Debate Program Suiis Grinnell

by Don Dagenais

“It’s not much oia tormat program,
Debating here is not rigorous; it sort
oi suits Grinuell "

,But Jett Factor, sophomore, still
thinks that being a member oiGrinr
nell's debate team is worth his while:
”We get to pick and choose where we
want to go, and we don’t have to take
college debating very seriously,”

Not taking it very seriously is a
large part oi what Grinnell torensics
is about. Debate here is an extra
curricular activity which is largely
that: extracurricular. Theprogram
has practicum status and is listed
in the college catalog as Commu
cations lol, ior one credit per sev
mester, but William S. Vanderpool,
Jr., Protessor oi Communications
and Director or Forensics, cone
siders it “an overload "

With the increased academic emr
phasis at the college, Vanderpool
tools that the students ynst do not
have the time to concentrate on de—
bate, "The purpose oithe program,”
he says, “is not to go to the na-
tional tournament, but to provide op
portunities ior students to learn
argumentative procedures u

Six or Seven a Year

Grinnell's team goes to six or seven
tournaments a year, about hall of
those outrot-state Ttiis year the
team has gone to the Mankato Tourr
nament, to Bradley University and
the Tulane Tournament at New Orr
leans, and ii the budget will permit,
a team will go to the American UHIV
versity tournament in Washington,
D. C. The lowa State and University

at lowa tournaments are usually on
the inrstate schedule.

The iorensics program also brings
a ioreign team to the college every
year and sponsors the all-campus
Hill Speaking Contest in the spring.
This year’s foreign team was from
England, and debated veteran Grinr
nell debaters Phil SasiCh and George
Shybut last iall

"Literary" Societies

Debate at Grinnell is a tradition
which extends back about iiity years,
but not until the midr1940's did the
program become oiiicial and begin
regular intercollegiate competition.
“There were several all-campus
literary societies in the ’20’s and
’30’5,” Vanderpool notes, "which
were really debating societies They
sponsored onrcampus debating actir
vitles, and occasionally invited other
schools to come and argue.”

In the years immediately aiter the
conclusion oi World War II, several
Grinnell students interested in
intercollegiate debate got together
to form the ﬁrst forensics society
here Vanderpool came to the colr
lege in 1953 as the forensics coach,
and still retains that position,

”In the fifties and early sixties we
probably won more tournaments,”
Vanderpool notes “We didn’t have
so many problems with academics
then, Occasionally we Would win the
old Midwest conierencetournament,
now no longer in existence And we
have still made respectable shows
ings in recent years ”

Competition
The problem the program laces

now, however, is that “it has gotten
increasingly diiiicult over the last
ten years to allow people to partici-
pate meaninginlly against thebigger
schools.” Grinnell has about 12‘
20 active debators, according to
Vanderpool, but otten must iace
what he terms "debaterhappy"
schools in the larger tournaments
which have much larger squads and
more extensive budgeting.

“Research and enthusiasm of par—
ticipation is primarily up to the
individual here," he says, “and the
coach takes more oi‘a supervisory
role,” But often the large univer-
sities have graduate research as,
sistants, scholarship programs to
attract iop high school debaters,
and operate out at regular curri-
cular argumentation courses As a
result, according to Factor, “we
rarely do well out of the Midwest,”
Many small schools, however, have
programs very similar to Grinr
nell’s, and Vanderpool estimates
that or the ACM colleges Coe, St
Olaf, and Grinnell are the most ac-
tive. And regardless of the compe-
tition problems, members oi the
squad seem to enyoy the program.

“College debate is a much freer
style than high school,” says Sally
Oldham, ireshman member oi the
squad. “There is less emphasis on
research, which is nice, because
there’s not enough time to work on
it a lot,H And what does she like
best about Grinnell forensics? “The
traveling it gives me a chance to

get away irom Grinnell tor awhile.

BoardsSupporfGlick SorlOtc

The Joint Boards last Wednesday
night gave support to a move to
bring tormer crinnellian Ted Cilick
back to campus tor a speaking en-
gagement, deleated a proposal to
recommend unlimited extension or
independent study in individual tier
partments, and tabled a consrdei-a-
tion ot moves to improve the door
demic environment at Grinnell,
Glick, campus radical who is perv
naps most lamed ior turning the ilag
upsiderdown and turning in his drait
card here, is one oi the Harrisburg
Eight accused oi the plot to kidnap
presidential assistant Henry Kiss-
inger. Since he has insisted on de—
tending himselt in the Harrisburg
trial, Glick will be tried separately
and is thus iree ior speaking en-
gagements.

Charlie Dougherty, who says he
lived on Glick’s iloor three years
ago, spoke against the proposal to
bring Click here, saying that “I’ve
heard him talk lots oi times, and
I’ve had enough or Ted Click to
last me the rest or my lite." A tew
Presidents thought Glick would be
interesting tor the younger students
who have not heard him, however,
and atter some discussionthe motion

edged by the Boards by a vote at
6415 r- which indicates less than
universal enthusiasm tor the move.

The matter will next go to the Initiar .

tive Fund {or iunding.

Andrea Chapler presented the
Boards with a proposal to eliminate
the eight-credit limit tor indepenr
dent study which a student may take
in any indivrdual department Younr
ker President Mike Siegel spoke a
gainst the idea, noting that “the
system as it is now is really being
shmucked over. The proposal to axe
tend that system would never get
support,”

Terry Flynn suggested that perhaps
the limit should be up to individual
departments. Following more de—
bate, the proposal was deieated. An-
drea will continue to carry the sug—
gestion to the all-campus EPC,how-
ever, even without the Board’s apr
proval

student Coordinator Bob Meyer
presented the Boards with a letter
containing seven spcciiic suggeSr
tions which the students and iaculty
could implement in ordertoimprove
the academic environment here Air
ter some debate, and confusion over
who the letter should he sent to in

order to elicit the initiative, the mo-
tion to distribute the letter was tab.
led.

Russ McGregor iniormed the
Boards oi the impending meeting
with the Library Committee to diSr
cuss the institutionoi a more com
plete Black Library. Although Mc-
Gregor asked for no Board action,
indicating that he was not surewhe—
ther such action would be a negative
or positive Iactur in the Committee’s
deliberations, he did want the infor-
mation to be disseminated through
the halls.

7 Bi rthdoy
George}!

236-7205

The Scarlet and Black February 18, 1972

whitecaps Show
Whitecaps will present their annual show Thursday February 24 and Friday
February 25 at 8:00 PM in the PE Complex Pool. This year’s theme is
Greek Mythology. In addition to precision swimming, the talents of the
diving team will be on display at intermission.
Tickets are recommended because oi the limited gallery seating capacity
and will be available free 0! charge at the Forum Desk beginning Monday.

Liberman Publishes

Three works 0! fiction by M. M. Liberman, Oakes Ames Professor of
English literature, are scheduled tor publication in the near iuture.
“Game” will be published by Four Quarters; “Narragansett, Fare
Thee Well” by the Mississippi Review; and “Fineboned Shoulder and
Boyish Arm” by the University of Illinois Press, ”Fineboned Shoulder
and Boyish Arm” will also be included in Accent Anthology, along with
works by Flannery O’Connor, William Sass, R, P. Blackmur, J. F, Powers,
Robert Lowell, and others.

Bibliographical essays by Prof. Liberman on the work of Katherine Anne
Porter are scheduled for appearances this spring in Midwest Education
Review and in American Notes and Queries

Dubl: Community Organization
Father Leonard Duhl, co-chairman of the Citizen’s Action Program (Chi?)
or Chicago, will speak on “Community Organization: Power to the People”
in the South Lounge Thursday, February 24,
C.A.P., a broadrbased community organization which uses the techniques
or Saul Alinsky, began as a group concerned with pollution. Atter several
victories over U. S. Steel and other major polluters, C.A.P. has conceit,

trated its eitorts on lighting the illegal tax breaks given major corporations
in the Chicago area,

Connor Science Lecture

Dr. William E. Connor, professor oi internal medicine at the University
of Iowa College of Medicine and director of its Clinical Research Center,
will speak at 7:30 pm, Thursday, Feb. 24, in Science 171 on the subyect
oi "How Fat in the Diet Causes Coronary Heart Disease”

The program is sponsored by the American Medical Association Council
on Foods and Nutrition the Iowa Medical Society. and the‘ Poweshiek County
Medical Society. The talk is one in a series being given this year at more
than 30 colleges and universities under sponsorship oi the AMA'S Council
on Foods and Nutrition,

pr. Connor has published more than 100 papers and abstracts on his
research in the area or coronary disease. blood cholesterol, and lipids.
He has Served on nearly a dozen committees of the AMA and the National
Heart and Lung institute of the National Institutes of Health.

In 1969 Dr. Connor was a panel member at the White House Conference
on Food, Nutrition, and Health, and since 1970 he has been editor of the
Journal oi Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, He belongs to 17 professional
societies, including several‘concerned with nutrition and cardiovascular
research.

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