Debate Education

For Tomorrow’s Collaborative Community Leaders

For decades, competitive debate has been a launchpad for academic achievement and professional success, helping students cultivate skills like critical thinking, public speaking, and strategic reasoning.

Now the world is changing in unpredictable ways, and traditional debate education—anchored in zero-sum competition and inherited hierarchies—no longer reflects the full spectrum of how we learn, lead, and connect today.

At CoLab Debate, we see debate as a space not only for argument and individual achievement but for inquiry, teamwork, and principled engagement with the world beyond the classroom.

Our Summer Institute for Debate and Advocacy (SIDA) invites students into the world of community advocacy by teaching core speech and debate skills alongside key organizing skills like coalition building, media literacy and strategy, and conflict resolution.

At SIDA, CoLab Debate will unlock new pathways to success for students who want to make as big of an impact on the world as they make at debate tournaments.

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About CoLab Debate Programs

Summer Institute for Debate & Advocacy

At our innovative new summer debate institute, students develop their competitive speech and debate skills while learning to use those skills to collaborate, influence change, navigate conflict, design and operate campaigns and events, and lead with purpose.

In July 2026, CoLab Debate will host the first Summer Institute for Advocacy and Debate at Lewis & Clark College. Scholarships available.

Apply now!

Seminars & Workshops

Our approach to education is fundamentally collaborative and committed to accessibility. We know not all debaters can travel to a camp, and not all teams have the resources to host our workshops. We aim to make our curriculum easy to access, because when debaters gain the transferrable skills they need to become collaborative community leaders we all win.

You can bring CoLab Debate’s innovative curriculum to your own team. We have a menu of seminars and workshops that can be customized to your needs and presented virtually or in-person in your classroom. 

Book Now!

Publications

We use our platform to shine a spotlight on the historical and contemporary accomplishments of community organizers, public interest advocates, and innovative educators. 

Our publications help debaters draw connections between debate resolutions and the important work being done to address those issues in communities today.

Check out our publications page, featuring CoLab’s original articles, interviews, and more.

Service Opportunities

Are you interested in making the world, or just the world of debate, a better place? We have countless opportunities for volunteers. If you have skills to share—such as research, grant writing, graphic design, marketing, fundraising, and more—we’d love to work with you. Email CoLab’s Executive Director at emily@colabdebate.org and let us know how you think you might be able to help!

Public Forums

Sometimes great change results from a single conversation. We want to start those conversations. In our public forums, CoLab Debate brings together  brilliant subject matter experts (who also happen to be debate alumni), and asks them tough questions about the issues and controversies most salient to the debate and advocacy communities today. 

These virtual roundtables are streamed live via our social media channels, and then archived on our YouTube Channel to view any time.

Resources for Educators

Beginning later in 2026, CoLab will release a collection of resources to support debaters and debate coaches. These resources will help debaters and coaches align their approach to debate with the community-minded approach that is central to CoLab Debate’s mission.

Examples of resources coming soon

  • Campus Debate Kits

  • How Trauma Affects Advocacy

  • AI and Ethical Debate

FAQs

  • Imagine students:

    • Debating local solutions, not just federal policy, empowering students to envision and create meaningful change within their own communities

    • Developing skills like strategic cooperation and conflict resolution through a collaborative approach to competitive debate

    • Studying both traditional and contemporary forms of advocacy, in a space that values innovation and unconventional perspectives

    • Researching strategies for effective public communication, both historical and recent

    • Learning from and networking with effective contemporary organizers, including community and campaign leaders, public interest lawyers, and local elected officials

  • Our curriculum draws from diverse sources, including:

    • Kate Shuster's work on debate education, civic participation, and historical literacy

    • The participatory theater of Augusto Boal

    • Shanara Reid-Brinkley's scholarly work on debate, representation, and empowerment in academic spaces

    • The work of Baltimore’s Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, redefining public policy with a focus on community empowerment

    • The groundbreaking work of Gordon Mitchell, a CoLab advisor, on debate as a forum of community engagement

    • Alfred "Tuna" Snider's lifelong work expanding debate to new communities

    • CoLab advisor Lindsey Cormack's efforts to promote political dialogue among youth

    • The grassroots organizing strategies of groups like Right to the City, Dakota Rural Action, the Sunrise Movement, and others

  • Check out our SIDA 2026 page, and use the form on that page (or email emily@colabdebate.org) for more information.

  • There are countless ways you can join the pod. Here are a few:

    • Share information about CoLab Debate in your network

    • Donate to our Startup Campaign or set up a recurring donation

    • Endow a SIDA scholarship

    • Sign up for your employer’s donation matching program

    • Connect us with a business interested in corporate giving or in kind donations

    • Host a house party fundraiser

    • Apply to serve on our Advisory Board

    • Volunteer your skills (e.g., redesign our website, write a grant application, or assist us with social media)

    • Make an in kind contribution (e.g., donate a printer)

    • Connect us with other people who will do any of the above

    • Let us know if you have more ideas!

  • Oregon, home of CoLab Debate, is well known for its active pods of orcas. Orcas are highly intelligent and cooperative animals. They live collectively in pods, coordinate hunting tactics, and pass down knowledge and strategic insight to their young. We can’t imagine a better mascot for CoLab Debate!