Oscar Handlin proffered this challenge over a half a century ago:  Our troubled planet can no longer afford the luxury of pursuits confined to an ivory tower.  Scholarship has to prove its worth, not on its own terms, but by service to the nation and the world.  As we experience what some have labeled the third academic revolution in American higher education, universities look to meet the increasing demands of political relevance and accountability (Bergstrom and Bullis, 1999, p. 25).   Current domestic public policy concerns include: an inferior educational experience for children in kindergarten through twelfth grade, a degraded environment, rural and urban poverty, inadequate health care, and a compromised Social Security System.

The intercollegiate debate program is an ideal vehicle to provide an engaged form of scholarship.  Service learning is an educational experience that affords students the opportunity to apply what is learned in formal academic environments in community settings.