1985-1986

The Faculty

Bob Withycombe, Director of Forensics

Whitman News

A. Robert Skotheim was the college president.

B. Peter Allen was the ASWC president.

C. Tuition was $10, 896, an eight percent increase over the previous year.

D. The Vienna Boys Choir and George Carlin visited Whitman.

E. Campus security was a hot issue as police rolled a sorority dance and a creeper was arrested for rape.

F. Whitman students built a shanty town on the lawn of Memorial to protest South African apartheid.

G. Whitman celebrated the 100^th anniversary of the school’s first graduating class.

H. Whitman created its first AIDS policy.

Speech Courses

Courses remain the same.

Speech Department Description: Courses treat public speaking as a liberal art, proposing that such speaking is not a skill learned by rule but an exercise of judgment that can be no better than the speaker's understanding of the nature of the communicative acts.

SPEECH 110. Fundamentals of Speech, 3 hours. (description changes; 11 and 12 are focus more on delivery and articulation)

SPEECH 221, 222. Principles and Practice of Forensics, 1 hours (individual events), 2 hours (debate).

SPEECH 270. Argumentation and Persuasion, 3 hours.

SPEECH 370. Seminar: Western Rhetorical Thinking, 3 hours.

World News

A. Rock Hudson died (of AIDS) opening America’s eyes to the disease and to sexuality issues.

B. The Strategic Defense Initiative aka “Star Wars” dominated headlines.

C. South African divestment sparked nationwide campus protests.

D. Memorial services were held for the Challenger astronauts after their shuttle exploded killing all aboard.

E. Howard Cosell retired from sports casting after 20 years with ABC.

F. The Seattle based music group Heart’s self-titled album went number 1.

G. President Reagan and Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev met for the first time.

H. Intel introduced the 386 computer chip which would, later, power Windows 3.0 and bring in the Windows age of computers.

Team Awards

A. Members of the team included John Lange, Drummond Kahn, David Johnson, Todd Brown, David Bansmer, Erik Highberg, David Hackett, Nate Johnson, Lanora Welker, and Glenn Simshaw, and Leola Weimer, and Carla Elston.

B. Whitman hosted a high school debate tournament with 700 participants.

C. Whitman also hosted the last Northwest Forensics Conference tournament of the season, where the question of whether UN membership benefits the United States was debated. Jim Hanson, future director, debated at the tournament.

D. Whitman took fifth at the University of Nevada-Reno tournament.

E. Kahn and Hackett were first at the Reno and UCLA tournaments.

F. Nancy Hilpert and Highberg were third at the Reno tournament.