Bradley Speech Team members had their season abruptly ended as the American Forensics Association announced via Facebook the cancellation of their April national Speech and Debate tournament due to concerns over COVID-19.
The news was unprecedented in over forty years of competition. The tournament, one of the largest and most respected of the twelve forensics nationals, was expected to host over a hundred schools and over 5,000 students in Santa Ana, California. However, after a series of schools planning on attending the tournament implemented university-wide travel bans–including Western Kentucky University, George Mason University, and the University of Minnesota–the AFA tournament administration revealed they could no longer cover the costs to host.
In their official announcement, the AFA tournament administration also mentioned concerns over student safety and CDC recommendations if the tournament had proceeded as planned. “The decision to cancel the tournament has not been made lightly,” AFA tournament director and Director of Forensics at James Madison University Lee Mayfield explained in the announcement. “Our hearts break for the students, especially for our senior competitors.”
“I respect their decision,” Bradley’s Director of Forensics Andrew Eilola said after relaying the news to his team. “They are concerned about the safety of students, and I have to respect that. But that doesn’t make this situation any less devastating to my students.”
Not two days later, the National Forensics Association national tournament in Whitewater, Wisconson scheduled for late April as well as the National Speech Championship in Fairfax, Virginia later this month were also canceled. Within a week, nine of the twelve national forensics tournaments across the nation were canceled due to COVID-19 responses.
But for the seniors at Bradley University, the announcement about the AFA tournament had already signaled the end. “I knew what was coming,” senior and Vice President of Bradley’s Speech Team, Cassie Edlund, said. “When they announced it at our meeting, I just knew. I knew my season was over.”
Edlund was recruited her senior year of high school and had already made a name for herself as a finalist at the National Speech and Debate Association national tournament. After four years on Bradley’s team, Edlund was looking forward to sharing her performances and messages at her senior year nationals.
“Being a senior is just different,” Edlund explained. “Every year, every performance, every script has been leading up to this year. It was supposed to be our moment to say goodbye to this activity and . . . we just don’t get that anymore.”
Senior team member Andrew Yohanan agreed. “It’s a little heartbreaking. This is something Bradley, well not just Bradley, has prepared for almost an entire year. The entire speech and debate community feels this loss.”
For Yohanan, the opportunity to compete at nationals isn’t just about leaving the activity but about acknowledging the friendships and bonds between the students across the nation. After seeing many of the seniors from other teams year after year at both regular-season tournaments and nationals, the whole circuit has been in what Yohanan describes as “a state of mourning.”
“The entire country and many teams have empathy for each other, so it’s very saddening for us to go through this [together],” Yohanan said.
Brenna Fuhr 