Acclaimed ESU duo debates TU
Alistair Cormack, Alex Just stop at Trinity as part of 3 month, 32 school tour
Eric Washburn
Issue date: 10/26/07 Section: Trinity Life
- Page 1 of 2 next >
|
The event, part of a three month tour of 32 U.S. colleges, brought two?members of the Trinity community head to head with the European team in a debate centered on the United States' current involvement in the Iraq conflict.?The event marked the first debate of this kind ever to appear at Trinity University.
ESU debaters Alex Just and Alistair Cormack defended the position that all U. S. troops should be withdrawn from Iraq, citing the effects of the war on the U.S. economy and the destructive effects of the U.S. military presence on Iraqi independence.? Trinity's representatives, Assistant Professor of Speech and Drama and Director of Debate Jarrod Atchison and Senior Martha King, argued against this resolution, claiming that the U.S. military presence is actually constructive, and that, as the instigators of the conflict, there is a moral responsibility to remain to the end.
The debate differed from most traditional academic debates.?Instead of lasting for the typical two and a half hours, the debate was shortened to one hour and consisted of four constructive speeches, four cross examination speeches and two rebuttal speeches.?No panel of judges was present to determine a winner; instead, the debate was constructed in order to inspire dialogue among audience members, Atchison said.
"We put this together as a public debate," Atchison said.? "We wanted to encourage conversation afterwards; audience members can decide amongst themselves who the winner was."
First Year Patrick Garretson, a member of Trinity's debate team, and First Year Emmett Crockett said that the British debate team was amazing, and that their critical and analytical abilities were incredible compared to others they had seen.
Be the first to comment on this story