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Seaver College Speech and Debate Team Members Named to All-American Squad 

Pepperdine juniors Michael Wang and Stevie Siebert, members of the Seaver College Speech and Debate Team, were named to All-American squads at the opening ceremony of the 2007 Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) National Tournament. The tournament took place March 21 through 25 at the University of Oklahoma.  

CEDA, a national organization, names 30 students to the All-American squad and 30 to the Scholastic All-American squad each year out of hundreds of debaters nationwide.

Wang was named to the All-American squad for both his competitive performance and his service to the debate community over the last three years. Seibert was named to the Scholastic All-American squad, an honor based on the debater's grade point average, academic involvement, and debate performance.

“I would like to congratulate both debaters on their awards,” said Sue Peterson, director of forensics for the Speech and Debate team. “I have truly enjoyed working with both these students during the last three years, and these awards are evidence that the national community recognizes their efforts as well.”

The Pepperdine Speech and Debate team is a full-service intercollegiate forensics program. The team takes part in various events, such as cross-examination, team policy debate, parliamentary debate, platform speaking, limited preparation speaking, and oral interpretations.

Founded in 1971 as the Southwest Cross Examination Debate Association, CEDA is now the primary national association promoting policy topic intercollegiate academic debate. In cooperation with the National Debate Tournament Committee and the American Debate Association, CEDA formulates the annual intercollegiate policy debate topic used in tournament competition throughout the nation.