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Debaters prepare for international event
By Emily Stack
Collegian Freelancer
Four members of the Hillsdale College debate
team will compete at Cambridge University and Oxford University
against teams from England and continental Europe.
Kyle Jackson, Will Smiley, Michael Francisco and Victor Joecks
will use the knowledge and experience gained from both the World
Debate Institute conference trip last summer to Vermont and
from a year of competition in parliamentary debate.
"The invitations to the Oxford and Cambridge University
debate tournaments are honors that our four students have earned
through hard work and determination. These are prestigious events
on the European debate calendar, and we are privileged to participate,"
coach Dan Henning said.
Hillsdale debaters were invited to attend last year, but there
was no room in the team's budget to go. This year the college
will pay for almost the entire trip.
Debate tournaments in England are held in a different format
called parliamentary debate, or "parley" for short.
Four teams of two debaters on each team divide into "opposition"
or "government." Each team is given 15 minutes to
prepare a case without the aid of documents or evidence.
To win, a team must appeal to common knowledge and experience.
The government team argues for a body of legislation while the
opposition tries to prove the government's stance as false
In preparatoin, the team has held weekly practice rounds to
work on theory and topicality issues.
"I read [the Wall Street Journal] daily, the Drudge Report
and keep up on current events," Joecks said.
Jackson said he prepares by "doing practice rounds and
keeping up on European affairs."
Henning is confident in the team's ability.
"Thomas Roebuck of Oxford and Jolene Tan of Cambridge extended
personal invitations to us is an indication of the respect they
have for our debaters," Henning said.
"I'm looking forward to showing the world Hillsdale's high-quality
debate team," Joecks said.
In between the tournaments, the group will tour London.
"We're going to England to debate with a week in between
tournaments. How cool is that?" Joecks said.
Despite the team's enthusiasm to travel, their passion is debate.
"The best thing about debate is when the personalities
involved and you have a chance to exercise your intellect in
ways you otherwise wouldn't," Jackson said.
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Tyler Horning/Collegian
Victor Joecks (L), Kyle
Jackson, Michael Francisco and Will Smiley practice debating.
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