Debate starts strong season

By Joey Capparella     10/7/10 7:00pm

Rice's speech and debate team, the George R. Brown Forensics Society, found success in their first tournament of the year and looks ahead to a big season.This year, the team's numbers have doubled compared to last year, increasing to 20 members from 10.

Assistant Director of Forensics Glenn Prince said he is happy to see increased interest in debate.

"There's an inordinate number of Rice students who did debate in high school but not all of them make it to the college level for various reasons," Prince said. "This year, we made an effort to raise our visibility with fliers and announcements and it seemed to work."

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Prince said that there are only three veterans on the team this year, as the remaining four returning members are abroad this semester, meaning that the majority of the team is made up of newcomers.

Brown freshman Karl Schaefer is one of these newcomers.

"I did debate in high school for four years and when I was a prospective student at Rice, I stayed with a member of the debate team," Schaefer said. "When I got here, I talked to Glenn and decided to do it."

Team Captain Katie Donovan, a Martel College junior, feels that the newcomers have already made a meaningful contribution to the team.

"It's good to see new faces because it gives us more manpower to have better depth of knowledge in our arguments," Donovan said. "Also, the veterans are able to hone their skills by explaining things to the newcomers."

The team's first competition of the year was Sept. 10-12, when they competed in a regional tournament at the University of Houston consisting of 40 teams and 150 individuals from 14 universities.

Rice won three team awards and 16 individual awards, winning 38 debates overall.

In one section of the tournament, called the Lincoln Douglas Debates, Rice "closed out," meaning that only Rice teams were left in the elimination bracket after the preliminary rounds, ending the event early.

Prince said that, despite the inexperienced nature of the team, he felt that their performance at the tournament was very good.

The team has since competed in two other tournaments, one at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas and the other at Lone Star College-Kingwood, the results of which have not yet been announced.

Looking ahead, Donovan said that she has clear goals in mind.

"I hope to see a rise in the national rankings by the national tournament, and I'd also love to see a growth of our speech program in particular," Donovan said. "In the past, we've been focused mostly on debate, but I think the newcomers will respond well to an increased emphasis on speech as well."

In addition to future tournaments, the team has a few more public events planned.

On Oct. 18, Rice debaters will appear on a local late-night talk show, "Late Night Latte," to participate in a public debate concerning issues in the upcoming election. This debate will be against Texas Southern University.

On Oct. 27, the Forensics Society, in conjunction with the School of Humanities, will host scholars from "The Project on Race and Political Communication" to debate the topic "Who can use the N-Word?"

Prince said this interdisciplinary event exemplifies what debate is all about.

"Debating teaches valuable skills that matter later in life," Prince said. "It can be useful for science and non-science majors alike.

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