The Return of Debate Coach Greg Malis: A Forensics Renaissance

[FULL STORY]

After an absence of nine years, Greg Malis has returned to Newman to teach math and to lead the School's debate program. We caught up with Malis to hear his views on Newman's future in debate and what it's like to return to the School. Read on for the full interview.

What has it been like to be back at Newman?

In many ways, it’s as if I never left. A large number of the faculty that were my colleagues then are still my colleagues. Although the administration is largely new to me, their support for teachers’ academic freedom in designing lessons and curriculum as well as their confidence in what Newman students can achieve remains just as strong. It’s been nine years, but it doesn’t feel that way. Further, Newman has a feel about it. For example, I love the sound of the wood floor on the 2nd and 3rd floors of Saratoga. Not sure why it stands out, but even during the times I visited New Orleans after I left in 2002, I made sure to walk down those halls. I spent the last nine years teaching at my high school alma mater - at a school that I loved and knew well. However, Newman is home.

Briefly describe the national reputation that the Newman debate program has enjoyed in the past.

For much of the last 35 years, Newman has been one of the most recognized names in the country. Having won national championships in multiple forms of debate as well as more state and metro championships than one can count puts the school’s program in rarefied air. In 2000, the National Debate Coaches Association nominated nine schools in the US as “Team of the Decade” in policy debate. Newman was one of the nine. Simultaneously, the NDCA nominated ten schools in the US as “Team of the Decade” in Lincoln-Douglas debate. Newman was one of the ten. In fact, Newman was the ONLY school in the US to appear on both lists. It is a testament to hundreds of former Newman debaters. Although the honor was earned for the 1990s, it is also a credit to the debaters and coaches of the 1980s, 1970s, and earlier. The foundation for excellence was established long before.
 
What are some of the biggest opportunities you see for the debate program this year?

We are very young. For a number of reasons, there has been no policy debate at Newman since Katrina. One of our jobs as new coaches is to rebuild the policy debate program. Ideally, it will become what it was, but it’s a very long process. Even the returning debaters in other forms of debate have limited past experiences in debate, so the experienced students are still fairly inexperienced. Thus, there is tremendous opportunity to grow in every respect.

I also see it as a chance to “re-educate” the Newman community about the importance of forensics. Promoting our efforts within our own community will be critical to growing the team and maintaining the standard of excellence expected, especially by the Newman alumni reading this very answer.

What is your schedule for the year so we can keep up with the team?

We open Saturday, September 17, with a novice-level tournament at Vestavia Hills High School outside of Birmingham. The varsity will start the following weekend at Samford University in Birmingham as well. Virtually every weekend from September 17 through the end of March, someone on the team will be competing somewhere - in New Orleans or elsewhere in the state, region, or country. We plan on bringing some of the debaters to Apple Valley High School (Minnesota) and Glenbrook South/Glenbrook North High Schools (Illinois) in November. Our other national caliber competitions may be at Emory University in January and UC-Berkeley in February. Ideally, when the rebuilding process advances farther in subsequent years, we may add other tournaments that debate alumni may remember attending, such as Greenhill School (Texas) in September and St. Mark’s School (Texas) in October. We hope to finish any year with students participating at the National Tournament of Champions held annually in May at the University of Kentucky and the National Forensic League’s national speech/debate tournament in June, which will be in Indianapolis in 2012.

Most importantly for our alumni to know, the 33rd Newman Invitational Forensics Tournament will be held December 9-10. The tournament has shrunk in its size and stature in the post-Katrina years. We are thankful that despite its smaller size, the tournament only was cancelled the semester Newman closed due to the storm. Newman’s coaches and administration kept it going as best as they could. However, our goal is to rebuild that as well. I don’t know if it will ever return to its old apex - 80 schools from 15 different states with close to 100 entries in the debate events and close to 50 entries in each speech event, but we will try. If you want to help out in any way, let me know.

Why is debate important in today’s ever-changing landscape for students?

In theory, debate and forensics in general is no more important today than any other day. One of the great failings of schools throughout the country is not to support a forensics program of some kind. David Baker, former director of debate at St. Mark’s School in Dallas, refers to debate as “full contact social studies.” As big of a sports fan as I am and as big of a supporter of our student athletes, I think forensics gives students even more.

If there is a difference in today’s times, it’s due to the internet and the 24 hour news cycle on cable television. People are exposed to vast amounts of information and have immediate access to it. Debaters of old remember doing research in libraries using card catalogs and looking up periodicals in the Reader’s Guide. When I debated in high school, I actually read newspapers (on paper!) and cut out evidence with scissors. At summer debate camps, I brought my typewriter, not a laptop. Now, a debater largely goes to the Newman library because they want to say hello to Mr. Prescott.

Debate still teaches students to ask critical questions, to research at the highest level, and to articulate a highly sophisticated and well-defended argument (at a very rapid pace). Given the large amount of information available today, relative to when I debated in the 1980s or even when I last coached at Newman, those same skills are potentially more important. We must teach kids to see through the sound bites, the headlines, the tweets, and blog posts. All students need some debate training of some kind. They don’t all need a debate team, but they at least need some formal training in critical analysis of argument.