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Welcome to Cal Debate
A component of the Center for Student Leadership

Cal Debate has won the Copeland Award 3 times in the past 7 years and is led by Coaches Dave Arnett and Greg Achten. Committed to personal leadership development and competitive debate skills, Cal Debate’s tournament track record for the past 10 years is unrivaled.

The Cal Debate team is arguably one of the top competitive policy debate programs in the nation and competes against over 150 teams nationwide. Team members are top academic performers and have historically moved on to leadership roles in business, government, the judiciary, law, education and more!

Cal Debate team members engage in a leadership development process as they study the art of effective communication, find common team purpose and explore methods of collaboration.  Team members begin the year with a retreat to develop trust with the goal of enhancing their talents and growing their debate skills.

Cal Debate members also participate in a leadership assessment guided by the Social Change Model of Leadership and the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership, which guides debate coaches to develop not only top debaters in the country, but outstanding citizen leaders.

If you are a high school debater and are interested in the Cal Debate Program, contact us to find out more about our recruitment and intake process.

Note: Cal Debate is highly competitive and requires a high degree of commitment. If you are a current high school student or current Cal student looking to stay connected, or are interested in other forms of debate, UC Berkeley is also home to many debate-centered student organizations. To find these organizations, go to the Student Organization Search Page  and enter related keywords.