Current students and alumni of the University of Oregon’s speech, debate and mock trial teams are on the defensive after learning college administrators plan to reduce support for the nearly 150-year-old program.

The nationally-recognized program, also known as Oregon Forensics, teaches students to research, analyze, present and defend a variety of ideas and viewpoints in a public setting. But even with these sharpened critical thinking skills, some students are having a hard time understanding university leadership’s decisions to cut staff support and remove the program from the school’s Clark Honors College.

“Cutting the forensics program is not only a decision made directly against the program and its members, it’s also a political one,” UO student Kieran Rezvani said at a Sept. 16 bo

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