{"id":27871,"date":"2025-08-18T15:07:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T15:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-news\/?p=27871"},"modified":"2026-03-10T14:46:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T14:46:29","slug":"what-we-all-can-agree-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/2025\/08\/what-we-all-can-agree-on\/","title":{"rendered":"What We All Can Agree On"},"content":{"rendered":"

Story by Erin Peterson \/ Illustrations by Cornelia Li<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the four years since Beau Larsen became director of forensics at Macalester, the program\u2019s five teams\u2014mock trial, ethics\/bioethics, policy debate, moot court, and Model United Nations\u2014have earned plenty of national attention. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macalester individuals and teams have landed top finishes at the Cross Examination Debate Association Nationals and celebrated an ethics bowl national championship win with coaching support from Casey Moerer \u201923. They\u2019ve qualified for the American Mock Trial Association\u2019s National Championship in 2023 and 2024 with guidance from Niloy Ray \u201999.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larsen has also relaunched the policy debate program, a century-old program that dissolved during the 2010s\u2014and it has roared back to national relevance. During their tenure, Larsen has coached a team to the quarterfinals of the National Debate Tournament (NDT), the most prestigious competition in the field.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the kind of wide-ranging success that places Larsen firmly in the company of previous beloved forensics leaders including Dick Lesicko \u201975, Scott Nobles, and Roger Mosvick \u201852. And a new generation of celebrated student competitors is earning recognition alongside Mac\u2019s most notable forensics alumni, including Vice President Walter Mondale \u201950 and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan \u201961.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Larsen and the eighty students who participate in forensics each year remain deeply committed to the approaches that have long fueled Macalester\u2019s success. \u201cIn forensics, students have space to test ideas, build intellectual rigor, and refine the skill they need no matter what their major is\u2014communication,\u201d says Larsen. \u201cMy students learn across the course of a season what it means to dedicate yourself to something fully and submerge yourself in hard work as part of the process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larsen is also positioning students for future success and leadership opportunities. In an era of polarization, Larsen sees forensics as a way for students to practice the skills of respectful and thoughtful disagreement both on campus and beyond it. \u201cWe want to push one another to not settle for the easy answers, and instead to think deeply together and dialogue across difference as an antidote,\u201d they say.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forensics students at Mac are experts at dissecting arguments, asking key questions, exposing contradictions, and finding the heart of a disagreement. But as fiercely competitive as they are, they share a  powerful sense of common purpose. That\u2019s why we asked alumni, students, and coaches to share some of the values instilled by forensics that we can all agree on.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A crash course in forensics at Macalester<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While many college forensics programs focus on just one or two events, Macalester\u2019s \u201cbig tent\u201d approach includes five distinct competitive formats\u2014a significant advantage for students, says forensics director Beau Larsen. \u201cIt means that there are many different types of public speaking and argumentation \u2018laboratories\u2019 for students to choose from\u2014and it gives them a chance to shine in the events they choose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a guide to all of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n