When University debate team partners John McCabe and Ben Dodds received their topic for the National Parliamentary Debate Association’s semi-finals round last spring, they quickly set to work in the 20 minutes of prep time they were allotted.
The resolution, that Russia should reinstate the Cold War with the United States, left McCabe and Dodds on the affirmative side.
“It was pretty hilarious to have to argue that one,” McCabe said, chuckling. “Nuclear war is a hard thing to support.”
Much to McCabe’s surprise, he and Dodds won the round after a heated series of arguments. In fact, they placed second in the entire NPDA spring tournament at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs just after winter term earlier this year.
The University Forensics club, which boasts about 25 students this year, usually travels about 15 times during the academic school year. This year, the team will travel as far as Akron, Ohio. Because there are no set leagues for college level debate teams, the University may compete against a variety of schools, from Lane Community College to Lewis and Clark to Western Kentucky.
MORE INFORMATIONThe debate will be tonight from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in 175 Knight Law Center. Forensics club director and Honors College Dean, David Frank, helped organized the student debate set for tonight. Frank said there will be no ruled winner. University senior Ben Dodds will be arguing in support of Barack Obama and University senior John McCabe will argue John McCain’s main points. The Forensics club meets as a class, HC 399, on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4 p.m. to 5:20 p.m in 203 Chapman. |
McCabe and Dodds agreed general debate preparation usually requires about 40 hours a week of reading and speech time. Reading a 100-page article in a given night is a light load, Dodds said.
“My whole childhood, I’d be in discussion and I’d get the ‘this isn’t a debate’ response,” Dodds recalled. “But the interpersonal communication and arguments really help you choose your battles and understand when to use the silver tongue for good and when to not bother.”
Last weekend, the Forensics club drove the approximate 1,000 miles to Laramie, Wyo., for a national debate tournament where they took home first place.
“It’s a very competitive tournament,” Forensics club coach Aaron Donaldson said. “We won Wyoming for the first time in over five years.”
Donaldson said the Wyoming tournament draws all the best schools in the nation, making the first place win a real triumph for club members.
“Ben and John got to go to the national championship last year, so this year, with the recent Wyoming win, we feel like they’re picking up right where they left off,” Donaldson said.
The dynamic duo doesn’t just argue to win either. McCabe and Dodds will debate tonight in the Knight Law Center to represent the presidential candidates in an open, public forum to educate students on the key policies prevalent in the upcoming election.
“The whole theme of the debate is to really focus on the actual issues between the two candidates,” Dodds said. “It can change people’s perception because there’s so much extra rhetoric. I think a lot of the campaign is about ads and criticizing people’s characters.”
To prepare for tonight’s debate, McCabe and Dodds have worked with Donaldson to decide the most efficient way to present the issues.
“We sat down together and wrote some jokes,” Donaldson said. “I told John to keep referring to Dodds as ‘that one.’ It’s a nice one to prepare for because usually we’re so focused on winning the debate, but this is just to help students decide. We’re not interested so much in winning as we are in accuracy.”
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