Two members of the Hillsdale College Debate Team placed at their first tournament of the semester last weekend.
Sophomores Ben Brown and Patrick McDonald finished second overall in the tournament hosted by the University of Minnesota. Freshmen Alex Mooney and Ryan Rodell also competed at the varsity level. Junior varsity competitors included sophomore Malia Thibado and junior Mark den Hollander.
Hillsdale College competed against groups from Arizona State University, Gonzaga University, Weber State University, Western Washington University, and the University of Oregon.
Both varsity teams progressed through five preliminary rounds. Brown and McDonald progressed to the final round with a record of four wins and one loss in the preliminary rounds, according to Mooney.
In the final round, Brown and McDonald competed against Western Washington University, earning one vote from a panel of three judges. McDonald said Brown performed especially well during his last speech, helping their team secure a close second place ranking.
“Competing in the final round was exhilarating,” McDonald said. “Though my rebuttal speech in that round was less than I would have liked it to have been, my partner, Ben Brown, still nearly won us the debate in his final speech. Ultimately, we lost the three-judge panel by two votes to one, but the experience of participating in the showcase was still very much worthwhile.”
Brown and McDonald won first and second place respectively for speaker awards in the evidence and analysis categories, according to Mooney.
Mooney and Rodell finished with a record of two wins and three losses, according to Mooney.
The junior varsity team’s performance was impressive for their first tournament, Mooney said.
“The other teams that they’re facing had about two or three tournaments under their belts,” Mooney said. “They did really well and could hold their own in those matches, which is awesome.”
All of the teams debated nuclear policy, according to McDonald.
“Many of our debates centered on the merits of an American declaration of ‘No First Use’ vis-à-vis our nuclear stockpile,” McDonald said. “Essentially, the adoption of this policy would declare to other countries that, though we would meet their nuclear attacks in kind, we will never again be the first nation to launch an offensive nuclear strike.”
Brown said his team competed well against teams that used an argument they were not prepared for, but that the opposition’s arguments were still well grounded.
“There were two rounds where we debated teams that were essentially running identity politics-based arguments,” Brown said. “I think we handled those rounds very well. We won both of them, which I’m thankful for.”
Rodell said the team had not prepared to counter arguments based on identity politics.
“We didn’t really have super fleshed out responses, but we were able to defeat them,” Rodell said. “We took down a really strong team, so we’re definitely proud of that.”
McDonald said the tournament helped him to grasp the more theoretical elements of debate and to get to know his teammates better.
“I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each of the students that Hillsdale sent to Minnesota this past weekend,” McDonald said. “I am looking forward to more tournaments with the team.”
