Gonzaga Debate Establishes Endowment to Support Students into the Future

It’s not every day that an opposing coach shows up on Gonzaga’s campus to sing the praises of a program they compete with year after year. But Harvard University debate coach Dallas Perkins did more than that when he visited the Gonzaga Debate reunion this spring – he opened his checkbook to make a $25,000 donation to a new debate endowment announced that night, and encouraged those gathered to do the same.

Perkins’ unexpected generosity in the name of supporting debate and what it does for students wasn’t even the highlight of the gathering April 5 in the Karen Gaffney Champions Room, where generations of Gonzaga debaters gathered for dinner, drinks and a night full of stories that had the room erupting in laughter at memories of airport crises and white-knuckle road trips through snowstorms. No, the highlight came with the announcement that Matt Fedrizzi (’11) was helping launch the endowment dedicated to supporting Gonzaga Debate into the future with a $100,000 donation. By the end of the reunion, the endowment had reached $225,000.

The reunion came in the middle of Gonzaga hosting the National Debate Tournament for the third time, welcoming 78 two-person teams from 48 schools to Spokane for a long weekend of intense intellectual exchanges and camaraderie. Binghamton University ultimately took the national championship, becoming the first New York-based college or university to win the NDT.

For Frappier, the weekend was a resounding success, even as he had to juggle tournament logistics, watching the team representing Gonzaga – Dash Weinhardt (’26) and Kaelyn Wellman (’26) – compete from a distance, and hosting a reunion for decades of the Zags Debate family. Among those on hand for the reunion were Board of Regents Chair Daniel Stoner (’91) and Board of Trustees Chair D. Michael Reilly (’81), who both spoke of the importance of Gonzaga Debate in their own lives, and to their fellow Zags’ paths of service after graduation.

Frappier is hopeful that establishing the endowment will put Gonzaga Debate on “the road to financial independence and security,” noting that the fiscal challenges in higher education often make competitive academic activities like debate a victim of budget cuts. Given its century-plus history as part of Gonzaga, Frappier believes the endowment can make sure debate is an important part of the student experience for another 100 years.

“While it will take us a while to get there, the goal is that one day the endowment is large enough to generate the revenue necessary to fund our entire travel budget,” Frappier says, adding that the weekend hosting the national championship and alumni Zags from near and far “exceeded all my expectations.”

“The highlight had to be the reunion,” he says. “It was very special to have so many generations of Zag debaters return to celebrate the program, definitely inspiring and a testament to what’s been built here over the past 100 years.”