 "Photo: Joel Kutaka")
After arguing in favor of the motion that President Barack Obama did not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, University of Hawai‘i debate partners Daniel Hugo and Benjamin Siegel won the honor of being the top collegiate debate team in Hawai‘i.
“Regardless of what their personal opinion was on the subject, they were placed in that position and they had to come up with a compelling case,” said Rob Boller, the director of the UH Debate and Forensics Society (DFS). “It’s fast and furious socialization with a sophisticated edge.”
Hugo and Siegel, who fellow debaters refer to as the UH “A” team, formed one of four teams from DFS that participated in the annual Pan-Pacific Debate Championship this past weekend. Hawai‘i Pacific University hosted 24 teams from 10 national universities at their Hawai‘i Loa campus.
The debates were conducted in the British Parliamentary, or Worlds, format, which is a limited-preparation activity. Teams are given their topics only 15 minutes prior to each round, and they are prohibited from using any electronic devices to aid them in their preparation. Debaters may use humor and satire to engage in a serious topic, usually political or philosophical, and are told whether they are to argue for or against that topic.
Debate is centered around critical thinking, the point being to dissect topics and try to come to deeper insights.
“Folks are taking a really deep dive into a particular subject that maybe we would just gloss over,” Boller said, “and they’re really criticizing evidence, criticizing assumptions, looking at their own biases.”
This weekend’s championship was casual, however, and many students developed friendships after debating. The final round on Sunday took place at a beach house that HPU rented in Kailua. Debaters sat in the grass while those between rounds enjoyed playing in the ocean.
A main purpose of this championship was to prepare students who are interested in upcoming international tournaments. Hugo and Siegel will travel to Oxford, England, for the Oxford IV debate tournament later this semester and to Istanbul, Turkey, for the World Universities Debating Championship next year.
Although there are roughly 20 different debate programs in high schools throughout Hawai‘i, UH did not have a debate team for several years, so there hasn’t been much opportunity for students who wanted to continue debating after high school.
“They’ve already developed an interest and a skill revolving around debate and forensics,” Boller said. “I’m pushing this because it’s something that’s been lacking for quite a while at UH, even though we’re the leading research institution and the biggest public university in the state.”
Both graduate and undergraduate students make up the debate team. Boller said they all share a desire to express themselves and gain a deeper understanding about world events and philosophical questions.
Ryan Delaney, a senior with DFS, said he looks forward to debating.
“We get to go hang out with cool people who care about what’s going on in the world and people that actually want to make a difference,” Delaney said. “It’s inspiring.”
Be the first to comment on this article!