The first major international debating tournament was held in London, England. This event was sponsored by the Trans-Atlantic University Speech Association (TAUSA) and featured teams from the United States, Canada, Scotland and England.

Teams from the United States, England, Scotland and New Zealand travel to Australia for a debating 'tour' where travelling debaters challenge local University students to a public parliamentary debate.

The TAUSA competition was also held and Glasgow took home top honros this year.

The Honeywell World Debating Festival was held for the first and only time with teams from the US, Canada, England, Scotland and Australia competing (including Columbia). The Sydney University Union took home top honors.

Parli in the United States was largely unstructured. There were three general leagues, but, none of them were officially organized under any umbrella organization and were largely regional in nature. There was a Northeastern league that sponsored a few tournaments per year. This league included Columbia and stretched from Harvard to Swarthmore.

Another league was centered in the midwest around the University of Chicago and a small west coast league was available around Los Angeles.

During this time in American debating, the Brown and Chicago tournaments were seen as the de facto 'nationals' as there was no established National Championship tourney.

The Glasgow University Union (Scotland) organized the first ever World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC). This open event consisted of 50 teams from 8 nations.

David Martland, Richard Sommer (Princeton), JJ Gertler and David Bailen (Amherst) attend this event. While there, they decide to organize the American Parliamentary debate under a single, unifying umbrella organization.

The first meeting of the American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA) is held at the Yale Tournament. All interested schools are notified beforehand of the meeting and are instructed to send a representative. A Constitution was adopted with little argument.

David Martland was elected the first president of APDA, J.J. Gertler the vice-president for operations, and Phil Sisson of Rhode Island College VP for finance.

The first APDA National Championship is organized and held at the University of Chicago.

Unfortunately, there is very little published in reference to American Parliamentary debating during the 1980s.

The APDA National Championships continue to be held as does the WUDC.

The United States hosts it's first WUDC at Princeton University. The Glasgow University Union team of Nicholson & McKirgin take home the top team honors.

The WUDC returns to the US and Fordham University in the Bronx. University College, Cork (Ireland, Hasset & Lankford) takes home the championship trophy.

The WUDC is back int he US for the third time, again hosted by Princeton. This time, the Sydney University Union team of Bell & Lee win the competition.

For the first time in the history of the WUDC, an American team takes home top honors at the event held at the Glasgow University Union. That team came from Yale University (Wolf & Wertheim).

This year's WUDC was hosted by Trinity College, Dublin in Ireland. Columbia broke a team to quarterfinals. This team consisted of Ken Ehrenberg & Morty Dubin.

At the APDA National Championships, Dubin & Ehrenberg broke to Semi-Finals and placed third overall.

The Canadian University Society for Intercollegiate Debate (CUSID) and APDA co-sanction the first ever North American Debating Championship. The Championship is held annually and the host rotates between an American and Canadian institution of higher learning.

The first NorthAms was held at Bates College and a team from Hart House, University of Toronto took home top honors. Harvard (Kennedy & Friedman) were the second place team.

Americans win the WUDC (hosted by Oxford University) for a second time. This time, the Harvard team of David Kennedy & David Friedman take home top honors. Ken Ehrenberg & Morty Dubin from Columbia broke to quarterfinals at this prestigious world competition.

Columbia University wins it's first APDA National Championship. The team of Morty Dubin & Thanos Basdekis took home the trophy. Ken Ehrenberg & Nico Herrera broke to semifinals and took home fourth place honors.

The WUDC is held at the University of Melbourne in Australia. A Columbia team broke to outrounds and placed amongst the top 32 teams in the World.

For the last time, the WUDC is hosted by Princeton University. This Worlds was not well run and was the last held in the American style of Parliamentary Debate.

The University of Pennsylvania hosts the North American Championships this year. An American team from Swarthmore (Neil Potischman & Jeremy Mallory) take home the Championship.

The North American Championships are back in the United States, held at Johns Hopkins University. Princeton wins the competition (John Oleske & Neil O'Murchada) and Oleske is also the top speaker. Columbia broke a team to quarterfinals with Matt Schwartz & Carissa Byrne placing 8th overall. Sanoj Stephen was the 14th and Byrne the 17th speakers.

The WUDC is held for the first time on the continent of Africa at the University of Stellenbosch. A Columbia team (Sanoj Stephen & Matt Ahn) broke to Octo-Finals at this event.

The APDA National Championships were held at Smith College this year. Jess Wendover was the 6th place novice speaker. Sanoj Stephen & Matt Ahn were the 10th place team and Carissa Byrne and Matt Schwartz placed 19th.

NorthAms are held at Smith College and NYU (Peter Guirguis & Glen Whitman) are the second place team. Jason Goldman (Princeton) is the top speaker.

The WUDC is held at Ateneo University of Manila in the Phillipines. The Columbia team of Jess Wendover & Matt Schwartz broke to octo-finals as the top ranked American team. Matt Schwartz was the 27th overall and top American speaker.

The APDA National Championships held at Fordham University were won by the Columbia team of Carissa Byrne (CC '99) and John Castelly (Law '01).

The North American Championships return to the United States and are hosted by Cornell University. Brandeis University wins the crown with the Columbia Team of Jeff Williams & Harry Layman taking home second place honors. David Silverman (Princeton) is the top speaker.

Jeff Williams of Columbia is elected and serves the position of President of APDA for the 2001-2002 season.

An "American" team (composed of Scottish & British debaters) from NYU Law (Rob Weekes & Alan Merson) captures the WUDC title. This year's world was held at Hart House, University of Toronto.

Columbia (Jeff Williams & Harry Layman) broke to Octofinals at this event. Jeff Williams was the 48th overall speaker and top American.

The North American Championships are held at McGill University. A team from MIT (Phil Larochelle & Shuman Ghosemajundar) is the second place team. Columbia does not attend as it is hosting it's annual High School Tournament.

The Columbia Team votes on and approves a new Team Constitution. This document will guide the team well into the 21st century. The Constitution was written by Evan Mayo-Wilson (CC '03) and Josh Salzman (CC '03).