2008 Woodie Awards
Debate team argues its way to the top, defeating Dartmouth
Stacey Caswell
Issue date: 3/4/04 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Students prone to argumentative discussions finally had the opportunity to put their skills to good use.
Marist College hosted the Northeast Regional Championship debate from Saturday, Feb. 28 through Sunday, Feb. 29.
Representative debaters from over 15 different universities around the Northeast, including Harvard, Boston University, SUNY Buffalo and the Rochester Institute of Technology, traipsed the campus in hopes of becoming one of eight teams to win an
invitation to the upcoming National Public Debate Tournament in Virginia.
Amidst the back and forth of bantering of students, members of the Marist Debate team rose to the occasion and placed twelfth at the conference, beating rival Dartmouth.
The debate consisted of two-person teams who worked together to formulate valid debates against other teams. The first presents the topic and starts the debate by stating their position. Then the second speaker chimes in with the advantages of their plan for the specific topic and how they plan to sketch their argument and smooth it into a functioning position.
Juniors Matthew Hannon and Matthew Gardner were members of the winning Marist team. Through the use of music and other interactive media, they focused on the use of hip-hop music as a means of educating people before they are recruited to lead military lives. Selections included songs by Paris, Dead Presidents, Immortal Technique and David Rovics.
"We let the music get up there and make the arguments for us," Hannon said.
The groups spend over 20 hours a week working together to research material to prepare for their debates, and talk about "some of the 'strategery' of how the round is going to play out," according to Hannon.
"Debate is like mental chess and you have got to know how to move your pieces correctly," he said.
Debates take place on the weekends during which time teams have the opportunity to travel to other schools nationwide to match wits with some of the fastest thinking minds at other universities.
Dr. Maxwell Schnurer, advisor of the debate team, said that these types of educational
confrontations are some of the most important forms of communication and analysis.
"Debate is an intellectual exercise where students learn to organize their thoughts and express themselves," he said. " It is the highest level of critical thinking."
The group is planning to travel to the Novice National Championships at Towsen University in Maryland for its next verbal contest.
In addition, during Spring Break, Schnurer, Hannon, Gardner, and two other members of the debate team, Chris Arena and Robin Westland, will travel to the National Public Debate where teams compete for a variety of prizes, including a final award of $10,000.
Overall Schnurer was pleased with the performance of the team and is eagerly looking ahead to the upcoming championships.
" I was really proud of their work," he said. "We worked like crazy for this."
Marist College hosted the Northeast Regional Championship debate from Saturday, Feb. 28 through Sunday, Feb. 29.
Representative debaters from over 15 different universities around the Northeast, including Harvard, Boston University, SUNY Buffalo and the Rochester Institute of Technology, traipsed the campus in hopes of becoming one of eight teams to win an
invitation to the upcoming National Public Debate Tournament in Virginia.
Amidst the back and forth of bantering of students, members of the Marist Debate team rose to the occasion and placed twelfth at the conference, beating rival Dartmouth.
The debate consisted of two-person teams who worked together to formulate valid debates against other teams. The first presents the topic and starts the debate by stating their position. Then the second speaker chimes in with the advantages of their plan for the specific topic and how they plan to sketch their argument and smooth it into a functioning position.
Juniors Matthew Hannon and Matthew Gardner were members of the winning Marist team. Through the use of music and other interactive media, they focused on the use of hip-hop music as a means of educating people before they are recruited to lead military lives. Selections included songs by Paris, Dead Presidents, Immortal Technique and David Rovics.
"We let the music get up there and make the arguments for us," Hannon said.
The groups spend over 20 hours a week working together to research material to prepare for their debates, and talk about "some of the 'strategery' of how the round is going to play out," according to Hannon.
"Debate is like mental chess and you have got to know how to move your pieces correctly," he said.
Debates take place on the weekends during which time teams have the opportunity to travel to other schools nationwide to match wits with some of the fastest thinking minds at other universities.
Dr. Maxwell Schnurer, advisor of the debate team, said that these types of educational
confrontations are some of the most important forms of communication and analysis.
"Debate is an intellectual exercise where students learn to organize their thoughts and express themselves," he said. " It is the highest level of critical thinking."
The group is planning to travel to the Novice National Championships at Towsen University in Maryland for its next verbal contest.
In addition, during Spring Break, Schnurer, Hannon, Gardner, and two other members of the debate team, Chris Arena and Robin Westland, will travel to the National Public Debate where teams compete for a variety of prizes, including a final award of $10,000.
Overall Schnurer was pleased with the performance of the team and is eagerly looking ahead to the upcoming championships.
" I was really proud of their work," he said. "We worked like crazy for this."