Mac Kay, Beets take debate to South Africa
Campus Times
February 7, 1997
Senior Scott Mac Kay and junior Shannon Beets, both on University of
La Verne's Debate Squad, traveled to Stellenbosch, South Africa, to participate
in the annual World Universities Debate Competitionin January.
These students were chosen "based on their record performance in
international and national debate and because of their excellent performance
at the Oxford intravarsity tournament last semester in England," said
Jason Sandford, debate coach.
Mac Kay and Beets were ranked 10th in the world at the competition in
England. Overall they tied for eighth place, barely missing the semifinal
round. They beat many of the top teams in the world such as Cambridge.
Sandford was pleased with the performance of Mac Kay and Beets in South
Africa.
After five rounds of competition, Beets and Mac Kay were ranked first
in the world.
"This was an excellent tournament and it was the first time that
the University had ever been ranked No. 1 in the world after the half way
point," said Sandford.
Once Beets and Mac Kay began competing against the top universities
in the world such as University of Sydney, Oxford and New South Wales, the
tide began to turn. They dropped from 12th place to 15th and finally to
45th.
"I was really disappointed that we didn't continue to do well throughout
the rest of the tournament," said Mac Kay.
Debate topics varied from the nature of governments to nature of rights
in society. One of the topics was "this house would allow homosexual
couples to adopt children," said Sandford.
The debate squad still has a number of significant tournaments this
year. For the first time, the University of La Verne will attend the National
Honorary Debate Championship, held by the academic forensics fraternity
Delta Sigma Rho Tau Kappa Alpha, held at Northern Arizona University.
Other tournaments coming up include the National Parliamentary Debate
Association (NPDA) National Championship in Colorado Springs, and the Western
States Championship at Cal State Monterey.
The Regional Championship for the second half of the year is Feb. 28-March
2. Last semester, seniors Josh Heydorff and David Randall won the tournament,
which will be held at Los Angeles Valley College.
"I would like to encourage members of the campus community to watch
the University compete in local competition," said Sandford.
One such opportunity is April 19-20, which will encompass two different
competitions, one for American style debate and the other for international
style debate.
"The debate squad performed well nationally, internationally, and
regionally," he said.
This year the squad had more students perform and more awards won than
ever before.
There is an open door policy for anyone who wants to learn and put in
the time to prepare for the competition.
Due to the fact that there are many students involved in debate and
there is a limited budget, more on-campus debates have been established.
Exhibition debates will be held on campus during weekdays for students
who have to work or have sports. This allows students in other activities
who are interested in debate to participate. Universities participating
in the exhibition include the Claremont colleges, Cal State San Benardino
and Loyola Marymount University.
La Verne has the strongest record in regional and international competition,
according to Sandford.
"We have a better record than Stanford," he said.
This weekend, Loyola Marymount is having a tournment in which La Verne
has won first place for the past two years.