Jayhawk Debate Institute and its camps

The Jayhawk Debate Institute prides itself on providing exceptional preparation to its students on the upcoming high school debate topic. We do for each of the sessions we offer through several methods.

Topic Lectures: Topic lectures will provide students with an intensive introduction to the topic. Affirmative cases areas and negative approaches to the topic will be discussed.

Debate Theory: Classes emphasize debate theory, case construction, strategy, and refutation. Students will be placed in labs with other students at their level to maximize the educational experience.

Libraries: One of the most valuable aspects of attending the KU Institute is the opportunity to do research in the multimillion volume KU Library system. This includes the main library, a full Federal Documents Depository, as well as the KU law, science, and engineering libraries. Holdings at the KU libraries include more than 650,000 government documents, over 32,000 serials, 2.89 million microforms, and book holdings upwards of 3.3 million volumes.

Evidence: Participants will be provided with extensive affirmative and negative evidence during the camp. Each debater should leave with several affirmative cases and multiple negative strategies. Last year's participants each took home more than 600 pages of evidence.

Practice Debates and Tournament: We will provide students with extensive opportunities to refine their debate skills through numerous practice debates and speeches as well as providing the competitive experience of a tournament at the end of each session.

The Camps at the JDI

The Jayhawk Debate Institute realizes that debate is not a "one institute fits all" activity. For this reason, the JDI offers three different possible experiences for a student. Whether you are a novice debater looking to get some experience before the start of the season or a senior wanting a longer, more in-depth camp, the Jayhawk Debate Institute is the camp for you.

Two-week Policy Debate Division

The two-week camp will offer labs in the advanced and intermediate divisions. The advanced division is for experienced high school debaters. Students are exposed to advanced theory and work intensively on developing in-depth approaches to the topic. The intermediate division is for students with some experience who seek to improve upon their basic skills and to begin investigating more advanced theoretical concepts. All students are placed into both topic and generic research labs. A tournament concludes the two-week camp. This year’s policy division will be limited to 96 students.

Three-week Extended Policy Debate Institute

The most advanced workshop offered by the Jayhawk Debate Institute. The three-week session is for advanced high school debaters. Students will receive extensive assistance in research, argument construction, and debate skills; participate in tournaments; and receive special instruction in advanced debate theory. The Extended Debate Institute will be directed by Dr. Scott Harris. Jayhawk Extended Debate Institute students should expect to participate in ten tournament-style practice rounds during the institute as well as numerous, individualized practice sessions. Students participating in this session should expect to be doing a great deal of original research during their stay at the institute. A tournament concludes the three-week-camp. This years JDI will be limited to 64 students. Get your applications in early.

Coaches' Workshop

This two-day workshop will provide coaches with an in-depth exploration of this year's policy debate topic. The workshop will include the material from the topic lectures, presented in an open-discussion format. The workshop's reasonable fee of $50 matches our expenses in hosting, and does not include housing. It does include lunch both days, a parking pass, and some topic handouts. Although our tight dormatory situation for the camp makes offering room and board difficult, coaches are welcome to contact us close to the session if non-hotel housing is desired.