There's no arguing with success. Nine members of the Cornell Forensics Society, a debate and speech team with up to 40 members, secured a first place trophy at the 30th annual Bloomsberg University tournament in November. The tournament, held on Nov. 6 and 7, hosted 27 colleges in two days of debate, speaking and oral interpretation of literature. Among the defeated: Cornell debating team arch-rival, the University of Pennsylvania.

The Cornell champions took home a hulking 12-foot, three-tiered trophy made of oak and adorned with figurines and plaques that now sits on the third floor of Kennedy Hall. The giant trophy is a traveling piece, passed on to the annual winners of the Bloomsberg event.

Cornell has a long tradition of speech and debate that dates back to 1894, but this year's team is exceptional, said Pamela Stepp, assistant professor of communication at Cornell and the Forensics Society's director.

"We usually finish in the top 10, but this year we have been particularly strong," said Stepp. "We have one of the strongest speech and debate combined programs in the nation and forensics is one of the largest and most popular extra-curricular activities at Cornell."

The nine Cornell student winners of the Bloomsberg University tournament include: Rex Miller '99, electrical engineering; Jennifer Tracy '00, English/French; Toiya Johnson '99, arts and sciences; Adam Simons '02, communications; Alyssa Paladino '00, hotel administration/law; Stephen Zammit '01, economics/government; Melanie Fraticelli '02, agriculture and life sciences; Hsin-I Judy Wong '02, agriculture and life sciences; and Raphael Siebenmann '02, engineering.

With the exception of a loss to the world champion British debating team in September, the Cornell team is undefeated this year. While Great Britain wins the lion's share of its tournaments, Cornell defeated them in 1995 and tied the Brits in 1996, Stepp pointed out.

Stepp is in large part responsible for rebuilding a tradition that was flagging when she arrived at Cornell 18 years ago.

"When I came to Cornell in 1980 there wasn't much of a program," Stepp said. "There were two debaters and they had no money. As a matter of fact, my first job was to erase a debt to a local trophy dealer. The program became really active again around 1982 and has included 40 to 100 students each year since."

Members travel almost every weekend to compete in collegiate tournaments that host 30 to 40 of the nation's 500 teams. But the biggest road tour of all happens during winter break. Dubbed "The Hell Trip," this year's cross-country road trip takes debate and speech squads to competitions in Ohio, Nebraska, Southern California, Utah and Kansas.