Tuesday, April 7, 2026

By Baker Weilert-Pekar, Director of Debate & Forensics

From left: Louis Stark ’27, Oliver Kaufman ’26, Elizabeth Lovett ’29, Ana Collins ’29, Grace Hardy ’27 and Valeri Garcia ’28

For the second year in a row, Whitman Debate and Forensics has won a championship in National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) debate.

Oliver Kaufman ’26 and Grace Hardy ’27 beat the University of California, San Diego, in the final round to become the 2026 NPDA National Champions at the Pi Kappa Delta National Convention and Tournament hosted by Missouri State University. Hardy also won Whitman’s first forensics national title—in Extemporaneous Speaking—since expansion of the program to include individual events in 2022. 

Whitman’s team was led by Director of Debate and Forensics Baker Weilert-Pekar, Assistant Director of Debate Kiefer Storrer, judges Kyle Bligen and Gabe Graville, and Whitman alums Ana Dillard ’25 and Jas Liu ’24.

The team had several other notable finishes at the convention. Elizabeth Lovett ’29 and Ana Collins ’29 made it to the Elite Eight in NPDA Debate, finishing in 10th and seventh place respectively. Louis Stark ’27 finished second in Junior Varsity Speaker. Grace Hardy ’27 finished fifth in Broadcasting Journalism. 

The Pi Kappa Delta National Convention featured 58 colleges and universities with 438 students competing in more than 2,200 individual events. 

Earlier in the year, the Whitman Debate and Forensics team attended the 2026 NPDA National Tournament hosted by Mercer University. The team was represented by Nico Brenneman-Ochoa ’28, Anissa Cherif ’28, Grace Hardy ’27, Oliver Kaufman ’26, Finnegan Motz ’27 and Cedar Tatarek ’28.

The team of Kaufman and Hardy advanced to the Final Four, where they narrowly lost to the national runners-up from Parliamentary Debate at Berkeley. The team of Cherif and Tatarek advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, finishing fifth and sixth in the nation, respectively. The program finished third in season-long sweepstakes. 

This week, Kaufman, Hardy and Tatarek will finish out the season at the American Forensics Association National Speech Tournament hosted at Lewis & Clark College. It will be the 12th tournament of the 2025–2026 season for Whitman Debate and Forensics and the culmination of hard work and dedication by 25 active team members.

Assistant Director of Debate Kiefer Storrer was recently sworn in as President of Pi Kappa Delta, the oldest national collegiate forensics organization in the United States. Storrer has professionally coached debate and forensics for the past decade and been involved with the discipline for more than 20 years.

While the risk for measles in the United States remains low, incidence is increasing, and Walla Walla County has its first confirmed case. Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Up to nine out of 10 people near an infected person will become infected if they are not protected. 

To protect yourself: 

 The illness strikes quickly, makes you very ill and has a high risk of complications. Take care of yourself and those around you. Please reach out to the Welty Health and Counseling Center if you have any questions.

Anne Harrington, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at Cardiff University, will deliver a talk titled “And Now What? Iran, the U.S. and the Value of Nuclear Weapons,” tonight at 6 p.m. in Maxey 207. The event is sponsored by the Henry M. Jackson Endowed Lectureship in International Relations and the Department of Politics.

The History Department will host a screening of the PBS documentary “Singing for Justice” tonight at 7 p.m. in Olin Auditorium. The film explores the personal, political and musical journeys of Whitman alum Faith Petric ’37 in the contexts of the social movements she championed. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with two of the filmmakers and a protest song sing-along. (Flyer attached.)

The 28th annual Whitman Undergraduate Conference—a celebration of the scholarship, critical thinking, self-driven exploration and creativity of Whitman students—will take place on Tuesday, April 14, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Classes will be canceled to accommodate this annual event that highlights student and student-faculty research. More information, including the full schedule of presentations and posters, is available on the Whitman Undergraduate Conference webpage.

The Office of Human Resources has received reports regarding misinformation about network providers within the Providence Health Plan. Providence recently outsourced its customer care support. While retraining efforts move forward and are outside of our control, please know that our brokers assure us that all Providence providers are in-network with Premera’s Heritage network. (This is the network that Whitman College belongs to, not Heritage Prime.) Questions? Email Human Resources at hr@whitman.edu or email our broker, Laura Fielding at laura.fielding@imacorp.com.

During spring break, 12 students and two instructors in the SSRA-387 Advanced Climbing: Single Pitch course participated in an 11-day trip to Joshua Tree National Park. They improved their traditional climbing skills along with covering American Mountain Guides Association Single Pitch Instructor Course curriculum. See more photos on Instagram.

Noon–1 p.m.

President Bolton’s Open Office Hours for Staff

Cleveland Commons, Lizzie Murr Dining Room

12:10–12:50 p.m.

Movement That Matters: Step Aerobics

Sherwood Athletic Center, Room 106

5–6 p.m.

Off-Campus Studies First Steps Meeting

Maxey Hall, Room 119

5:30–6:30 p.m.

Spring Picnic With the Buddies

Reid Campus Center, Side Lawn

6 p.m.

Whitman Baseball vs. Eastern Oregon University

Borleske Stadium

6–7:30 p.m.

Lecture: “And Now What? Iran, the U.S. & the Value of Nuclear Weapons”

Maxey Hall, Room 207

7–8 p.m.

Don’t Eat the Wheat Club Meeting

Maxey Hall, Room 104

7–8:30 p.m.

Lecture: “Communalizing Data: Confronting Digital Extractivism in Rural Mexico”

Olin Hall, Room 129

7–9 p.m.

Film: “Singing for Justice”

Olin Auditorium

Would you like to share an event with campus? Submit the information to the Events Calendar.

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