Debating: Members of the Arkansas Union Society practice debating for the competition at Harvard University last weekend. [Justin Phillips photo]

UA bickers with big wigs at Harvard

Susan Nix
Traveler Staff

If there's one thing UA students like to do, it's argue. No matter what the topic is, someone has an opinion about it. Some of those students were able to indulge that particular hobby when they went to Harvard University to bicker with the big wigs.

The Arkansas Union Society, a student debate club that has just formed at the UA, was invited to a debate where they competed with several Ivy League colleges. Bill Horton, a UA graduate student and president of the society, said he hopes his team does well at the debate and that the relatively new team will get a chance to be noticed.

"We're hoping to make at least a decent showing," he said. "The Ivy League students aren't that different from us. They put their pants on one leg at a time. We really want to use this debate to get the UA to recognize what we're doing and to take us seriously."

Horton said that gaining recognition is something the team has been striving for since its formation. He said that the university has abandoned the tradition of rhetoric, and they're trying to revive it.

"There hasn't been any serious debate society since about 1985," he said. "The UA pretty much abandoned it, and we're trying to bring attention back to it and recruit members.

Debate is about the art of communication, and that skill is important in any job you might have. To be successful, you have to think on your feet, communicate efficiently, and be knowledgeable about a wide range of subjects. All of those skills are honed in the debate process."

Horton said that his team needs all those skills for the Harvard debate as well. He said that his team has been preparing for six weeks, watching videotapes of debates and running practice sessions.

"We've been working hard getting ready for this thing, and I think we're prepared," he said. "We've learned how to effectively lay out an argument in a very short period of time.

We only find out what our topic is 15 minutes before we're supposed to start. But we're ready for that."

Gary Moody, a UA senior and member of the team, agreed, saying that even failing will have a bright side.

"I think we're as ready as we'll ever be," he said. "And even if we don't do well, it will be a learning experience to prepare us for other debates."

These other debates are of equal importance to the team, Horton said. He added that the team is trying to branch out nationally, perhaps joining an SEC league.

"We'd like to set up debates with SEC colleges whose football teams are playing Arkansas," he said. That way, right after the football teams play each other, the debate teams can argue points."

Horton said he would also like his fledgling team to debate in national tournaments in such locales as St. Louis, Kansas City, Mo. and Louisville, Ky. But for now, he is focusing on the debate at Harvard. The team watched a video tape of Harvard debating at Oxford University, and have prepared a series of campus debates, covering every topic from school prayer to the possibility of Jesse Ventura as governor of Arkansas.

Whatever the outcome of the debate, the society will come home with the knowledge that it has represented their university as best it could. It can use this experience to make a name for itself, and perhaps sororities will some day make banners cheering them on.

(Courteousy of The Arkansas Traveler)

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