The University Debate Team, the Debate Hawks, received six awards at the West Point Military Academy Tournament this past weekend. The tournament included over 275 debaters from over 25 universities including Cornell, the U.S. Naval Academy, Boston College, New York University, and West Virginia University to name a few.
The Debate Hawks entered eight, two person teams at the tournament including team Co-Captain Arielle Giordano and her partner Olivia Mills, Alexandria Todd and Daniel Roman, Andrew Bell and Mark Cosentino, Parker Ritzdorf and Lianne Kulik, Miriam Peguero and Delila Osmankovic, Tyler Breder and Shawna Sullivan, Monia AbouGhali and Brad Landau, and Samantha Feldstein and Mike Halwagy.
Each twoperson team is required to compete in six rounds of debate, three on the affirmative and three on the negative, with each debate round lasting approximately two hours.
Four University teams received trophies for breaking into the playoff rounds. Alexandria Todd and Daniel Roman, Andrew Bell and Mark Cosen tino, Parker Ritzdorf and Lianne Kulik, and Miriam Peguero and
Delila Osmankovic all received trophies for making it into the playoff rounds. Monmouth team members Alexandria Todd and
Parker Ritzdorf also received individual speaker awards.
Each year, a national topic is selected and debated across the country for the entire year. The resolution for this year is, should the United States federal government substantially increase its democratic assistance for one or more of the following countries: Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, Tunisia?
The Debate Hawks ran two cases, one involving Yemen and the other involving Syria.
Dr. Rekha Datta of the Political Science Department extended her congratulations. She said, “What a great way to start the week. We are ever so proud of our students.”
University Debate Hawks will be competing again in just a few weeks at the Rutgers University Debate Tournament in Newark, New Jersey and will be hoping to bring home some more awards to add to the Debate Team trophy case.
The Debate Hawks will also be hosting its second annual Jersey Shore Invitational Tournament from January 2829, 2012. Please contact Dr. Joseph Patten at 7322635742 or through email at jpatten@monmouth.edu if you are interested in learning more about the debate team.
No debate experience necessary.
PHOTO COURTESY of Joseph Patten
