To the Editor:
In his editorial Tuesday ("Let Intellectualism Bloom," May 9, 1995), Abiola Lapite '98 claimed that "the debating club keeps such a low profile as to sometimes cast into doubt its existence." This is probably because there is no "debating club" at Dartmouth. There is, however, a very active varsity debate team. Team members work an average of 40 hours a week on debate and spend 10-20 days a term traveling to competitions all cross the nation during Fall and Winter terms.
This year, Dartmouth had two teams finish in the top eight at Nationals. Debaters and former debaters are also active in virtually every aspect of campus life from newspapers to the Greek system. Spring term is the off-season for the debate, and thus many team members are off-campus. So please forgive the debaters if they, like all campus teams, put competition ahead of providing "a true alternative to the weekend drinking scene."
