News from Vermont Debate 10-1-02

[PHOTO]
| Rochester winners left to right [seated] Lana Langsweirdt, Teresa Hill, Jen Knops; [standing] Brian Cole, Tim Reimer, Christine Welch, Leo Velez, Jake Meany, Jillian Marty |

UVM debate made a huge splash at the Rochester tournament to begin their eastern campaign of 2002-2003. With 12 teams attending the tournament, the group was bigger than noted in last week's newsletter. Several other teams added after press time and it took three full vans to get everyone there.

In the varsity division Jillian Marty and Jake Meany were 5-1 in prelims, making them the second seeded team for elimination rounds. They defeated Ithaca College 3-0 in octafinals, defeated Army 3-0 in quarterfinals, defeated Pittsburgh 3-0 in semifinals, and then defeated the top seeded Pittsburgh team 2-1 in the final round to capture the tournament championship. Meanwhile, the team of Jen Knops and Lana Langsweirdt were 5-1 in prelims and fourth seed. They defeated Cornell 3-0 in octafinals, and then met the UVM team of Sheila Limprevil and Edwin Owusu in quarterfinals and advanced to the semifinals where they lost to top-seeded Pittsburgh 3-0. Sheila and Edwin had defeated Cornell 3-0 in octafinals. Brian Cole and Teresa Hill also reached the elimination rounds and lost to top-seeded Pittsburgh 3-0. Jake Meany was the 9th speaker in varsity.

In the novice division there was also considerable success. Tim Reimer and Christine Welch were 4-2 after prelims and 6th seed. They defeated Cornell 3-0 in octafinals, and then defeated Binghamton 2-1 in quarterfinals before losing 3-0 to eventual novice champion West Virginia in semifinals, to finish third place at their very first tournament ever. Other teams reached the elimination rounds, including Leo Velez and Carlos Varela, Mojira Suyarkulova and Alexandru Balas, and Cody Rounds and Lindsey Melander, but all three lost their octafinal debates. Tim Reimer was the 6th speaker and Christine Welch was the 3rd speaker. Great start to our novice year!

Congratulations to those attending their first tournament with the LDU: Eric Mates, Whitney Smith, Michael Malone, Ani Mukherjee, Ryan O'Connor, Amy Vaillancourt, Sarah Ptalis, Oliver Matthews, Lindsey Melander, Tim Reimer, Christine Welch, Mojira Suyarkulova, Alexandru Balas, and Shana Bryce.

Special thanks go to those who helped support the weekend by going along to judge and assist the coaches, including Charlie Hoag, Greta Lockwood, Matt Sweeney, Julianne Hellmuth. Coaches Helen Morgan and Justin Parmett were lauded at the squad meeting for their excellent work.
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MY INTERESTING WEEKEND -- by Alfred C. "Tuna" Snider

[PHOTO] [PHOTO]
| UVM coach Snider with Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes set | Canadian students win Pan American Schools Championships |

As if a normal debate weekend where we are taking a dozen or so teams to a tournament isn't hectic enough, several things made this weekend even more hectic. To begin, I had been asked to give a lecture at the Fleming Museum about Jamaican history and culture to kick off their new exhibit, "Soon Come: the Art of Contemporary Jamaica." Then, later on CBS had asked me to come to NYC to film a segment for an upcoming story they are doing about Urban Debate Leagues. They wanted me there on Thursday night but I still wanted to do the Fleming lecture. We ended up moving the Fleming lecture up a bit and so that I could leave immediately and catch my plane. The lecture was well-attended and I thought it went well, even though I would have preferred to speak longer and stay around to answer questions. I was able to get to my plane on time and even though rain was blanketing the east coast, I did get to NYC that night and checked into the Parker Meridien (the type of expensive hotel I would never stay in without outside sponsorship). The next morning I was off to CBS news. The interview went very well, or so the producer said. It lasted about 45 minutes. There is no air-date yet, but I will try and keep you informed when the story will run. They seemed to like me and I wouldn't be surprised if I wasn't asked back on another story, but I'll keep that matter quiet for now. After leaving CBS News I went to a restaurant in midtown where the final banquet for the Pan American Schools Championship had been taking place all week long. I had been asked to give the keynote speech, and I thought it would be an excellent way to make new international debate connections. I watched the final round between Canada 1 and Canada 2, and found it to be of high quality and very enjoyable. I learned that USA 1 and Argentina 1 had been the losing semifinalist teams. The speech seemed to go over well, and was entitled "Debate's new emphasis on empowerment." After the speech and some farewells I headed off to the airport for my flight to Rochester, and I did arrive after multiple searches and considerable delays due to weather. I arrived in Rochester and started working on tabbing the tournament and getting things organized. I had an interesting start to the weekend, but I would have to say that the most enjoyable part of it all was being with my debaters and watching them perform, especially the novice debaters. We have to keep our priorities straight.

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PUBLIC DEBATE -- USA MILITARY ACTION AGAINST IRAQ IS THE ISSUE

October 10, 2002, 8 PM, Lafayette 108.
Rob Hunt is the coordinator.
Topic: USA military action against Iraq is justified.
Affirmative: Teresa Hill & Shana Bryce
Negative: Charles Hoag & Tim Reimer
Poster design: Tuna
Postering: Linder, Balas, Reimer, Massey, Meany, Cole, Bryce
PR: Tuna

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TOPIC AND TRAVEL

2002-2003 topic:
Resolved that the United States Federal Government should ratify or accede to, and implement, one or more of the following: The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty; The Kyoto Protocol; The Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court; The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty; The treaty between the United States of America and the Russian federation on Strategic Offensive Reductions, if not ratified by the United States.

LDU travel schedule:
October, 12-13 Vermont, 19-20 Cap Cities, 26-28 Harvard
November, 1-3 West Point , 8-10 Central Oklahoma, 15-17 Wake Forest, 16-17 Binghamton, 23-24 Columbia
January, 6-8 UMKC, 3-5 William Jewell, TBA Belgrade (Yugoslavia) Open
February, 1-2 Cornell, 7-9 Western Washington, 14-16 Kansas, 21-23 East Regionals/D8
March, 28-02 Towson, 20-24 CEDA Nationals, AZ
April, 3-7 NDT, GA
May, TBA Tercer Torneo Hispanoamericano de Debate
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RESEARCH THIS WEEK

Jillian Marty is our research director.
RESEARCH ASSIGNMENTS DUE THURSDAY BY 5 PM - PRINTED FOR ALL!
ASSIGNMENTS POSTED IN THE OFFICE, NO LONGER IN THE NEWSLETTER (SORRY TO OUR OPPONENTS WHO LOOK FOR THEM)

TWO WEEK RESEARCH ASSIGNMENTS WERE HANDED OUT.

STARTING NEXT WEEK WE WILL ASSIGN TREATIES TO 5 PEOPLE FOR REGULAR UPDATES.

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NEWS FROM THE SQUAD MEETING

LDU GARB IS NOW IN THE PLANNING STAGE. KAYCE MASSEY WILL BE BRINGING OPTIONS FOR US NEXT WEEK, EVERYONE SHOULD COME UP WITH A SLOGAN OR DESIGN IF THEY WANT TO.
COACH SNIDER IS ON HIS WAY TO POLAND THIS WEEKEND FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DEBATE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION GLOBAL CONFERENCE IN CRACOW.
KAYCE MASSEY'S FUNDRAISING EFFORT RAISED $140 FOR THE LDU TO DEPOSIT IN OUR SGA ACCOUNT.

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MEETINGS THIS WEEK

NOVICE TRAINING #6: FLOWING AND OTHER COMMON PROBLEMS, 9:30 PM TUESDAY WITH TUNA
ADVANCED TRAINING: SCHEDULE REBUTTAL REDOS WITH HELEN & JUSTIN
PUBLIC DEBATE MEETING - THURSDAY 5:30 PM, DEBATE OFFICE
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PRACTICE DEBATES

SOME WERE SCHEDULED BUT SOMEONE ERASED THE BLACKBOARD. PLEASE LET COACHES KNOW WHEN THEY ARE TO BE HELD.
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DEBATE SPOTLIGHT!

[PHOTO] Shana Bryce

NICKNAME: Krazee Torres
HOME TOWN: Brooklyn, NY
MAJOR:English
CAREER PLANS (IF ANY):To be a hs teacher and have a literary magazine for all hs students in New York to contribute to; write and publish a fiction novel
LEVEL OF DEBATE COMPETITION: junior varsity
FAVORITE MUSIC IN THE VAN: Buju Banton and Bob Marley
PET PEEVE:funky/smelly people
I AM GRATEFUL FOR: my ability to write
WORST MOMENT IN DEBATE:going from 1st place team to 16th place team
FAVORITE THING ABOUT DEBATE: that it allows me to be aggressive without labeling me as a bitch
LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT DEBATE: judges who don't pay attention in the round to arguments
FAVORITE DEBATE SPEECH: both the 1ar and 1nr
MOST INSPIRATIONAL PERSON ON THE TEAM (AND WHY): my most inspirational person is Helen. She got me involved in feminism and helped to make me the
feminist I am today
WHAT DEBATE MEANS TO ME: means that I can talk about things and not be told to shut up.
MY PERSONAL CHALLENGE: I have done debate for two years and always did the ones on both aff and neg so I want to try and be a good 2a
SAY WHATEVER YOU WANT: Well it is nice to be here in Vermont. Hopefully I can get my debate sister Chastiry to come out here and join so we can stomp on