The Great Debate is a tradition started in 1999 in which Stanford Debate Society members face off against debaters from UC-Berkeley. This year's topic is "Resolved: That the United States federal government should substantially increase reliance on nuclear energy for production of electricity in the United States." The debate will be in a three-on-three format, with three judges present to render a decision. Stanford leads Cal by a total of 4 to 3 over the last 7 years, and holds a slightly stronger lead of 12 to 9 in overall ballot count. Last year's debate on Intervention to Halt Genocide was won by Stanford on a 2-1 decision, and was judged by an impressive panel that included Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle Phil Bronstein, MacArthur (“Genius”) Award Winner Tommie Lindsey, and a Professor of International Studies who has written extensively on Genocide, Margee Ensign (Professor Ensign dissented).
Stanford primarily competes in a circuit of competition called Parliamentary Debate which combines argument quality and insight with presentational effectiveness, while the UC Berkeley team competes primarily in an event called Policy Debate which emphasizes quoted material and similar such documentation in a way that Parliamentary Debate does not. According to Matthew Fraser, longtime coach and progam director for the Stanford Debate Society, "since we compete on different debate circuits, this is truly the only time each year we come head-to-head in competition against UC Berkeley. They have been ranked as one of the top few teams in the United States in their format of debate (Policy), so it is gratifying to see our debaters perform as well as they have against such a well-known Policy Debate powerhouse."