The American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA) is the oldest intercollegiate parliamentary debating league in the United States.

APDA is also generally considered the most competitive college-level circuit in the country due to the esteemed reputations of its member instituions. The league is comprised of about 40 universities, mainly in the Northeast, but ranging as far north as Maine and as far south as North Carolina. Most of its members are private colleges, including all of the Ivy League schools, Providence College, New York University, Brandeis University, MIT, Williams, Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Wesleyan, Wellesley, Fordham, Duke, Johns Hopkins University, Boston University, Middlebury, Bates, Bowdoin, Haverford, Swarthmore, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges. It also includes several public universities, such as Rutgers University, Temple University, the University of Virginia, College of William and Mary, University of Maryland College Park, and the University of Maryland Baltimore County. A few APDA institutions are also located elsewhere in the United States, most notably Stanford, the University of Chicago, and the University of Minnesota.

APDA is an entirely student-run organization. The APDA board members are students from various member schools, and most of the tournaments are completely organized by the host school’s debate team. Tournaments are held on almost every weekend of the academic year, and many participants tend to be quite committed to the activity, attending nearly all of the competitions in a given season.

This group is open to current competitors and to all APDA alums. (read less)

The American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA) is the oldest intercollegiate parliamentary debating league in the United States.

APDA is also generally considered the most competitive college-level circuit in the country due to the esteemed reputations of its member instituions. The league is comprised of about 40 universities, mainly in the Northeast, but ranging as far north as Maine and as far south as North Carolina. Most of its members are private colleges, including all of the Ivy... (read more)