Response to "Debate team budget reduced..."

Dear ______

We are the students of the SSIR Debate Program. We joined this program rather skeptical, and rather tentatively. None of us had debated Policy Debate before, so we really did not know what we were getting ourselves into. However, it only took one class with Dr. Kevin Kuswa for all of us to discover what debate entailed. Debate encompasses the fundamental skills any liberal arts university strives to teach -- how to conduct comprehensive research, develop public speaking abilities, hone our faculties of critical and analytical thinking, as well as teamwork. With hardly a semester of debate classes under our belts, we all feel that we have developed these academic skills in a manner that is not offered in any other class. Dr. Kuswa's enthusiasm has continually kept us excited and has piqued our interests in debate. Dr. Kuswa's extensive knowledge and impeccable teaching skills have taught us to become debaters, as well as more well-rounded students.

Debate requires one to develop and sharpen a wide array of scholarly skills. We are learning how to research and effectively apply research to form arguments -- a practical and necessary skill in academia. Furthermore, we are learning to speak publicly and purposefully -- a skill other classes here at the University of Richmond do not foster. We are learning how to think logically, rationally and deductively. We all agree that these skills have benefited us in our other academic endeavors.

We do not understand how such a rich and purely academic program could be let go. We came to the University of Richmond for many reasons, but the foremost of these reasons was due to the fact that it is an institution that is highly respected for its academic prestige. We are saddened to find that the recent decision to terminate the debate program at the University of Richmond is not what we thought. The University of Richmond has recently advertised Division I academics, naming the debate program as one of its proponents. The quality of UR's academics is marred if extracurricular programs that reflect our student's knowledge and academic skills do not exist.

Yes, we know that technically speaking the program is not "cut." However, in reality, the funding will be cut substantially, meaning the most vital resource of the debate team, Kevin Kuswa, will be dismissed. As students who are not on the debate team, but simply in the class, we are angered and perplexed with this decision. We ask that you realize that a Policy Debate team (or a Parliamentary Debate team) will not succeed without a faculty leader. Furthermore, after just a semester with Dr. Kuswa, we know that there is no other person who could maintain this program with such enthusiasm and skill.

Dr. Kevin Kuswa is not only the most knowledgeable, but the most caring teacher this school could hope to hire. If the University of Richmond dismisses him, the debate program will surely suffer a detrimental loss. Why? Because he is the only person who can motivate students so that they consistently participate and join the team. Dr. Kuswa is so invested in his students and so excited about the purpose and significance of debate that he is crucial to this program to such an extent that the program would not survive without him.

Why can we not let the debate program die? Because the purpose and mission statement of an institution such as the University of Richmond is to put nothing else above what is academically best for its students; thus, it would be a mistake to watch the debate program deteriorate.

Letting Dr. Kuswa go and terminating the debate program will cause us, the SSIR, to lose faith in the values of this university.

Sincerely,

The Argumentation and Debate Living and Learning Program