Chimez Asonye, freshman in LAS, said debating gives him an indescribable feeling.

“I love the competition; I just love the rush,” Asonye said. “I can say I’m a truly different person (because of debate). It would be my goal for everybody to do it.”

Asonye is the creator of the Illinois Policy Debate Team, which was recently established as a student organization. He started debating his junior year at Whitney Young Magnet High School and has been in love with policy debate ever since.

“It’s kind of surprising that as a two-year debater, I would be so passionate about it,” Asonye said.

Although the Illini Speech and Debate Team exists on campus, Asonye said he wanted to practice policy debate, which is judged on arguments backed by evidence. The Illini Speech and Debate Team practices forms judged more on oral persuasiveness.

“Policy debate is very research-based,” Asonye said. “People carry tubs of evidence on specific arguments. You can win on any argument if you provide well-backed warrants. I’ve seen people win on ‘death is good.'”

Asonye said policy debate is educational.

“You learn how politics work, you know the intricacies of the government and even the shady things that they don’t teach you in a class,” Asonye said.

Forrest Sumlar, sophomore in business and the treasurer of the team, said policy debate helps competitors gain perspective.

“When you debate, you talk about things that you don’t normally talk about,” Sumlar said. “And often you have to take a side you don’t personally believe in, but it allows you to think about the other side.”

Sumlar said determination is key in debate.

“In debate, you’ll end up losing,” Sumlar said. “It’s something all debaters have to deal with. You have to constantly focus to better yourself and progress to avoid making the same mistakes.”

Asonye said some might have a negative view of debate competition.

“One of the biggest stereotypes is that people feel that if they do the activity, they’ll be in screaming matches, nothing will get done or that they’ll be reprimanded, and some don’t want to be in that hostile situation,” Asonye said. “It’s intense but everybody respects each other … nobody is going to resent you as a person. And at the end of the rounds, everybody’s friends.”

Zenobia Ravji, freshman in LAS and a new member of the team, is looking forward to the structured way of arguing.

“You can sit there and argue forever and forever, and no one could be right,” Ravji said. “But when you are actually policy debating, you have judges to tell you if your argument is valid.”

This year the 12-member team is going to focus on fundraising so they can travel to debate with other universities next year. They are looking to have a cappella groups on campus help them raise money.

“We figure if we plant the seed by starting the team here, it can get pretty big,” Sumlar said.

Asonye said a major goal of the group is to change how people look at the world.

“It’s like a veil is put over our eyes,” Asonye said. “We are fed little sound bites and clips by the media. We hope to educate students to become less ignorant … and take a step to engage in society.”