The College's policy debate team, the Dartmouth Forensic Union, took third place in a recent national tournment en route to completing one of it's best seasons since 1993.
The team, which for years has placed among the top teams in the country, is comprised of several students organized into pairs that compete at tournaments held over the course of the year at colleges and universities across the nation.
"The tournaments are usually held every other week, mostly at other colleges, such as Harvard and Northwestern," explained team member Alex Berger '02, who along with partner Adam Garen '01 captured third place at the National Debate Tournament, held last March at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
Along the way to their third place finish, Berger and Garen defeated Berkeley University, voted top team during the regular season. A second Dartmouth team, composed of Asher Haig '04 and Ben Thorpe '04, took 17th place, while a third pair, Andrew Leong '03 and Nicole Serrano '02 captured 30th.
Although the National Debate Tournament is one of the most important events of the year, preparation for the tournament is not limited to any portion of the season, according to Berger.
"We meet every week or every other week to debate the different ideas that we have ... it's a research intensive activity," he said. "We start the year with broad-based research, and as the year goes by we fine tune and update our information."
Garen explained that research is typically conducted along predetermined lines. "There are questions selected every year that you debate for the whole year. This year the question was whether the U.S. should increase aid to East Africa," he said, adding that debates can focus on specific questions chosen in the context of the larger issue.
This year's preparation evidently served the team well, if the record compiled by the team is any indication. In addition to a third place finish at the National Debate Tournament, the team won the annual Henry Clay Debates, held at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, as well as the District Championship Tournament at Boston College.
The team also took first place at the Herbert L. James Debates, the only yearly debate at Dartmouth, for the first time since 1992, while the freshman team of Siddharth Velamoor '04 and Hrishikesh Desai '04 finished in the top ten at the annual Freshman National Championship Tournament at Northwestern University.
Success, however, has hardly been an uncommon feature of Dartmouth debate teams of the past. The team's coach, Ken Strange, received this year's George Ziegemueller award, given annually to reward outstanding lifetime achievement in debate coaching, and has guided Dartmouth teams to a number of finishes in the top five during his twenty years at the school.
Other coaches include Bill Russell, who has been with the team nine years, as well as two recent college graduates, Kiva Garen, sister of team member Adam Geren '01, and Ryan Sparacino, who twice won the National Debate Tournament.
Concerning prospects for next year, Berger said he was "looking forward to a strong season," adding that the team would graduate only Garen, and will remain otherwise intact to continue its successful run.
