Zak Zinda won the Pi Kappa Delta national championship in Lincoln Douglas debate at the University of Kentucky on March 19. Zak went undefeated throughout the preliminaries and elimination rounds, winning a unanimous decision over Central Michigan University in the final round. It is JCU’s fifth national title in debate and its first since 2006.
Pi Kappa Delta has been the honorary society for intercollegiate speech and debate since 1911. They host a national championship tournament including multiple speech events every year. A total of 86 universities competed in the comprehensive tournament.
The 2015-16 debate topic was “Resolved: that the United States federal government should should substantially increase restrictions on bioprospecting.”