16 November 2004

The Lawrence Debate Union of the University of Vermont has ben so active the last few weeks that there have been no editions of this newsletter. Our apologies, but sometimes the work is so good and so overwhelming that everything cannot get done. These last few weeks have included training for Vermont teachers, an international conference with a program organized by and full of those with LDU links, as well as tournaments at West Point, Harvard, Oklahoma, and right here in Vermont.

At West Point the showing was strong and balanced. The worst record was 2-4 and four teams reached elimination rounds. The novice team of Brady Fletcher and Ashley Hogan finished second out of 42 teams. After a 4-2 preliminary record they defeated Rochester 3-0 in octafinals, defeated Liberty 3-0 in quarterfinals, defeated Richmond 3-0 in semifinals and then met their match by losing to Cornell 3-0 in the final round (picture coming in next edition). This is the third straight regional tournament where UVM has been in the finals, and the first time they actually lost. Shane Clark and Chase Whiting stepped it up with a 4-2 prelim record before losing to their nemesis West Virginia 2-1 in octafinals. Robert Len and Kamener Whalen were 3-3 and had to debate in a partial double-octafinal round and defeated Bard College 3-0, then losing to Liberty in the octafinals 3-0. In the JV division the team of Ethan Nelson and Mike McMahan reached the quarterfinals but lost 3-0 to Mary Washington. The squad had a 34-35 record for the weekend. It was UVM teams that missed elimination rounds by a few points in both divisions, with strong showings by Jason hitchcock & Aimee Rosato as well as Stephanie Kimerer & Emily Sanders in JV, along with good showings by Paul Campbell & Sam King and others in novice.

On that same weekend Nick Landsman-Roos & Edwin Owusu had some tough sledding at Harvard, coming up with a 2-6 record. They were pleased that they defeated Cornell's top team and an excellent team from Northwestern, but lost many very close debates. UVM did far better than most eastern teams at the tournament. The following weekend Nick landsman-Roos & Jason Hitchcock went to Oklahoma City to attend the Joe Jackson debates at the University of Central Oklahoma, and were again disappointed with a 2-4 record.

| Debaters chow down on lasagna | Top Speakers: Jake Meany in advanced, Leslie Keller in novice |

The LDU was scheduled to send 15 teams to Columbia last weekend but the plans had to be scrapped when it was learned that Thrifty Rentals (our friends, allies and supporters) had forgotten to reserve the vans we had requested, and it being the first real ski weekend in Vermont there was no transportation to be had. Quickly regrouping the LDU organized a debate scrimmage at UVM so that a simulated tournament could take place. The entire squad participated as debaters, judges or both and a good time was had by all. Delicious lunch was served (Chinese on Saturday, lasagna on Sunday) along with tasty coffee and baked treats both mornings, especially Sunday morning when LDU ally Sallie Chafer appeared with home-baked French bread, caramel pecan rolls and apricot braided bread. Yummy. In the advanced division Mike McMahan & Ethan Nelson were first, Tarik Yeasir & Jake Meany second and Andrea Aeschlimann & Ashley Hogan third. The top speakers were: 1. Jake Meany, 2. Mike McMahan, 3. Ethan Nelson, 4. Emily Sanders and 5. Jason Hitchcock. In the novice division Megan Harlow & Leslie Keller were first place team, Chase Whiting & Shane Clark were second and Cherisse Brown Varela & Chris Preble were third. The top novice speakers were: 1. Leslie Keller, 2. Matt Silverman, 3. Megan Harlow, 4. Robert Len and 5. Kamener Whalen.

| The Blue Mosque at night during Ramadan | John Meany |

Steve Woods | Chris Wheatley, Anne Marie Todd, Sarah Snider |

| Zorica Radzic | Tuna dressed as a mullah by the owner of the Kybele Hotel (did not appear in public) |

Vermont Debate was also internationally active, with more to come. The International Debate Education Association annual conference was held in Istanbul, Turkey, and LDU Director Snider was invited to coordinate the program for the three-day event. "The program was very well received," he reported, "I think because it tried to meet the needs of people trying to promote debate in very different and challenging environments. I also think that the many people there was Vermont connections helped to enrich the program. For some reason, those who have been a part of the LDU tend to go on to be promoters of debate at almost every level." Those with a Vermont connection attending included former coaches Steve Woods (Western Washington University) and John Meany (Claremont Colleges) and former LDU debaters Sarah Snider (DC Urban Debate League), Maxwell Schnurer (Marist College), Aaron Fishbone (Catholic University), WDI faculty members Kate Shuster (Claremont Colleges) as well as Bojana Skrt (Slovenian National debate Program - Z.I.P.) and former WDI attendees Jacob Gateau (Haiti) as well as Zorica Radzic (Serbia), and LDU Director Snider.

Meanwhile, back home the Vermont National Education Association featured a workshop attended by fifteen teachers entitled "Bringing Debate back to Vermont Schools" facilitated by Alfred Snider. The workshop was a success and was an effort to get more schools debating in the National Forensic League's new debate event, public forum debate. While concerned about the format Snider believes that if done with rigor this activity might draw more students and schools into debating.

VERMONT DEBATE TO BE INTEGRAL PART OF NEW INTERNATIONAL DEBATE ACADEMY

<=== Students at 2003 International Debate Academy

For the second year in a row an International Debate Academy will be held in Europe through a partnership between the Slovenian National Debate Program (Z.I.P., translates into Pro and Contra) and the University of Vermont's World Debate Institute. With funding from the USA Embassy and the Council of Europe the program will feature 60 students from 13 countries for a week of intensive debate training. All students will be missing a week of university classes in order to attend this event. Faculty will be from the USA (Snider, Joe Zompetti of Illinois State, Steve Llano of the Univ. of Pittsburgh), the UK (Harold Raitt of the English Speaking Union), Slovenia (Bojana Skrt, Mateja Peter and Jure Pozgan) and from Serbia & Montenegro (Branka Josimov & Djordje Pavicevic). The USA ambassador and the EU representative to Slovenia will make presentations, the mayor of the town where it is being held (Ormuz) will host a reception in the castle, and the event will conclude with a tournament. Snider speculated, "I hope this will become an annual event of world-class quality. It's evolution in just one year has been remarkable."

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FLASHPOINT TELEVISION -- NOW WITH OVER 297 DIFFERENT PROGRAMS!
Watch Flashpoint from your computer screen whenever you want! You will need RealPlayer installed on your computer to become a part of our growing audience. Here are some recent programs now available at http://debate.uvm.edu/flashpoint.html. Watch on Burlington Channel 15 Wednesday 12:30 PM, Thursday 10 PM, Saturday 1 PM.
COUNTDOWN TO PROGRAM #300 BEGINS
Shows #298 & #299 to be taped Saturday, December 4, 2004 at 2 PM. Topics being sought. Charles Hoag will coordinate.
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