The Chicago Debate Society is the official parliamentary debate team of the University of Chicago.
Who Are We?
#1 Club in the US
In 2022-2023, CDS won the title of the #1 Club of the Year as well as the #1 Team of the Year and #1 Speaker of the Year in American parliamentary debate.
2023 APDA National Champions
UChicago championed APDA Nationals in 2023, in addition to placing 4 of our teams in the top 16 breaking teams at the tournament.
What We Do
The Chicago Debate Society is the University of Chicago's debate team. We're a registered academic organization that competes in the American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA) circuit as well as in British Parliamentary (BP) Debate.
As one of the oldest student organizations at the University, we play an important role in stimulating debate on campus. Through volunteering and public debates, we aim to teach discourse skills throughout the UChicago campus and Hyde Park area.
Grow As A Debater
Anyone can improve their debating skills! Our weekly meetings consist of practice rounds, drills, and seminars that teach debate style and argumentation. We send teams to tournaments almost every weekend throughout the school year.
We choose not to have a selective application process; there are no cuts. Still, we are one of the most competitively successful teams on the league! Last school year, we ended the APDA season as the best debate team in the country!
Get Involved
CDS has always been a tight-knit, supportive group. We welcome members of all experience levels to join the team. Our team not only attends tournaments hosted by other colleges across the country, but we also get the UChicago campus as a whole involved in debate.
We host tournaments, including the Langfan Constitutional Tournament, and hold public debates at least once a quarter, which often feature prominent figures in the topic that we are debating.