The Swing Lab at Stanford

Location: Stanford University
Tentative Dates & Prices

Program	Dates	Residential Cost	Commuter Cost
Swing Lab	July 24 - August 13	$3185	$2500

-A $250 deposit (applied toward the cost of tuition) is required with each application. This is non-refundable unless the application for enrollment is denied.

The Program
The Swing Lab, conducted at Stanford University and part of the policy Accelerated program, is the finest preparation available for advanced policy debate students. The program is designed to provide a continuation of the participants' prior camp experience with an advanced peer group and the finest instructors. To be eligible, students must be varsity level and must have previously attended at least one rigorous debate institute during the summer of 2008.

The Curriculum
Expertly Critiqued Debates - Swing lab scholars will participate in a rigorous series of over 15 expertly critiqued practice debates beginning on the second day of camp, with an emphasis on stop-and-go rounds and rebuttal rework debates. The swing lab debaters utilize a variety of cases from camps around the country as well as those written at Stanford by the swing lab.

Research and Evidence - The Swing lab program provides intensive instruction in research, argument construction and advanced level technique. Students will master affirmative and negative arguments critical to their success on next year's topic. The kernels of arguments which are produced by other institutes will be used as a starting point. These argumentative seeds will be used by program participants to construct entire detailed positions which will include second and third level extension blocks, key topic arguments and major theoretical positions with affirmative cases, disadvantages, counterplans, and kritiks.

Advanced Theory - Swing lab scholars are assumed to have mastered the basics of debate theory. This foundation will be used to construct sophisticated and comprehensive positions. Scholars will be immersed in advanced theory through special seminars that offer unique and rival views on a variety of issues including critique, fiat, competition, intrinsicness, permutations, presumption, extra-topicality, the nature of policy topics, and many other issues from the cutting edge of current theoretical discourse.

The Primary Faculty
The Swing Lab is directed by jon sharp. jon has co-directed the Swing Lab at Stanford for almost a decade. In addition, jon has taught at the Berkeley, Emory and Bates summer institutes as well as acting as the director of Berkeley. As a coach, jon has qualified teams for the National Debate Tournament each and every year; while assistant coach at the State University of West Georgia, the squad appeared in the finals of CEDA Nationals an unprecedented three times running, with two National Championships. jon has also been named three times to the student-selected panel of "Critics Of The Year." Presently, jon is a doctoral student at the University of Southern California and coaches for the University of Kentucky.

For more information about our faculty including full biographies please click here.

The Record
The swing lab program has a phenomenal track record. From 1994-2007 graduates have cleared at all major national tournaments including Greenhill, Wake Forest, the Glenbrooks, St. Marks, Redlands, Lexington, Berkeley, Stanford, Northwestern, MBA, University of Southern California, Harvard, Emory, the TOC, and Nationals. Former Swing Lab participants have won the Tournament of Champions twice, and have been top speaker there as well.

Interested?
Students desiring to attend the Swing Lab program will be admitted on an application only basis, and are required to attend at least one rigorous debate institute during the summer of 2008 prior to attending the SNFI. One week camp participants will be considered only with a strong recommendation from their instructors. Depending on enrollment there may be more than one Swing Lab. Swing Lab placement is based on previous experience and is at the discretion of the program directors.

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