The Voice of Edwin is the weekly newsletter of the Edwin Lawrence Debate Union at the University of Vermont, an endowed co-curricular program which trains students in debating and sponsors national competition and community events. Alfred C. Snider is the Director. 802-656-0097 voice, 802-238-8345 mobile, 656-4275 fax, asnider@zoo.uvm.edu email, and http://debate.uvm.edu/ldu.html web site. The LDU meets every Monday night at 6 PM at 475 Main Street.

VERMONT WINS CORNELL TOURNAMENT
Six Teams In Elimination Rounds
Six Speaker Awards

5 of 13 silver plates won at Cornell | Daniel Serfer & Aaron Fishbone

Teddy Malley | Jennifer Knops

Allana Alexander & Mark Douglas | Helen Morgan & Sarah Snider

UVM entered eight teams at the Cornell tournament, the largest contingent sent by any school, but it was quality as well as quantity which helped the LDU win the tournament sweepstakes by a huge margin over the other 17 schools entered in the event. Vermont placed First in the all-tournament sweepstakes with 126 points, more than 25 points ahead of second place Rochester. Six of eight teams won their way into the elimination rounds and six individuals won speaker awards.
The truly amazing thing about the tournament is that most of those teams were debating in a higher division than their eligibility would dictate, emphasizing the LDU practice of working for improvement by seeking the best competition. Daniel Serfer and Aaron Fishbone are junior varsity debaters entered in varsity, Allana Alexander, Mark Douglas, and Anthony Pagan are novices debating in junior varsity. And receiving the "stepping up" award is Elizabeth Robinson, a novice debater who entered in the varsity division to debate with Greta Lockwood.
Sarah Snider and Helen Morgan (5-1 in preliminary debates) placed THIRD in the varsity division, as did Aaron Fishbone and Daniel Serfer (4-2). Allana Alexander and Mark Douglas (3-3), as well as the team of Anthony Pagan and Peter Winfield (4-2), placed FIFTH in the junior varsity division. Teddy Malley and Jen Knops (5-1) placed SECOND in the novice division, while Casey Gervais and Meredith Parmett (5-1) finished fifth. Ben Luntz and Craig Weidhorn were 3-3 in the novice division and Greta Lockwood and Elizabeth Robinson were 1-5 in the varsity division.
Sarah Snider was named the #1 varsity debater at the tournament and Helen Morgan was #6. Allana Alexander was the #5 jv debater and Peter Winfield was #6. In the novice division Jen Knops was named the #2 debater and Teddy Malley was #3.
The squad finished the tournament with an impressive 32-24 record. It is hard to predict how good the record would have been if the six debaters entered above their eligibility had been entered in lower divisions. Perhaps we shall see in two weeks at the East Regional Championships to be held at UVM.

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PRACTICE DEBATES

WED 8 PM MIKE-ERIC VS. TED & NICK
TBA BEN-CRAIG VS. TED-NICK

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WE NEED JUDGES FOR THE EAST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS AT UVM, FEBRUARY 25-27, 2000. HELP MAKE THE TOURNAMENT POSSIBLE!
CONTACT TUNA NOW! HOUSING AVAILABLE!

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PLANS ANNOUNCED FOR WORLD DEBATE INSTITUTE 2000
http://debate.uvm.edu/wdi.html

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VERMONT HIGH SCHOOL STATE TOURNAMENT SEEKS JUDGES
MARCH 11, 2000 IN MONTPELIER
CONTACT: wdritschilo@rutlandhs.k12.vt.us

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THE COUNTDOWN TO 300 BEGINS!

Since we have been keeping track (about 18 years now) the LDU has never gone higher than 300 wins in a season, and that number was reached in the last win of the season in 1995. It seems clear now that the LDU will break that record easily this year, based on the quality and quantity of debaters. In our 100th year we can set a new standard for a new millennium. Stay tuned as we countdown!