News from Vermont Debate AKA 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. The newsletter is published every Tuesday during the school year and infrequently at other times. Alfred C. Snider is the Director. 802-656-0097 voice, 802-238-8345 mobile, 802-656-4275 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.

SEMESTER ONE: SUCCESS AND CHALLENGES AT ALL LEVELS
400 WIN SEASON POSSIBLE

The Fall, 2001 debate semester is finished. Ten tournaments and 408 debates after it began, the semester is over. Time for some consideration of these recent events.

• UVM has 19 debate teams who have attended competitive tournaments, one of America's largest debate squads.
• Several years ago it was big LDU news when the squad went over the 300 win mark for the season. Since then it has been 300+ each year. This year a 400 win season may be possible, but will be difficult to achieve as winning novice and JV debaters are moved up to higher divisions to develop skills. Hope, however, springs eternal.
• Third Place in the national sweepstakes standings.
• Last year's difficulties with winning elimination rounds has been reversed, but more needs to be done.
• The squad features a great deal of argument diversity, on both the affirmative and the negative, making strategies against us increasingly difficult to work out right before the debate.
• Much of the success should be credited to the hardworking coaching staff, especially Jackie Massey, Greta Lockwood, Charles Hoag, Jen Knops, Matt Sweeney and Steph McDonald. Jackie wins the "hardest working coach in the world" award.
• Excellent performance by teams who enter in a higher division than their experience would indicate, especially Jillian Marty and Vilasa Campbell.
• European tour by coach Snider, lecturing in Czech Republic and then on to London, Oxford and Cambridge for more lectures.
• Two well-organized and well-attended public debates on terrorism, soon available as streaming videos on the Internet.
• Ten new Flashpoint broadcasts.
• Excellent collegial relations with other teams in our region, creating better cooperation AND better competition. That fact that former UVM coaches and debaters are now at programs like Rochester, Cornell and Marist help this, as well as good relations with programs like Army, Columbia and NYU.
• Former LDU debater Mariellen Malloy, has started a debate team at UMass Amherst, with their first outing at Columbia.

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KANSAS CITY SWING CONTINUES LDU TRADITION

Once again the LDU will be attending back-to-back tournaments in early January in Kansas City at William Jewell College and the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Last year UVM won the sweepstakes at both tournaments.
Here are the requirements:
1. All-day work days December 27-December 31. 2. Departure on January 2, return on January 11. 3. Be a jolly and safe van rider. 4. Tolerate crowded conditions while in KC. 4. Find a partner who will do the same. 5. MAJOR RESEARCH WORK BETWEEN END OF FINALS AND BEGINNING OF PREP 12/27.
SWING CANDIDATES: Fishbone, Wilkerson, Marty, Campbell, Trebilcock, Limprevil, Parmett, McDonald, Cole, Gana, Hill.
SWING POSSIBLES (PLEASE CONFIRM): Langsweirdt, Greenman, Gervais, Owusu, Soverel.
WE NEED JUDGES AND COACHES WHO ARE WILLING TO TRAVEL WITH US!

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INTERNET. DEBATE WITH SLOVENIA PLANNED

In December the LDU is planning an Internet. debate with the national debate program in Slovenia. Based on consultations carried out in Prague earlier the two groups are now developing a format and a list of topics. Thanks to Bojana Skrt for working with us on this project. Final information will be supplied in the weeks to come. The debate can be watched when it happens at the Robert Huber Debate Forum, http://www.uvm.edu/debate_forum/.

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FROM THE SQUAD MEETING...

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MEETINGS AND EVENTS COMING UP....

NONE THIS WEEK! WORK ON SCHOOL! YOUR FUTURE SUCCESS IS ENHANCED BY YOUR DEBATE EXPERIENCE AND YOUR GRADES, BOTH!

MAJOR ARGUMENT MEETING NEXT WEEK

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RESEARCH ASSIGNMENTS

Aaron Fishbone is the research director.

GO TO THE LIBRARY, DO SOME THINKING, REVIEW THE WAKE FOREST TOURNAMENT ARGUMENT LIST AND DEVELOP NEW ARGUMENT IDEAS FOR NEXT SEMESTER!

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FLASHPOINT TELEVISION SHOW

WE WILL TAPE SOME SHOWS IN THE SEMINAR ROOM THIS YEAR. NEXT TAPING: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 4 PM IN THE DEBATE OFFICE! TOPICS: SECURITY/LIBERTY TRADEOFF, CLONING. PANELISTS: CAMPBELL, FISHBONE, COLE, LOCKWOOD, GANA, HOAG.

Flashpoint studio taping will pause until December because our facilities at VCAM (Vermont Community Access Media) are being relocated and upgraded.

Vermont Community Access Media, Channel 15, Burlington - Wednesday 12:30 PM, Thursday 10:30 PM, Saturday 1 PM
Also available at http://debate.uvm.edu/watchdiscussion.html

OUR RECORD

2001-2002 SEASON	WINS	LOSSES	%
PREVIOUS
TOTAL	210	198	51.4%