For most university teams, graduating all but two of the previous year’s squad would be a huge blow, but don’t expect a decline in SF State’s debate team.

The team consistently ranks in the top 20 in the nation despite a budget that pales in comparison to other programs.

“Rising fuel costs and tournament costs frighten me a lot more than having to reload the team every year,” said 42-year-old Shawn Whalen, who has been coaching and administrating the team for 10 years. He is the director of forensics, which is also known as speech and debate.

The debate team has a $36,500 budget. Whalen said this is much smaller than programs like Chico State University, which is granted about $65,000, and Arizona State University, which has about $100,000. Yet SF State’s team takes top prize at nine out of 10 tournaments when competing against other state schools.

The team also notches impressive victories against schools like Harvard University, Northwestern University and Dartmouth College every year, Whalen said.

Although having only two returning competitors is unusual, SF State’s status as a transfer school means competitors often spend only two years in the program before graduating, said 27-year-old Alexis Litzky, who, after three years as a debater, is giving back to the program as a volunteer coach.

Volunteer coaches like Litzky have played an integral part in keeping the team competitive year in and year out, Whalen said.

“The program consistently has three to five volunteer coaches,” he said. “Without them there would be no way the program would be as good as it has been.”

Whalen also said the program has been lucky to have talented student debaters, quite a few of whom become successful competitors.

Vince Alvarez, 21, is one of those talented debaters.

A fourth-year debater, Alvarez hopes to improve on his solid finish at last year’s Cross Examination Debate Association National Tournament, where he and his debate partner went 4-for-4.

Alvarez recently returned from Arizona State University where he spent two weeks researching and preparing for a grueling debate schedule. He will compete in three tournaments in three weeks beginning on Sept. 15 at Gonzaga University.

Alvarez estimates he will spend 60 hours in preparation over the next three weeks plus a full-time work schedule and a full course load.

Preparation is only one part of a good debater’s success, Alvarez said.

Another important factor is the approach the debater brings to the argument.

“We don’t go down the middle road,” Alvarez said. “A lot of our arguments are not arguments people expect to make.”

Unique arguments have been a part of the team’s strategy for 10 years, Whalen said.

The group has debated topics such as United States foreign policy toward China, where they challenged gender assumption.

“We have a masculine bend to the way we make foreign policy,” Whalen said. The debaters argued that unless the country changes gender assumption, the problem would not be fixed, he said.

Arguments like these often catch opponents off guard, since a lot of people don’t appreciate gender with foreign policy, he said.

“We have been accused of being shady,” Alvarez said, “but it keeps things interesting.”

Their use of a diverse array of arguments will give the team a distinct advantage this year.

Feminism arguments have been a part of the team’s repertoire for years, Alvarez said, and this year one policy competitors will debate is the Violence Against Women Act.

With years of experience with feminism arguments, Alvarez said he looks forward to debating the topic.

While Alvarez looks to continue his success, new debaters will learn to adapt their interests to their arguments.

“I’ve never met anybody who hasn’t brought something to debate,” volunteer coach Litzky said.

“One debater had a biology background, and brought that to debate arguments,” Alvarez said. “Some people can’t see what he can see in an argument.”

Any student from any major can join the team by enrolling in Speech 368, Workshop in Forensic, and all students must enter at least two competitions.

“The philosophy of the program is not to restrict competition to a handful of students,” Whalen said.

And that philosophy has worked.

“San Francisco State has been a premier forensics program in California year in and year out,” Whalen said. “We consistently beat Stanford.”