knowledge of public speaking and argumentation with others."