Brewer Foundation Announces Partnership with Texas Southern University Debate Team
October 2, 2025 — The Brewer Foundation proudly announces a partnership with the Texas Southern University (TSU) Debate Team, a world-class program from one of the nation’s premier Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Renowned for academic excellence, the TSU Debate Team will bring its internationally recognized debaters into the heart of the International Public Policy Forum (IPPF), where they will serve as judges during the competition’s 25th anniversary season.
Founded in 2001 by the Brewer Foundation and now jointly administered with New York University (NYU), the IPPF is the only global debate competition that invites high school students to compete in both written and oral debates on pressing issues of public policy. For a quarter century, the IPPF has given students worldwide the chance to sharpen their critical thinking, research, and advocacy skills while tackling subjects of global consequence.
“The IPPF was founded to connect the best young minds with the issues that shape our world,” said William A. Brewer III, chairman of the Brewer Foundation and founder of the IPPF. “The Texas Southern University Debate Team is a championship program, recognized for its competitive excellence. The team's involvement with IPPF is a plus for the tournament and its participants.”
The competition begins annually in October, when teams submit qualifying round essays. The top 64 teams advance into a single elimination written debate tournament, volleying essays via email. Judges evaluate each round of written debate, narrowing the field from 64 teams to 32, then 16, and finally to the “Elite Eight” teams. Those eight teams earn an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City in April 2026 to compete in the IPPF Finals, where the IPPF World Champion will be awarded the $10,000 grand prize and the coveted “Brewer Cup.”
As part of this new partnership, TSU Debate Team members will collaborate directly with the NYU CEDA Debate Team and its director, Will Baker, to evaluate written debates from IPPF teams around the globe. This season, IPPF teams will contend with one of the most complex issues of our time: how to ensure global access to a quality education.
“We are thrilled to welcome Texas Southern University’s debaters as judges,” said Baker, who also serves on the IPPF Advisory Board. “Their reputation for excellence will enrich the IPPF experience for competitors worldwide.”
The announcement follows TSU’s recent triumph at the 35th annual International Forensics Association World Championship in South Korea, a victory that reaffirmed its place among the elite debate programs in the world.
Dr. Gloria Batiste-Roberts, coach of the TSU Debate Team, reflected on the partnership: “We are honored to join the Brewer Foundation and NYU in this effort. Our students are eager to share their skills and talents and to give back, mentor younger debaters, and uphold the intellectual rigor that defines competitive forensics.”
As the IPPF celebrates its 25th year, this partnership with the TSU Debate Team underscores its mission: to inspire the next generation of thinkers and leaders by uniting diverse voices in pursuit of ideas that matter.
About the IPPF and the Brewer Foundation:
The IPPF was founded in 2001 by the Brewer Foundation and is now jointly administered with New York University. It is endorsed by leading forensic agencies, such as the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues, the International Debate Education Association, the Impact Coalition, Associated Leaders of Urban Debate Leagues, and the National Debate Coaches Association.
The Brewer Foundation is a private, non-profit organization funded by companies, individuals and the national litigation firm of Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors. With offices in New York and Dallas, the Foundation has achieved widespread recognition for its efforts to create, fund and manage a variety of educational outreach programs.
Visit the IPPF at www.ippfdebate.com or www.instagram.com/ippfdebate.