Stanford National Forensic Institute

The Stanford National Forensic Institute offers a unique national caliber program conducted by the Stanford Debate Society of Stanford University, a registered student organization of the Associated Students of Stanford University.

The SNFI Policy camp offers a three week program with two main options: the "Accelerated Policy Program" and the "Core Policy Program" as well as a fourth week "Intensive Practice Round Session." Students may attend either the Accelerated or Core program and be qualified to stay on for the fourth week Intensive Practice Round Session.

Special Programs within the three week camp include the "Swing Lab" for students who will be attending their second Policy Debate camp of this summer (with jon sharp as the director) and a Sophomore Scholars lab for rising stars with widely acclaimed instructor Judy Butler.

The SNFI Policy camp, in each of the programs, has received extremely positive feedback from past attending students. In particular, over the last two years, over 95% of attending students said that they would recommend the program to others, and more than 90% of students have rated the quality and effort their instructor made on their behalf as a 9 or 10 out of 10 on their end of camp evaluation forms.

The Division Director for Policy Debate is Corey Turoff, who has coached Policy Debate for Stanford and also coaches Policy Debate at the Head Royce School of Oakland.

Director's Note

I wanted to take some time to inform you of what we have in store for this summer at SNFI Policy. My name is Corey Turoff, and I am returning for my fourth year as director. I debated at the University of Southern California as an undergraduate and since have coached debate for the past seven years, starting at Damien High School and Chaminade College Prep and am now finishing my fifth year at the Head Royce School in Oakland, California. Speaking on behalf of the staff and myself, I can say we think of ourselves as teachers first and debate coaches second. Our approach each summer involves thinking of interesting ways to use the topic as a vehicle for teaching students how to compete successfully during the year. The focus, then, is on critical thinking and strategy: taking well-reasoned argument and tying it to evidence researched by the students on any given topic, and enhancing that argument in later rebuttals with strong analysis and expert vision. We also teach that every argument matters, even the ones whose legitimacy you question. Students should walk out of the SNFI experience with a confidence that they can compete in every debate round, regardless of the arguments being made because ultimately, our goal is to instill a love for debate derived from being prepared for anything, not just the evidence produced by a certain lab on a certain topic.

To accomplish these goals, we employ an unbelievably qualified and mature staff with a cumulative century of debate experience. Each works as a professional debate coach in some capacity during the school year and has worked with/attended the SNFI before. For the past several summers, we have made a renewed commitment towards hiring staff with teaching quality in mind, rather than on the draw that “names” could bring to the institute. We believe that our staffing this year accomplishes that in spades! They represent one of the longer running continuous staffs at institutes across the country and a very tight-knit group of friends whom refuse to allow their competitive natures to come at the expense of your student’s education. Whether through our extreme disclosure requirements during the camp tournament or the occasional friendly intra-lab practice debate, opportunities to teach skills such as block writing and in-round prep usage are never missed.

Through our staff’s experience as teachers, SNFI Policy has created a very simply pedagogical approach to the institute: student-driven learning. The quality of our files is not determined by the quality of the evidence found by an instructor but rather by the students themselves. And while the staff does not cut evidence directly, we use an extensive back-reading system and group sorting process to ensure quality control. Students choose the topics for seminars, and each lecture ends with a lab meeting so that they each have a chance to ask questions while the information is still fresh in their minds. Moreover, the choice in lab program (Swing Lab, Sophomore Scholars, Accelerated Lab, and the Core Lab) gives students greater control over their camp experience than any other site in the country. And unlike other camps, the majority of rounds judged, including the tournament, are judged by full-time instructors rather than recently-graduated high school students. The few younger staff we do employ are former students of staff members whose teaching credentials are verified before they arrive on campus, and most importantly, are disclosed as members of the staff before final decisions are made, which we feel is a stark contrast to finding out from your students in September with whom they worked during the summer.

Thanks for you time and I look forward to working with your students in beautiful Palo Alto, California this July!

-Corey Turoff, Policy Division Director