Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons^™

At The Intersection Of Ableism Entelechy, And Policy Debate, Alex Mcvey, Matthew Gerber

Speaker & Gavel

This article investigates the causes of ableism and inaccessibility in policy debate, and also envisions alternatives to the current conception of debate that could open doors to more participants at all levels of ability. We argue that the rhetorical theories of Kenneth Burke help to illuminate symbolic practices in debate which function to exclude disabled voices. We also forward the argument that the competitive nature of policy debate, along with its dominant discursive practices and speech codes, constitutes an example of what Kenneth Burke calls ‘entelechy’. We further argue that the entelechial nature of policy debate is at the root …

Resisting And Persisting Through Organizational Exit: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Disclosing Sexual Harassment In Collegiate Debate, M. A., Tennley A. Vik

National Forensic Journal

Collegiate debate has documented extensive problems with sexual harassment. This manuscript uses the first author’s layered account of sexual harassment experienced as a collegiate debater, her transition to a different university, and the management of private information with her family. Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory and a plethora of studies provide a theoretical lens of the first author’s autoethnographic experience. We advance CPM theory by examining how young adult children manage their privacy through constructing more rigid privacy boundaries than their adolescent counterparts and provide the first look at how disclosure can both enable and constrain victims/survivors of sexual harassment, …

Forensics In Times Of Crisis. Reframing Citizenship And Social Change As "Winning", Justin Gus Foote

Speaker & Gavel

This article extends the challenge I offered at the National Communication Associate (NCA) Annual Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah in November 2018. During the conference I posed the following challenge: The Speech and Debate community should shift our idea of “winning” from solely competition success, and trophy accumulation, towards a renewed sense of citizenship—primarily, by engaging social change, as an outcome, throughout the competition season. This challenge arose from a perceived malaise about gun control discourse. I argue competitive speech and debate provides a robust venue to engage current discussion on gun control and the community to embrace our …

Solving The Forensic Dilemma: Events Teaching Debate And Individual Events Skills, Roger C. Aden

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

"Uneasy alliance" is a phrase often used by news writers to capture the essence of a relationship between two dissimilar groups with a similar vested interest The forensic community, although not a frequent subject of news writers, nevertheless also suffers from a sort of uneasy alliance. This relationship is that between individual events and debate.

Even though both activities arise from Greek roots few would argue that, in general, the participants and coaches in the two activities as well as the activities themselves are quite different. Exceptions certainly do exist, but few programs provide a strong commitment to both activities …

Challenges And Opportunities For Forensics Programs: Offering Debate And Individual Events, Edward A. Hinck

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

The purpose of this paper is to inquire into the forces that might account for this shift in the focus of programs, to consider some of the values served by broad-based programs, and identify some of the challenges faced by directors of programs that strive to offer opportunities in both debate and individual events. Despite some sentiment that narrowly focused programs deliver the greatest degree of educational impact for the resources invested, in some instances broad-based programs might play a central role in the educational mission of a department or college. On these grounds, the forensic community should embrace diversity …

Flashback To 1985: The State Of Speech And Debate: A National Perspective, Richard G. Fawcett

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Since I left Minnesota to join the staff at the National Federation of State High School Associations as their speech and music coordinator in July 1978, a number of forces have impacted America’s high schools, high school activities programs, and more specifically, high school speech and debate activities. I should like to focus on some of these forces tracing their eventual impact on speech and debate programs.

College Policy Debate Community Climate: Data From The 2014 And 2015 College Policy Debate Survey, Keith Richards, Paul E. Mabrey Iii

Speaker & Gavel

The College Policy Debate Survey research project was designed to answer relevant questions about current debate practices and the debate community. This information can be used to inform future interventions as well as programming (e.g. bystander intervention training, organization membership criteria, judge mentorship, and involvement of historically marginalized or at-risk populations). This paper analyzes qualitative data from the 2014 College Policy Debate Survey and incorporates both the quantitative and qualitative data from the 2015 version. The study was developed to help the debate community understand what members believe constitutes a good resolution and salient beliefs about why people participate in …

What Traits Are Learned?: Determining The Levels Of Argumentativeness And Verbal Aggressiveness In Competitive Parliamentary Debate, Lisa Leigh Roth

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Competitive parliamentary debate is a popular and important form of debate in the United States. This study surveyed individuals who competed, and individuals who have never competed, in parliamentary debate were surveyed to understand if parliamentary debate increases argumentativeness and decreases verbal aggression in students who competed in the event. When it comes to verbal aggressiveness, competitive parliamentary debate participants did score lower in verbal aggressiveness then those who have not competed in parliamentary debate. However, there was not a significant difference in verbal aggressiveness with those who have more parliamentary debate experience and those with less experience. Additionally, competitive …

A New Test Of Issue Ownership Theory: U.S. Senate Campaign Debates, John C. Davis

Speaker & Gavel

This study tests issue ownership theory on U.S. Senate debates. Issue ownership theory states that each of the two major American parties possess issues which the public perceive to be best handled by one party over another. Republicans are thought to be better at handling problems concerning national defense, foreign policy, and taxes. Democrats are believed to be better at addressing issues such as education, health care, and the environment. This study hypothesizes that, due to unique characteristics regarding the office being sought, U.S. Senate candidates from both major parties do not adhere to previously recognized patterns of issue ownership …

Issue Debates: Notecards In Extemporaneous Speaking, Joseph Kennedy, Jonathan Carter

Speaker & Gavel

Editor's Note: We are trying to bring debatable issues in the community to the forefront. Important contemporary issues are discussed at national tournaments, national conventions, and even at the average weekend tournament. But rarely are these issues written about in our journals. To foster those discussions, and in an effort to document some of the history of intercollegiate forensics, we will have an “Issue Debate” in each issue of Speaker & Gavel. For this issue, two well-known and successful coaches (and top-notch extempers in their day) debate the issue of note card use in extemporaneous speaking. We have seen this …

Kritiking As Agrumentative Praxis, Joseph P. Zompetti, Brian Lain

Speaker & Gavel

Controversies in the realm of academic debate are often assessed with the standards used for other social science confrontations. The notion of paradigms, introduced by Thomas Kuhn (1970) to describe scientific revolutions, provides a starting point for analyzing the current conflict over kritiking. Despite this, previous discussions concerning the so-called “kritik” have focused mainly on whether it should be considered a legitimate argument form in contemporary policy debate (Berube, 1996; Katsulas, 1996/1997; Morris, 1996/1997). In this way, these discussions have become embroiled in a back-and-forth squabbling. Overcoming the tendency to steadfastly proclaim the legitimacy/illegitimacy of kritiks as an argument form …

Newspaper Coverage Of U.S. Senate Debates, William L. Benoit, Corey Davis

Speaker & Gavel

Political debates are important message forms, capable of informing and in-fluencing voters. However, news coverage of debates informs and influences both those who watch, and those who do not watch, the debates. This study compared the content (functions and topics) of 10 U.S. Senate debates from 1998-2004 with the content of newspaper articles about those particular debates. Newspaper coverage of debates was significantly more negative than the debates themselves, reporting a higher percentage of attacks and a smaller percentage of acclaims than the candidates employed. The newspaper articles also stressed character more, and policy less, than the candidates. This journalistic …

Revisiting Cicero In Higher Education Cultivating Citizenship Skills Through Collegiate Debate Programs, Annette Holba

Speaker & Gavel

Higher education is in the midst of a paradigm shift from the Professing Paradigm to the Learning Paradigm approach in pedagogical strategies. The Learning Paradigm privileges a co-producing of learning between the student and the teacher. This essay argues that collegiate debate programs can be one example of the Learning Paradigm engagement that also helps to cultivate the Greek and Roman ideal of citizenship in students. Ciceronian rhetorical theory explains how citizenship skills are developed through collegiate debate practices.

Critiquing Debate, James P. Dimock

Speaker & Gavel

Debaters enjoy debating more than debate itself. The closer one gets to be-coming ―"an old debater" (a category to which I will inevitably have to resign myself sooner or later), the more likely we are to find ourselves debating on the side of ―"the way debate used to be" or ―"the way debate is supposed to be." I don‘t malign this seemly inevitable progression or even my place in it. I think the tendency to re-examine ourselves says something about our activity. I enter this debate about debate, I think I should begin by defining my side of the flow, …

Creating Sites For Reasonable Discourse Stasis In Public Deliberation, Aaron Dimock

Speaker & Gavel

This paper presents an analysis of stasis as a means for creating common ground between conflicting parties and a guide to judgment in public deliberation. Craig‘s (1989) approach to communication as a ―practical discipline‖ provides the theoretical justification for research that examines the practical communication problems society faces. This paper examines public discourse in the form of arguments before local deliberative bodies, where people are attempting to influence the judgment of the board and the public. Using the methods of a rhetorically informed discourse analysis (see Tracy, 2001 & 2002), this paper examines the formulation, presentation, and reaction to arguments …

I Need Help Finding It: Understanding The Benefits Of Research Skill Acquisition In Competitive Forensics, Jessica L. Furgerson

Speaker & Gavel

Research skill acquisition is an invaluable but under explored benefit of forensics participation. Although coaches, students, and administrators acknowledge that participants gain research skills via forensics, little is known about what these skills are and how they specifically benefit students. This paper isolates three specific research dimensions students learn while participating in competitive speech and debate: locating, examining, and applying source mate-rial. Connections are then drawn between these dimensions and the attainment of high level learning resulting in the creation of educational outcomes related to research skill acquisition via forensics. Understanding the process and importance of research skill acquisition is …

What’S In A Name? Defending Forensics: A Response To Kimble’S “By Any Other Name”, Christopher P. Outzen, Daniel Cronn-Mills

Speaker & Gavel

Our essay is a response to Kimble’s “By Any Other Name: On the Merits of Moving Beyond Forensics.” We argue forensics has not lost the battle for its name, since the battle does not necessarily exist. We contend changing the name is unnecessary since forensics is the most accurate label one may apply to inter-scholastic speaking and debating. Furthermore, changing the name would have considerable negative repercussions. Instead, the forensic community needs to return to its roots as educators and activists to enhance public understanding of the term to include forensic speaking and debate. We conclude the name forensics is …

By Any Other Name: On The Merits Of Moving Beyond Forensics, James Kimble

Speaker & Gavel

This essay argues that the interscholastic speaking and debating activity that calls itself forensics has effectively lost the battle for its own name. As students of and experts in rhetoric and performance, members of the forensics community should be the first to recognize the importance of an undisputed name. Yet the community continues to call itself by a name that medical science has overtaken. The resulting confusion does the community no favors and weakens the activity within the academy. The essay concludes that it might be time for a new name that the activity can claim for its own.

"Permanent Adaptation" - The Ndt's Last 50 Years, Allan Louden

Speaker & Gavel

It remains a surprise I have been involved with competitive debate for five decades, a sobering self- reflection. Viewed more charitably, participating in history imparts a certain authority, a wisdom reserved to longevity, even as one’s memory reconstructs. This essay purports to provide a history of the National Debate Tournament for roughly the last 50 years. Doing justice to the historical sweep would be a book-length project, this summary much more modest. The essay is inevitably selective, recounted from a particular point of view. History never allows more. It has been my experience that there are enduring prospects for organizations …

Going Public: An Organizational Autoethnographic Exploration Of The International Public Debate Association, Adam Matthew Key

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Historically, a trend has been demonstrated in intercollegiate debate. Debate organizations begin with a focus on rhetoric aimed at a public audience and within an average of two decades devolve into a highly technical format marked by a high rate of speed, use of nuanced technical jargon, and an overreliance on evidence. The focus on competitive success, culture, and judges are examined as contributors to this trend. The International Public Debate Association was created to sociologically combat the excesses of its predecessors, though sixteen years after its creation it is beginning to show symptoms of the same disease that afflicted …

We Hold These Truths, Thorrel Fest

The Gavel of Delta Sigma Rho

What appears to be a small minority of private colleges (no DSR schools) have expressed some concern regarding the suitability of the current intercollegiate debate proposition. Some critics of the question feel that to argue for diplomatic recognition of Red China is to approve its conquests, possibly mislead the immature student and provide communists with propaganda material. None of these arguments seems to have sufficient validity to merit the action proposed—change to another proposition. There has been some effort to make a public issue of this matter, and on October 22 your president was asked by one of the wire …

New Members - 1953-1954

The Gavel of Delta Sigma Rho

List of new members of Delta Sigma Rho for 1953-1954.

The Objectivity Of Debate Judges, Robert L. Scott

The Gavel of Delta Sigma Rho

"The problem of securing competent judges of debate is always with us."' This statement is as true in 19J4 as it was in 1917 when Lew Sarett made it. At the turn of the century, however, important personages, governors and judges, for example, were invited or hired to sit as debate judges and to render their decisions. Today the average intercollegiate debate situation is the tournament debate. Two teams debate before a critic-judge, generally a coach from some other school entered in the tournament, who designates the "winning" team and who is often required to give oral or written criticisms …

Speech Training Provides Solid Background For Industrial Relations, Donald Sherbondy

The Gavel of Delta Sigma Rho

Since graduating from college in 1930 I have been a teacher, a lawyer, and now the director of industrial relations for a company. I can say without hesitation chat the preparatory work in college which has helped me most in each of these professions was my training in public speaking and debating.

Another College President Speaks On Speech, Paul R. Anderson

The Gavel of Delta Sigma Rho

One of the obvious, and sometimes over powering, obligations of the college president is that of speech-making. There are people who seem to believe that college presidents can speak on almost any subject at the drop of a hat. Since trustees, "friends of the college," and public relations are involved, for one to refuse even the impossible is difficult. So the average college president speaks once or twice a week and this in addition to whatever other commitments he may have on and off the campus. He can either learn to speak with comparative ease or his life is miserable.

University Of Washington Chapter Is Installed

The Gavel of Delta Sigma Rho

The new University of Washington chapter of Delta Sigma Rho was formally installed on May 11, 1914, by regional Vice-President Earl W. Wells of Oregon State College.

Books In Review, Charles S. Goetzinger

The Gavel of Delta Sigma Rho

Review of the book Freedom and Loyalty in Our Colleges by Robert E. Summers (New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1949).

Delta Sigma Rho...Chapter Directory

The Gavel of Delta Sigma Rho

List of Delta Sigma Rho chapters.

Oxford And The Cross-Examination Tournament, Robert P. Newman

The Gavel of Delta Sigma Rho

Now the truth is that Englishmen are hard as nails, and quite capable of rigorous activity when necessity demands. Furthermore, the students of English collegiate institutions are not only well-grounded in history and politics, but remarkably fluent (at least the debaters) and flexible. There was no reason, as far as I could see, why a British team should not participate in at least two rounds of an American collegiate tournament, debating our question under our rules.

It seemed particularly appropriate, further more, to ask them to participate in a cross examination tournament, where the format would allow a type of …

Maine, Muskie, And Delta Sigma Rho, Brooks Quimby

The Gavel of Delta Sigma Rho

How did it happen that Maine elected a Democratic governor? Television and radio commentators, news weeklies and editors have all had their guesses; here is the forensic explanation!