This weekend, Dartmouth will play host to the 14 best college debaters in the country as they compete in the Herbert L. James debates.
The College's top pair of debaters, seniors Andre Hylton and Marc Wilson, will face teams from Baylor University, the University of Iowa, the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, Wake Forest University and Wayne State University this Saturday and Sunday on the second floor of the Hanover Inn.
"I'm not nervous," said Hylton, who is familiar with his opponents and their strategies because he has debated some of them since high school.
The debaters prepare extensively before a tournament. Hylton said that an average competitive college debater devotes approximately 40 hours a week to preparation.
Hylton predicted Northwestern to be Dartmouth's toughest competitor in this weekend's tournament.
Debate Coach Ken Strange said it would be a close finish, since the tournament's competitors are "high in quality."
The Hylton-Wilson team "should finish pretty high," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they won, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't."
Hylton credited much of the team's strength to Strange, who he said "is basically the best coach of the 20th century."
This year's debate question is whether the United States should increase security assistance to Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and the Palestinian National Authority, according to debate team member David Reymann '96.
Each tournament requires debaters to focus on a different aspect of the topic, and the preparation involved is equivalent to the workload of two or three courses, Strange said.
Dartmouth debaters took first and third places in the first major tournament of the winter, held at West Georgia College in Carrollton, Ga., this past weekend.
Hylton and Wilson defeated 60 other teams from schools around the nation, while Reymann and his twin brother Jonathan Reymann '96 placed third.
The Hylton-Wilson team has won 24 of their last 25 debates.
