Building on last year's strong performance, the Dartmouth Forensic Union -- the College's policy debate team -- scored a second-place victory at this year's National Debate Tournament at Emory University in early April.
Eighty two-person teams competed in the tournament, which took place April 3-6, and 16 teams advanced to the single-elimination on the final day. Ben Thorpe '04 and Brian Smith '06 were the members of the Dartmouth team that reached the final round.
This year's debate topic was whether the United States government should ratify one or more of five specific treaties, including the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the Kyoto Protocol.
Two other Dartmouth teams competed in tournament this year. Both cleared the preliminary round but were defeated in the round of 16.
Coach Ken Strange said that bad luck contributed to the defeat of veteran debaters John Turner '03 and Andrew Leong '03 in an early elimination round. "They had a rough draw in the preliminary round and received a poor seed, and they were defeated by Berkeley, a very strong team, by a 3-2 decision."
The other team competing in the tournament consisted of Ian Storey '04 and Maggie Berthiaune '05.
Turner, Leong and Thorpe each received a Speaker Award.
One of the judges, Joseph Zompetti of Mercer University, called the final round "awesome" and said that Dartmouth was one of his favorite teams.
Thorpe and Smith were defeated by Northwestern's entrants in the final round.
Strange emphasized the crucial role the entire 18-person team plays in researching topics that will be debated.
"A substantial amount of time was spent researching treaties," Smith said. He also emphasized the importance of team strategy sessions in preparing what will be said.
Smith, who began debating in the seventh grade, said that his longstanding attachment to debate has grown stronger at Dartmouth. "I enjoy the argumentative style it provides, and I decided to continue debate in college because it has all of the great things about high school debate but none of the bad."
The Dartmouth Forensic Union is one of the strongest debate squads in the country. Smith cited the school's debate program as one of the reasons why he chose to come to Dartmouth.
Dartmouth came in first place at the NDT most recently in 1993 and has won six times in the NDT's 55-year history. Last year a Dartmouth team reached the quarterfinals and in 2001 a team reached the semifinals. The school has sent at least one team to the tournament every year since 1978.
The College team engages in tournaments from September through March or April, but the NDT is the only competition that takes place during Spring term.
The National Debate Tournament is sponsored by the American Forensic Association and is held at a different school every year.
