Aztec Speech and Debate

Mission Statement

“Dedicated to developing a community of courageous advocates, critical thinkers, and compassionate competitors.”

Since its founding in 1949, our SDSU Forensics Speech and Debate Team has provided a community where SDSU students are championed and supported to succeed in their future goals. Success can be measured in many different ways—and it often comes in unexpected forms. Forbes published an article titled "Could Debate Help Struggling Students Succeed?" at the beginning of 2024 describing the promising quantitative data and merits of speech and debate programs in schools that showed how “participating in debate—and succeeding at interscholastic tournaments—could also change students’ perceptions of their own capabilities, spurring them to pursue ambitious goals” (Wexler, 2024). And that sums up our “WHY” here at SDSU for encouraging our students to join our Forensics Speech and Debate Team. We believe that our Forensics program provides an intercollegiate competitive experience that has lasting positive impact in the way our students view their own capabilities and skills to chase and achieve their ambitious dreams! As a Registered Student Organization (RSO) and Program within the School of Communication, our Forensics Speech and Debate Team allows our students to participate at no cost, receive course credit, qualify for scholarships, and volunteer in leadership opportunities.

So why should you consider joining? Well, if you enjoy public speaking, researching, or writing—you should join. If you are interested in advocating for social justice—you should join. Or if you want to travel across the country and around the world—you should join! That’s right, our Forensics Team is traveling all around the West Coast and Midwest this academic year, and we are extremely excited to be going to South Korea in 2025 to compete in the IFA International Tournament—our first time since 30 years ago in 1994! As a nationally ranked program, our Forensics team has an invigorated momentum to increase our visibility nationally and internationally—so let us know below if you want to join our team! Someone from our Forensics Leadership Team will be in contact to answer any questions you might have about how to join.