The University

The University of North Texas is a thriving university with a legacy of excellence in a broad range of academic areas. UNT is a student-centered research university and is the flagship of the UNT System.

The Carnegie Foundation ranks UNT in the top 4 percent of U.S. colleges and universities. The university stands as the most comprehensive in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, offering 97 bachelor's, 101 master's and 49 doctoral degree programs, many nationally recognized. UNT has been selected as one of US News & World Report's Top 100 Best College Buys for 14 consecutive years, and UNT also provides more than 50 centers and institutes which serve the public good.

UNT is also one of the largest universities in Texas, enrolling over 36,000 students. Founded in 1890, UNT takes pride in its outstanding faculty, high academic standards and diverse student body. Recently, the university was named US News and World Report "Top Up-and-Coming School" and Princeton Review "Best of the West."

The university is committed to academic excellence, to student success and to serving as an intellectual resource for the community, state and nation. Offering a traditional college experience at an affordable cost, UNT boasts a 19:1 student-faculty ratio and Division 1-A athletics. The university provides abundant opportunities for its constituents to discover the power of ideas.

The Debate Team

The University of North Texas debate team, supported by UNT's Department of Communication studies, has more than a half-century of competitive success in Cross-Examination (Policy) Debate, having won the second National Debate Tournament in 1949. 

The legacy continues as North Texas Debate reached the finals of the CEDA National Tournament in 2004, advanced a team to NDT elimination rounds 8 of the last 12 years, and qualified a team to the NDT in 26 of the last 28 years. In the spring of 2009 the team of Kuntal Cholera & Grant Peretz earned a First Round At-Large Bid to attend the National Debate Tournament - an honor reserved for the top 16 teams in the nation. At the NDT in 2009, Kuntal Cholera was awarded Top Speaker.

UNT Debate accumulated multiple NDT First Round At Large bids over the last several years, and North Texas debaters have seen late elimination rounds at virtually every major competitive event in the country, including recent trips to the quarters at the NDT, finals at Harvard & West Georgia, semis at Northwestern, and quarters at Kentucky and Georgia State. Recent individual awards include Top Speaker at the National Debate Tournament, the Dartmouth Round Robin, and the Kentucky Round Robin. We are also very proud of our multiple top-ten speakers at the NDT over the past few years.

UNT Debate has attracted numerous students whose academic success speaks for itself, including National Merit Finalists and Valedictorians. Graduates have gone on to win prestigious awards including the CSIS internship and the Kennedy Center internship to Latin America. UNT debaters have attended graduate school at some of the finest graduate programs in rhetoric, international relations, philosophy, and other disciplines. Recently, UNT debate alumni have matriculated to the University of Pittsburgh, Georgetown, and Johns Hopkins (to name a few). In the fall of 2008 we welcomed as our new Assistant Director of Debate the now multiple NDT Top Speaker coach Louie Petit.

Supported by a thriving Communication Studies Department and accompanied by the University's award-winning undergraduate Honors College, UNT Debate offers a unique opportunity to attend a decorated national university and compete in the most rigorous policy debate events in the nation.