The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas as they fought to win control of the Illinois legislature in 1858.

Now, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, known as LD debates, are a type of debate competed at National Forensic Association competitions. The NFA states that an LD is “a one-person, persuasive, policy debate on traditional stock issues.”

After leaving Mount Pleasant Wednesday, the Central Michigan University Debate and Forensics team returned at 3 a.m. Tuesday from the NFA National Tournament at Ohio University in Athens, where they competed against 79 other universities from around the country including Cornell University, Purdue University, Ohio State University and San Francisco State University.

Four students represented CMU at the competition: Farmington junior Mike Begovic, Cadillac junior Owen Valley, Jackson senior Amy Hinchey and Mount Pleasant sophomore Sean Kolhoff.

There are many different types of events at the NFA including After Dinner speech — a humorous speech about social and cultural issues and interpretive events. Valley won second place in the nation for LD debates.

“This year, the topic was if the United States federal government should change its trade policies and/or practices with the Peoples’ Republic of China,” Valley said. “It feels pretty amazing. I feel pretty blessed just to be able to be in the position that I’m in. It’s just been an honor being here and being able to engage in the academic activities here at CMU; a student employee and part of the debate team.”

Valley said he spent three years on the debate team in high school and also competed on the Michigan State University team while he was there for two years. The accounting major said the skills he learned from doing debates are very beneficial.

Though he was beat by a student from Drury University, Valley said he’s still in shock from winning second place in the nation

“It was amazing,” Valley said. “It was a great experience.”

The CMU Debate and Forensic team has 18 active members, which have competed in 18 competitions this year around the country from San Diego to Boston. Because of school funding, students travel with all expenses paid.

“To produce a debate case is equivalent to the work it takes to do a Master’s thesis,” said Philip Tschirhart, assistant coach and master’s candidate. “Though it’s a lot of work, being on the debate team is great. It is a really great academic support system because of the diversity of majors and the intelligence.”

Hinchey, a health administration major and president of the team, said anyone can join.

“Public speaking is definitely something that’s important, but it’s also something that is acquired while on the team through various debates,” she said.

By joining the debate team, students can also satisfy their oral competency requirement by competing at two events.

Those interested in joining can attend the final CMU Debate and Forensic team meeting at 4:30 p.m. Friday in Moore 209 or email Director Ed Hinck at (hinck1e@cmich.edu) or Hinchey (hinch1ae@cmich.edu).