College Hosts Debate Tournament

Author: Nicole Maddox

Last weekend, the Middlebury Debate Society hosted the annual Edwin R. Lawrence Debate Tournament, which began on Friday afternoon and ran late into Saturday evening. Almost 50 teams gathered in Bicentennial Hall, including representatives from Amherst, Vassar, Trinity, Wesleyan, Bates, Dartmouth and Williams colleges and Boston, Brandeis, Brown, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton and Yale universities, as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
As determined by the American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA), the contestants proceeded in the style of debate instituted in the British Houses of Parliament. During a round, two teams of two people each were designated as either the government or the opposition. The government team (comprised of the prime minister and the member of the government) then proposed a topic and presented an argument for one side of the case, while the opposition (comprised of the leader of the opposition and the member of the opposition) formulated an opposing argument. The speakers argued alternately with members of the other team, which was concluded with final rebuttals from each side.
"We debate, in theory, anything and everything," said Tournament Director Dan Shea '04. "Most cases involve a political question or philosophical dilemma, but other than that a case just must be 'debatable' or 'fair.' There are no restrictions on what a government side can run. It's a pretty interesting, if somewhat bizarre, activity to watch."
The tournament did indeed approach the bizarre at some points. Topics of debate ranged from the United States' war on drugs and positions on many international issues to animal cruelty in traveling circuses to hypothetical situations such as "if the mind of a middle-aged man was suddenly transplanted into the body of a dog, should he live with a family as a pet or wander the streets as a stray?"
The final round featured a showdown between two hybrid teams, Patrick Nichols '03 from MIT and Aaron Lemon-Strauss '03 from Yale as the government, and Adam Unikowsky '03 from MIT and Mike Specian '03 from Boston University (BU) as the opposition. The finalists debated "Has religion, on balance throughout civilization, been a good or bad force?" with the government taking the negative standpoint. After 40 minutes of intense argument, the BU/MIT team triumphed and won the tournament title.
At the end of the tournament, awards were distributed to the top-finishing teams, as well as to the winners of several sub-categories, including Best Novice Speakers, Best Novice Teams, Top Ten Speakers and Best Dressed.
Overall, the tournament was considered a success. "Almost 50 Middlebury students contributed their time to helping run the event," commented Middlebury Debate Society Captain Lisa Jasinski '02.5, "a real testament to the growing interest in public speaking and debate on campus."
Debaters from off-campus were generally impressed, and specifically mentioned Middlebury's extraordinary hospitality. "The debate tournament at Middlebury has very good food!" said Williams debater Dan Bahls '04. Georgios Theophanous '06 from Harvard added, "The banquet was fabulous. We were particularly enthused by the open slab of beef."