Whitman Forensics Newsletter

Whitman Frosh Carly Johnson fainted in the middle of a Subway Sandwich restaurant on the way to Tacoma, Washington. The team was headed to a tournament at the University of Puget Sound.

So, what happened? The Whitman team had stopped at the Subway for a quick dinner before continuing on to the hotel in Tacoma, about four hours away.

Carly said she suddenly felt light-headed and dizzy and then woke up on the ground.

Jim, who was eating (there’s a surprise, huh?) in a booth, realized there was a problem right after Carly fell to the ground. “I saw a commotion and then heard someone say that Carly had fainted. I was really surprised.”

After contacting parents and 911, Carly, who hit her head in the fall, was taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation. Doctors determined dehydration and stress were the cause of the accident; they also believed she might have suffered a minor concussion. A few hours later she was released with permission to compete in the tournament the next day.

The detour to the hospital meant most students on the trip didn’t get to bed until very late in the evening especially four students that stayed with Jim and Carly at the hospital.

“Yeah, we were all pretty sleepy, but it was more important to make sure Carly was safe,” said junior Nigel Ramos-Leslie.

Despite her injury, Johnson had a fantastic performance at the tournament, nearly advancing to elimination rounds in open division at one of the toughest tournaments of the year.

The Whitman coaching staff has been proactive in preventing similar problems from reoccurring. Jim Hanson routinely reminds Carly to eat and drink more and tells students, “Don’t be mean to Carly, she might faint again!”

Whitman Conquers ISU

The Team that did well at Idaho State. Front Row: Andy, Mitch, Aaron, Jimi.

Second Row: Ali, Spencer, Tia, Dave, Gabriella. Third Row: Alex, Mitch, Tom.

The last trip the team made to Pocatello was for last year’s CEDA nationals. While the team did well overall and the tournament was well run, the tournament experience left a lot to be desired. The travel was long, it snowed the whole weekend, and since the local Applebee’s (a Jim fave) had recently burned down, the team was left to eat at a Chinese restaurant that was so bad the whole team contemplated mutiny. Needless to say, the team looked forward to this years return for the fall ISU tournament with a certain sense of trepidation.

Fortunately, it was a smashing success. The tournament ran AHEAD of schedule, finishing in just two days instead of three, and was hosted very well by Sarah Partlow, coach at ISU. Best of all, it was capped off with a Whitman victory in both divisions, with sophomores Alex Zendeh and Brian Cole taking top honors in open, and frosh Mitch Dunn and Andy Larson winning JV. As for food, a little judicious scouting ahead of time meant that the team even found excellent Indian food secreted away in downtown Pocatello. There was even time for clothes shopping on the morning drive home!

High School rivalries shake up college competition

Chris and Nick may be smiling but the truth is, they carry an internal rage of competitive feelings toward their former teammates only they can fathom.

For Whitman juniors Nick Griffin and Chris Fleming, high school memories are hard to shake. The duo, one of the top debate partnerships in the country this year, find themselves duking it out with old high school rivals every other weekend.

Fleming, an alumnus of Sprague High School in Salem, OR, has known Matt Gander since he was 14 and has debated him in high-profile rounds several times this year. Gander debates for the University of Oregon.

“It’s always fun to debate Matt,” said Fleming. “There’s definitely a little extra intensity whenever I run into him, because we have so much history going back.

The rivalry is an important one, too, as it pits two of the nation’s top teams against one another. Fleming advanced to deep elimination rounds at last year’s NPTE and Matt Gander took second place in the country last year.

Nick Griffin, Fleming’s partner this year, has an old high school rivalry of his own. The junior from Seattle knew the University of Puget Sound’s Zach Tschida in high school. The two have squared off against each other twice this year, with each side winning once.

“I definitely like beating Zach more than just about anyone else,” admitted Griffin. “It’s just more fun to win when you get bragging rights against old friends.”

Whitman CS Fashion Challenge

Daniel (holding the Kentucky Round Robin framed picture), Aaron, Nate, and Jimi.

Whitman’s current top team of Nate Cohn and Daniel Straus is undeniably good at debate. They’re currently ranked in the top 6 nationally, and have been in the late elims at many national tournaments over the last several years. In one area, however, they’re still novices: dressing themselves. As anyone who’s seen Daniel in a tie-dye shirt and sweat pants on elim day, or Nate wearing shoes with holes through the soles can attest, they’re in desperate need of fashion lessons.

To help encourage them to be more presentable, Aaron hatched the Whitman CS Fashion Challenge. At each tournament, Whitman CS is paired against another top-ranked team of debaters. Then, with the help of a debater and fashion expert from Emory, a ballot is filled out with a winner and “speaker points” for each debater. In a shocking twist, Nate and Daniel actually won their first round against Oklahoma’s top team – mostly due to one of Oklahoma’s debaters sabotaging themselves with a particularly unfortunate pair of capri pants. Time will tell whether the Fashion Challenge has any lasting effect – but in the short term, at least Daniels sweat pants have been replaced with a nice pair of khakis.

Whitman Frosh Named Nation’s Cuddliest Debater

Ethan Robertson was the consensus pick this fall for “Nation’s Cuddliest Debater.” The Whitman first year student has been described as “adorable,” “snuggly,” and “soooo cute” by judges and competitors from across the country.

“He just seems so sweet,” cooed Rachel Mosely, nationally known critic from the University of Oregon. “He just seems really nice!”

While there is no official system for determining who is the cuddliest debater, the decision was fairly obvious. Most debaters tend to be more prickly, hostile, even ferocious rather than cuddly, so Robertson’s affability tends to stand out.

Robertson endeared himself to the debate community with his amiable disposition and desire to “just get along.” He can often be heard humming tunes from major musical shows and listening to the problems of others.

“Actually, Ethan is so nice it’s almost a problem,” said Parliamentary debate coach Nick Robinson. “Sometimes he’s so friendly I’m afraid he’ll just let the other team win to be a nice guy.”

So far, however, those concerns have been unjustified. Robertson has earned a number honors in his short time on the college circuit. He has advanced to elimination rounds at two tournaments this fall.

“Well, I’m not sure why everyone thinks I’m so nice,” Ethan said, “but I guess it’s a compliment so thank you.”

Return of Crockpot Wednesday

One of the best innovations around the squadroom in recent years has been the introduction of weekly Crockpot cookouts. After one summer at the WNDI, Jim had purchased a number of Crockpots, which weren’t seeing enough use. So Allison Humble, Ali Edwards, and Aaron Hardy took it on themselves to put them into service. Many cold fall weekends last year were warmed up with homemade chili or hot apple cider.

Unfortunately, when the team returned for the fall season, the Crockpots were mysteriously missing.

This unacceptable state of affairs lasted for several months, until Aaron finally tracked down the perpetrator. Jim had inexplicably forced Allison to move all the Crockpots into his garage after the WNDI, then promptly forgot about it. Instead of producing delicious food, they had been languishing and collecting dust.

Fortunately, it was time for the debaters to do team service, so the Crockpots were liberated from the garage and brought back to their rightful home in Hunter 307 – and immediately put to use for a huge batch of chili.

Jim Hanson, Professor of Forensics

Aaron Hardy, Policy Coach

Nick Robinson, Parli-IE Coach

Jimi Durkee, Assistant Policy Coach

Nick Griffin, Student Assistant

First and Second Years Dominate Pacific Northwest

Whitman’s promising classes of 2012 and 2013 are firmly in control of the region’s top spots in JV and Novice divisions. The Missionaries have placed first or second in every major JV tournament in the region.

Whitman’s success in the JV division is led by frosh duos Miranda Morton and Katie Kight and Carly Johnson and Olivia Kipper. They closed out JV finals at Lewis and Clark and even cleared preliminary rounds in open division this fall. Frosh Ethan Robertson and Shanglun Wang and sophomores Ruben Raychoduri and Charlie Weems also advanced to elimination rounds this semester. Raychoduri and Weems also won the JV division at the University of Puget Sound’s tournament. Newcomers Skyler Bissel and Will Stark have also contributed to Whitman’s success. They took second place in novice division at the first tournament of the year. Zoe Kunkel Patterson and Cassandra Baker along with Ahmed El Kottby and Wayne Lichty made it to quarterfinals.

One reason for Whitman’s firm advantage in JV and novice divisions is that the college focuses more on developing younger debaters. The debate team kicks off each year with a week-long prep session designed to bring newcomers up to speed, and true novices can also enroll in the “fundamentals of debate” class.

Both Bissel and Stark are products of Whitman’s “fundamentals of debate” class, which gives students with no debate experience a crash course in intercollegiate competition. The class covers basic concepts like advantages and disadvantages, counterplans, and four step refutation.

“The fundamentals of debate class really helped us prepare a lot,” Stark said. “We definitely knew a lot more than most of the other teams in our division.”

Miranda, Katie, Olivia

Jim noted that: “These three are a big reason that our Parli-IE team seems headed for stratospheric success.”

2009-10 Coaching Staff

· Jim Hanson, Director of Forensics (18^th year)

· Aaron Hardy, Policy Coach (5^th year)

· Nick Robinson, Parliamentary-I.E. Coach (new)

· Jimi Durkee, Assistant Policy Coach (new)

· Nick Griffin, Student Assistant (new)

· Bob Withycombe, Professor, Rhetoric and Film Studies

· Robert Sickels, Chair, Rhetoric and Film Studies

· George Bridges, President, Whitman College

· Tim Kaufman-Osborn, Dean of Faculty

· Chuck Cleveland, Dean of Students

2009-10 Participants (41 students)

Adam McKibben, Alex Zendeh, Ali Edwards, Allison Humble, Andy Larson, Brian Cole, Carly Johnson, Charlie Weems, Chris Fleming, Daniel Straus, Dave Mathews, Drake Skaggs, Ethan Robertson, Harry Hixon, Gabriella Friedman, John-Henry Heckendorn, Kate Kight, Kyle Moen, Lewis Silver, Margaret Yang, Miranda Morton, Mitch Dunn, Nate Cohn, Nick Griffin, Nigel Ramoz-Leslie, Olivia Kipper, Ruben Raychaudhuri, Sean (Shanglun) Wang, Spencer Janyk, Tia Butler, Tim Wilder, Tom Friedenbach.

Plus Ahmed El Kottby, Allison Ramp, Cassandra Baker, Hadley Jolley, Lindy Jacobs, Skyler Bissell, Wayne Lichty, Will Stark, Zoe Kunkel-Patterson.

Remy Wilcox recognized at the High School Tournament

Remy Wilcox returned to campus this November to be recognized for her role in beginning the high school tournament. The tournament has been and continues to be a hallmark of Whitman’s excellence and service to the forensic community. Begun in the early 1970s, Remy, Bob, and Jim have built the tournament into one of the Northwest’s best.

Remy gave a short but very gracious speech to the tournament participants during awards. She emphasized the values of the tournament and the importance of forensics.

Her tireless work on behalf of the forensics program and her friendly and supportive demeanor have earned her high praise, that, in some small way, is hopefully acknowledged in naming the high school tournament, the Remy Wilcox tournament.

The Fall IM Tournament

This Fall’s IM Competition featured debates over whether oil resources in the Arctic should be developed.

The Tournament was well attended and featured the traditional IM T-Shirts, Snack Break (Foodies!), and Cash Prizes.

Full Info is at: http://www.whitman.edu/rhetoric/51im.htm

Zoe was honored with Top Honors in the Intermediate Division.

Skyler was also honored with Top Honors in Intermediate Division.

Galen was the top competitor in the Experienced Division.

Ross Helps Out!

Ross Richendrfer comes back to help out the team. Ross joined us for the WNPT and is helping us research and prepare for upcoming policy tournaments.

First Row: Gabriella, Tia (holding a Jim Frisbee), Ross, and Jimi.

Second Row: Mitch, Adam, Dave, Andy, and Aaron.

Bob Withycombe wins the Professor of the Year Award

Bob Withycombe

Bob Withycombe, well known for his stints as Director of Forensics at Whitman (1980-1993), as Associate Dean of Faculty (mid 1990s), and as past and upcoming Chair of the Rhetoric and Film Studies department, has won the Washington State Professor of the Year award.

Bob is an amazing instructor and was one of only 38 selected this year. Jim noted “I’ve gone to Bob’s classes for peer reviews and he is outstanding. He made even me like Augustine. As a colleague, I could not ask for anyone better. The success he achieved as a coach, not to mention the foundation for future success he accomplished, speak to the spectacular contribution he has made to rhetoric instruction, our debate program, and the larger community at Whitman College. Bob is a very special person.”

He continues to be a big help to the debate program and we are proud that one of our tournaments is named after him (The Bob Withycombe Parli-IE Classic Tournament, held in February each year).

An endowment exists in Bob’s honor as well, established by Megan Salzman-Medica and John Medica, that provides resources for our debate program’s travel.

Pictures from the Parli-IE Holiday Party

Ruben, Katie

Sean, Nigel

Harry, Miranda

Ethan, Kyle

Tim, Drake

Nick, Carly

Olivia and Nick, Olivia

Charlie, John Henry

Pictures from the Policy Holiday Party

Allison and Spencer, Mitch

Lewis, Gabriella

Tia and Adam

Andy, Aaron

Alex, Tom and Ali

Dave, Jimi, and Brian, Nate

Contributions to the Team

We are grateful for your contributions to the forensic team! Generous donors May 11, 2009 through December 10, 2009 include:

· Abigail Joy St. Lawrence

· Benjamin Aaron Meiches

· Brian Marshall Simmonds

· Bridget Suzanne Kustin

· Daphne Teals and Drummond Kahn

· David A. and Mary Jo Cole

· James B. Hanson

· Janice Sandra Berman

· Jason P. Smith

· PG&E Corporation Foundation

· Rebekah Johnson Foster

· Robert M. Withycombe

· Ryan James Hagemann

· Samantha Howell

· Theodore Braden Blank V

If we missed you, please tell us because we do appreciate your support!

Send contributions to

The Annual Fund Office

Whitman College

Walla Walla WA 99362

Checks should be made out to Whitman College with a note that says to place the contribution into one of the Debate Team Funds (Salzman-Medica, Withycombe, Walker, or just say “For Debate”).

The Policy Team

1^st row: Allison

2^nd row: Gabriella, Tia, Tom, Ali, Aaron

3^rd row: Dave, Mitch, Tom

4^th row: Jimi, Andy, Spencer, Alex, Nate.

Not pictured: Lewis, Brian, Daniel.

2009-10 Policy Awards

ADAM MCKIBBEN AND JAMES STEVENSON (HYBRID)

WNPT, FIRST JV

ALEX ZENDEH AND BRIAN COLE

Gonzaga, DOUBLES

Idaho State, FIRST

ALEX ZENDEH AND TOM FRIEDENBACH

Kentucky, 4-3

ANDY LARSON AND MITCH DUNN

Idaho State, FIRST, JV

ALLISON HUMBLE AND LEWIS SILVER

ALI EDWARDS AND SPENCER JANYK

Gonzaga, OCTAS

Idaho State, SEMIS

WNPT, SEMIS

Wake Forest, 4-2

DAVE MATHEWS AND GABRIELLA FRIEDMAN

WNPT, SEMIS

DANIEL STRAUS AND NATE COHN

Gonzaga, SEMIS

Kentucky Round Robin, FOURTH

Kentucky, QUARTERS

Harvard, OCTAS

Wake Forest, QUARTERS

Dartmouth Round Robin Bid.

NIGEL RAMOZ-LESLIE AND TIA BUTLER

WNPT QUARTERS

TIA BUTLER AND TOM FRIEDENBACH

Idaho State QUARTERS

View our new Awards Page: http://www.whitman.edu/rhetoric/000sweeps.htm

The Parli Team

1^st row: Nigel, Carly

2^nd row: Katie, John Henry, Charlie

3^rd row: Olivia, Miranda, Zoe, Will, Harry

4^th row: Nick, Drake, Kyle, Skyler, Nick, Chris.

Not pictured: Ruben, Tim.

2009-10 Parli and IE Awards

AHMED EL KOTTBY AND WAYNE LICHTY

PLU, QUARTERS Novice

ALLISON RAMP AND HADLEY JOLEY

CARLY JOHNSON AND OLIVIA KIPPER

Lewis and Clark, Extemp, JV, THIRD

CARLY JOHNSON AND OLIVIA KIPPER

PLU, DOUBLES

Lewis and Clark, FIRST, JV

CASSANDRA BAKER AND ZOE KUNKEL PATTERSON

PLU, QUARTERS Novice

CHARLIE WEEMS AND RUBEN RAYCHAUDHURI

Lewis and Clark, FIRST, JV

UPS, FIRST, JV

CHRIS FLEMING AND KYLE MOEN

College of Idaho, GOLD 5-1

CHRIS FLEMING AND NICK GRIFFIN

PLU, QUARTERS

Lewis and Clark, OCTAS

UPS Round Robin Participant.

UPS, OCTAS

DRAKE SKAGGS

Lewis and Clark, Jr Impromptu, THIRD

DRAKE SKAGGS AND TIM WILDER

PLU, DOUBLES

UPS, QUARTERS

College of Idaho, BRONZE 4-2

ETHAN ROBERTSON AND SEAN WANG

Lewis and Clark, JV, QUARTERS

UPS, JV, SEMIS

JOHN-HENRY HECKENDORN

Lewis and Clark Impromptu, JV, SECOND

JOHN-HENRY HECKENDORN AND NIGEL RAMOZ-LESLIE

PLU, QUARTERS

Lewis and Clark, QUARTERS

UPS, SECOND

HARRY HIXON

Lewis and Clark, Extemp, SIXTH

HARRY HIXON AND KYLE MOEN

KATIE KIGHT

Lewis and Clark, Nov Impromptu, 6^th

KATIE KIGHT AND MIRANDA MORTON

PLU, OCTAS

Lewis and Clark, FIRST, JV

LINDY JACOBS AND MARGARET YANG

OLIVIA KIPPER

Lewis and Clark, Jr Impromptu, SEMIS

MIRANDA MORTON

Lewis and Clark, Jr Impromptu, SEMIS

SEAN WANG

Lewis and Clark, Jr Impromptu, SEMIS

SKYLER BISSELL AND WILL START

PLU, SECOND Novice

View our new Awards Page: http://www.whitman.edu/rhetoric/000sweeps.htm

Katie, Miranda, Ethan, Kyle, Tim Sean, Tim, Chris, Carly, Olivia

Thanks for Reading the Newsletter!