California State University, Fullerton | www.titanmag.com | titanmagazine@fullerton.edu

Fighting For Words

story by Valerie Halleen Orleans '80

Jon Bruschke stumbled into debate by accident. He couldn't get into his high school metal shop class, but a class on debate worked into his schedule. He didn't realize then how that initial scheduling conflict would change his life.

The human communications studies professor grew to love the challenge and intellectual stimulation that debating offered.

"Debating is so intense and so high-energy," Bruschke said. "You spend huge amounts of time on research and it builds you up intellectually. Most debaters are a little quirky - they have a lot to say and this is a different way for them to say it."

As the coach of Cal State Fullerton's award-winning debate team, Bruschke has coached teams that have been victorious against the likes of Harvard, Berkeley, Northwestern and USC.

"It's kind of funny because we accept anybody on our debate team as long as they've willing to put in the work," he said. "In fact, a lot of times students join because someone they're dating is on the team or it fit in with their class schedule. As a result, we have students with many different majors: communications, history, political science, philosophy. The only thing we care about is your passion and willingness to work hard."

Students also join because they met one of the approximately 20 members of the debate team (and Bruschke) while they were in high school. Some of Cal State Fullerton's best debaters were actively involved in the Southern California Urban Debate League (SCUDL), a program in which Cal State Fullerton students work with economically underserved high school students who may have had no opportunity to get involved with a debate team.

While Bruschke was developing the SCUDL program, he met high school student Cameron Ward, whom Bruschke describes as "this kid who kept hanging around while I was working with the debaters."

Cameron's life sounds like a modern-day Oliver Twist story.

He had trouble in school and, at one point, dropped out. His father's business failed and the family had no money. His younger brother has serious mental health problems. His mother died of breast cancer, leaving Cameron more isolated than ever. In fact, he was living in a friend's garage. Then Jon Bruschke stepped in.

"Think of a bad thing that could happen and it happened to Cameron," Bruschke said. "I think the debate team became his surrogate family and I became something of a surrogate father. although I prefer to think of myself as the cool, eccentric uncle."

Surprisingly, the kid that couldn't seem to catch a break flourished as a debater. In fact, he and teammate Josh Clark took on the Harvard team in 2004. and beat them.

"At commencement every year, they show a film featuring some of our outstanding students," Bruschke said. "It was so touching to see Cameron's father watching that film and see the pride on his face as his son's image was projected on that huge screen. Here is a kid nobody thought would graduate from high school, let alone college. Here is the kid that nobody predicted could be a success. And here is the kid who took on Harvard's championship debate team and won.

"This sounds a little strange but I think I was supposed to teach at Cal State Fullerton," said Bruschke.

"I actually received my bachelor's and master's degrees here and then went on for my Ph.D at the University of Utah. After I graduated, I went to Baylor but left after two years. I had two job offers - one was as a lecturer at Cal State Fullerton. In truth, I was leaning toward the other job. It offered more security but then I started talking to another debater I knew from the debate circuit. She told me about SCUDL and that appealed to me a great deal."

Since then, Brushke and his fellow coach, Jeanine Congalton, have gone on to produce one winning debate team after another.

"While Cal State Fullerton has always had a reputation for excellent debate teams, Jon Bruschke's impact; can't be overestimated," said Terry Giles, chairman of Landmark Education Corporation in Houston and an attorney who built a successful law career for several decades in Southern California before he relocated to Texas. Giles has also established 14 different businesses over the course of his career.

He donates $2,000 scholarships each year to five members of the university's debate team. (Giles also donates funds to the President's Scholars program - a program that provides four-year scholarships to selected students based on academic merit.)

"The reason I donate to the debate team is because it made such an impact on me when I was a student at Cal State Fullerton," Giles said. As a speech communications major, he remembers the hard work and preparation needed to compete.

"I think being a member of the debate team, more than anything else, taught me how to stand and deliver," he said. "Seriously, I can't imagine better training for someone who is interested in going into law or business - careers that force you to think fast on your feet. Debate teaches students to feel confident, to gather information quickly, organize their thoughts and come up with a viable solution.

"While these skills certainly helped me in my legal career, it has probably been more valuable in my role as chairman of the board of various enterprises. You learn to process information quickly and make decisions. That's what leaders are often called upon to do. Cal State Fullerton should be proud of how well its debate teams have done. And Jon is doing a terrific job."

This year, the focus of the national debates has been China. That's it. China. That means debaters have to be able to focus on topics ranging from medicine to the one-child policy to contemporary philosophy. By the time they are finished with their research, most have at least five large tubs, yes tubs, of notes.

When team members arrive for a debate they are told whether they will be arguing for the affirmative or negative position on their specific topic. They will then make up a nine-minute speech on the spot. This requires that debaters be prepared to argue in favor of a position in one round. and against it the next.

Debaters will speak rapidly - often from 600-800 words a minute - trying to get across as many points as possible. (Normal speech is about 400 words a minute.) Why do they speak so fast? To generate points. If you don't respond to the all the issues that are presented, points are subtracted. The idea is to raise so many issues that your opponent can't meet them all. Yet Bruschke has a different approach.and one that seems to work.

"I like my debaters to speak from passion and experience," he said. "Yes, you need to be able to respond to arguments that are raised but I think it's a much more effective debate if you can speak from the heart. I think personal experience is more important, in some cases, than academic research."

This year, one of the team's top debaters, Luis Magallon, was asked to debate on immigration issues. While Luis is not Chinese, he still can speak from personal experience. He used to live with several family members in a small apartment. Many of the families that live in his neighborhood are undocumented so INS raids are frequent. He knows what it's like to be discriminated against - he sees it in his own backyard. He also knows what it's like not to understand a language. That personal experience resonated with judges.

"If you can do it, debate is one of the most intellectually rewarding activities you can imagine," Bruschke said. "You learn incredible research skills, speaking skills. You need to apply logic and passion. You need to be able to process information almost as quickly as you can hear it. You hear it, know the counter argument, and then make the point. For every tournament, you can expect to put in at least 20 to 30 hours of preparation."

Bruschke's team not only speaks from personal experience, one of his debaters even rapped his debating arguments.

"That was funny," Bruschke recalled. "The other teams objected because they said rapping was not the way you normally communicate. Our debater simply said, 'Well, speaking 600 words a minute isn't the way you normally communicate either.' So the judge let it go. In effect, our student had a debate before the debate. and he won both."

According to Bruschke, many still see debate teams as "white boys' clubs."

"That certainly isn't the case with our group," he said. "On our team, members speak five different languages. The females outnumber the males by two to one. We have two Latinos, three Indians, two Asians and representatives of other diverse groups. If you're smart and willing to work, we can make you a debater."

Unlike many of the Ivy League universities they compete against, Cal State Fullerton's team doesn't have a large budget. Sometimes instead of flying to tournaments, the team squeezes into Bruschke's van (and an extra car or two) and drives.

"Our program is about opportunity," Bruschke said. "Our debaters do well because they understand the problems they are discussing. When they are debating, you can hear the cry. You can hear the anger. They use their experience. and they reach out to others like them."

Cameron went on to coach Luis - the current top-ranked debater on the team. They had much in common: They were both top-ranked debaters on CSUF's team. Both were poor. Both experienced discrimination. Sadly, they share another bond. Last year, Luis also lost his mother to breast cancer.

"What I appreciate about my team is how they support each other," Bruschke said. "This isn't about winning a pile of trophies. This is about them developing into caring individuals. I'm not as interested in how they are as debaters. I'm interested in what they're like as human beings."

POSTSCRIPT
Today, Cameron Ward and Luis Magallon are roommates. After graduating in 2005 with a degree in human communications studies, Cameron is pursuing a second degree - in music. Luis is continuing his studies as a criminal justice and philosophy major.

The four-year funding grant for the SCUDL program has ended. With limited funding to pay for tournament fees, transportation and school support, this outreach program to economically underserved high schools has been curtailed.