The Quadrangle

Issue date: 10/6/04 Section: Features

Manhattan College offers a variety of extracurricular teams and clubs, enough to please just about any student. The one activity that the school is lacking, however, is a competitive debate team. Surprisingly enough, Manhattan College has never had a debate team, and John Mark is about to change that.

Mark, who also serves as the Director of Residence Life here at Manhattan, is a lawyer, and used his previous debate experience to coach on the high school level. Attempts to form a team in past years have failed, but Mark is determined to change that. Debate teams and clubs are common on both the high school and college level. According to Mark, debate and speaking skills are helpful in every aspect of a professional life, not just the obvious areas of law and politics. He feels that everyone should have a good foundation in speaking, and that learning to express one's opinions is vital.

Mark says, "Manhattan College is a regional college now, and a regional college must have outlets for its students, and one of those is a debate team."

He feels that is it absolutely necessary for all students to develop good speaking and writing skills before entering the workforce, as communication becomes a more important element of all fields. In an increasingly global society, it is essential to learn how to clearly express opinions and facts, and participating in a debate team is the perfect way to foster such skills. Students will learn the Cross Examination, or Policy Debate style, in which two work together as a team. The debate itself consists of several blocks of speeches, followed by short questioning periods. Debaters also learn to think on their feet, gain a better understanding of the world around them, and develop great analytical skills.

In a Policy Debate, students are partnered and debate on a range of topics. The debate itself consists of several speeches, of roughly 8 of about four minutes each, followed by short questioning periods. The goal of this type of debate is to find a solution for the given issue. Though this may seem like a daunting task at first, the steps are clear, and Mark plans to work intensely with students in small groups. The team will be broken into smaller groups for practice and training sessions to maximize the amount of individual attention that each debater receives.

A debate team on this campus would do more than simply aid the participating students. Because of the competitive nature of this activity, the Manhattan College name would be spread throughout the area at the various tournaments. Though he does not plan to begin formal competition until next year, Mark's main goal is to keep the students interested in debating, and to keep it going for years to come. Along with Kevin McCloskey, the Residence Director of Overlook, he plans to spend this year training the students in debate. They are also planning to attend debates with the Mt. St. Vincent debate team in order to ease into the competitive debate world.

Mark admits that it does take time to learn how to properly debate, but he will work with interested students so that they can fit it into their schedules. No previous debate experience is needed, and each student will work on his or her own level. John Mark encourages all those who are interested to contact him at extension 7944.

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