Brett Bricker spends five or six hours a day pondering questions — difficult questions. He thinks about whether the United States should attack Iran or if the United States should offer Afghanistan more foreign assistance. He’s not aforeign policy strategist, or even a political science major.

Bricker, a Wichita senior, is a KU debater.

Two weeks ago at Dartmouth College, Bricker and his partner, Andrew Jennings, Silver Lake junior, placed second at the Herbert James Invitational. Bricker was named the top individual debater at the tournament.

It was the best Kansas had ever done at the Dartmouth tournament, KU Debate coach Scott Harris said. Debate at Kansas has been around awhile. KU debate has won four national titles and qualified for the national tournament 39 consecutive years.

Bricker said some people have some misconceptions about debaters.

“A lot of people think that all debaters are just like nerds,” Bricker said.

Sure, Bricker spends up to 30 hours a week researching this year’s debate topic.

“It asks the question whether or not the Federal government should constructively engage five middle eastern countries by offering them foreign assistance or a security guarantee,” he said.

But to Bricker, the stereotype of a debater with horned-rimmed glasses and a pocket protector just doesn’t fit.

“I think that a lot of people I’ve met are pretty social and end up being like lawyers or professors – professions that have a social capability to them, not just academic,” Bricker said.

Bricker and his teammates are social enough to endure 14-hour car rides together.

He said it’s not unusual to drive all day to a tournament on Friday, debate all day on Saturday and Sunday, and then make the long drive back to Lawrence on Monday.

“It’s pretty tough once you get back after a weekend like that to recuperate and be able to make it to class on Tuesday.”

Chris Stone, Derby junior, is new to the Kansas Debate team this year. He just transferred to the University from Wichita State. Stone and Bricker both said they started debating during their freshman year of high school. Stone’s father had been a debater, so he decided to give debate a shot.

“When you start, it’s a little harder,” Stone said. “You don’t really know what’s going on.”

The KU debate team competes in tournaments nearly every other weekend from September to April. Two-person teams from opposing schools match-up and debate the topic.

With months of tournaments, Stone and Bricker said some arguments get kind of strange.

“Some teams make arguments that say like, large amounts of the population should die off,” Stone said.

Bricker said Kansas’ debaters come from all fields and majors. Bricker is a math major, while Stone is majoring in Economics and Political Science.

“Many of the people really enjoy the social aspect of debating. The fact that you get to hang out with the same people every weekend,” Bricker said. “Some of them enjoy the more academic parts, and some enjoy the workload. It’s really grueling, but some people find that it’s really enjoyable. The really good debaters find a balance between all three of those.”

Bricker’s days as college debater are numbered. He said he wants to go to law school or earn a graduate degree in communications and become a debate coach.

But for now, Bricker will continue the long hours of daily research on foreign policy. He said there’s not secret to being a skillful debater.

“Anybody that works hard can be a good debater,” Bricker said.

-Edited by Samuel Lamb