Two Hamilton debate teams competed at a tournament at Skidmore College on Feb. 27 and 28. Chris Smith '11 and Andrew Menges '12 comprised Hamilton Buff, and Sarah Krieger '11 and Hadley Keller made up Hamilton Blue. The two teams competed against 23 other teams from schools including Harvard, Yale, MIT and Cornell.
The style of debate encourages students to be creative with the topics, as one of the teams in each debate chooses the focus of the round. Smith and Menges debated whether or not there should be a minimum body mass index for models, and how a middle school boy should approach a girl at a dance. The most thought-provoking case they debated asked whether the government, having shot down one of its own planes that had been taken over by terrorists, should tell the American people that the passengers defeated the terrorists and brought the plane down.
Krieger and Keller debated whether gang membership should be a crime, the benefits of making the organ donor system opt-out, and the legality of a forensic scientist taking justice into his own hands after finding condemning evidence against people exonerated by the legal system. In their final round, the two Hamilton teams actually debated each other, and had an enjoyable and relaxed last debate.
Hamilton's debate team travels across the Northeast to tournaments about every two weeks, and competes against some of the top schools in the country. Students interested in joining should contact Andrew Harris at amharris@hamilton.edu or just stop by the twice-weekly meetings on Mondays and Thursdays in KJ 101 at 4:30 p.m.
-- by Andrew Harris '11
The style of debate encourages students to be creative with the topics, as one of the teams in each debate chooses the focus of the round. Smith and Menges debated whether or not there should be a minimum body mass index for models, and how a middle school boy should approach a girl at a dance. The most thought-provoking case they debated asked whether the government, having shot down one of its own planes that had been taken over by terrorists, should tell the American people that the passengers defeated the terrorists and brought the plane down.
Krieger and Keller debated whether gang membership should be a crime, the benefits of making the organ donor system opt-out, and the legality of a forensic scientist taking justice into his own hands after finding condemning evidence against people exonerated by the legal system. In their final round, the two Hamilton teams actually debated each other, and had an enjoyable and relaxed last debate.
Hamilton's debate team travels across the Northeast to tournaments about every two weeks, and competes against some of the top schools in the country. Students interested in joining should contact Andrew Harris at amharris@hamilton.edu or just stop by the twice-weekly meetings on Mondays and Thursdays in KJ 101 at 4:30 p.m.
-- by Andrew Harris '11
