Debate Team hosts
Intramural Debate Tournament
Thursday, Dec 16, 2010
Thirty-eight novice
debaters battled one another with good natured rhetoric at the 17th Annual
Intramural Debate Tournament sponsored by the Whitman College Speech and Debate
Team, held on campus in early December.
The tournament format consisted of two one-on-one debates, with the winner
decided by a judge, 16 debaters walked away with top honors. The hot-button
topic of the tournament was the legalization of marijuana in the United
States. Each debater took a turn arguing both sides of the issue.
“It is a chance for students to express their opinions, to present and defend
their ideas in a comfortable atmosphere,” said Jim Hanson, professor of
forensics and debate coach since 1992. “Some like it so much that they
come up to me at the end of the debates and ask if they can join our regular
debate program.”
With the field divided into three levels, top honors were earned by attaining a
record of 2-0 for those in the inexperienced division and 1-1 or 2-0 for both
the intermediate and experienced divisions.
In addition to heated arguments, the intramural debate tournament also serves
as a social occasion for the debaters. With refreshments and ample time
supplied between the rounds, the annual event serves as a gateway into
Whitman’s regular debate program.
Debate has long-been a staple at Whitman, both the intramural program and the
intercollegiate team. Whitman’s debate team has been described as setting the
pace nationwide: they were first in the nation in the 2010 parliamentary debate
sweepstakes and the only college team to advance individual teams to the
elimination rounds in all four national championships. Also, Whitman was the
first top-tier team in the nation to go paperless, meaning debaters used
laptops and other technology instead of stacks and stacks of paper.
–Troy Cameron ‘13
