Coolidge Speech & Debate’s Impact
A Decade of Progress
Our new blueprint for American debate
New York • Chicago • Washington • New Haven • Dallas • Tuscaloosa • Rogers • Chapel Hill • Plymouth Notch
Reforming Debate. Lowering Barriers.
2025 brought real gains in the adoption of Coolidge debate nationwide. In July, eleven of our regional contacts from across the country traveled to Coolidge House for our first annual Partners’ Symposium. Their discussions sparked several significant developments for the Foundation’s debate program.
Under the leadership of Executive Director K. M. DiColandrea, the Brooklyn Debate League (BDL) adopted the Coolidge format for the hundreds of students it serves across New York City. With support from the Coolidge Foundation, the BDL also offered additional practice opportunities to Coolidge debaters nationwide through a weekly online scrimmage series held throughout the fall.
Debate leader Wayne Levering worked with the Foundation to host an especially strong new tournament in Rogers, Arkansas. Vy Nguyen and the New Haven Urban Debate League have proven to be valued partners as well, hosting an annual tournament with us at Yale and bringing students to compete in other Coolidge competitions around the country.
Thanks to the support of the Luddy family and Arthur N. Rupe Foundation, we are expanding the national tournament series for 2025-2026, with new Coolidge tournaments added in the Bronx, New York, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. With Mr. Luddy’s institutional commitment to debate across the network of schools he has founded, the Foundation has grown a model league in North Carolina that now attracts hundreds of debaters to its series of tournaments in that state.
We have begun piloting the Learned Hand Society, a recognition program for judges who complete an expanded training curriculum. We envision hosting these trainings on the evenings before our national tournament series as a way to thank volunteers for their dedication.
“Coming from an NSDA background, I was relatively unfamiliar with both the Coolidge debate format and the topic area surrounding the Jones Act. I wasn’t sure what to expect at first as I boarded a plane from Los Angeles.
“But over the course of the tournament, set against the stunning backdrop of Plymouth Notch, I came to deeply appreciate the format’s focus on clarity, substance, and civil discourse. The experience challenged me to grow as a thinker and communicator in ways I hadn’t anticipated. I’m grateful for the experience itself and the values the Foundation continues to champion.”
James Miller
Westlake HS (CA) ’25 • Harvard ’29
2025 Coolidge Cup Champion