Off the Cuff Debate

"I stink, you stink," Hamilton College sophomore and debater John J. Vecchione told his opponents yesterday while the judge looked on laughing.

The occasion was the Third Annual Harvard Speech and Parliamentary Debate Society Tournament, and Vecchione was perfectly in order.

Harvard, last year's national champion, is hosting one of a series of two day parliamentary debates between 23 universities from the United States and Canada.

In parliamentary debate, there is no nationwide annual resolution and debaters learn the topic only 10 minutes before they start speaking, Chris DeMoulin, president of the American Parliamentary Debate Association and a senior at Swarthmore College said. "Everyone can heckle--that's the best part," he added.

Anthony J. DiNovi '84, a member and former president of the HSPDS, said that although parliamentary debate has existed in this country for 12 years now, he founded Harvard's chapter only three years ago with Gordon P. Bell '83 since "he and I used to speak against each other in high school and when we came here we wanted an outlet for speaking."

In the competition, which is modeled on the methods used in the British House of Commons, debates are labelled either government or opposition, and direct arguments to the speaker of the House rather than a chairperson.

Debate topics can range from the serious to the silly, and are usually fairly nebulous aphorisms and value judgments. De Moulin said.

The debaters yesterday found themselves arguing such resolutions as "The kid is not my son," "I stink, therefore I am:" "It is the burnout of almost everyone;" and "The meek shall inherit the mirth."

Some Were Serious

Some of debaters took these topics more seriously than others. Vecchione and James W. Grauberger of Hamilton College used one of the topics to argue that "All living things stink, and stinking is the reason for existence."

On the other hand, Andrew S. Marovitz and Kenneth B. Gordon of Amherst went from "It is the burnout of almost everyone" to argue against nuclear armament.

Though the atmosphere of the tournament was friendly and humorous rather than contentious, DeMoulin said, this sort of rapid adlibbing requires considerable powers of oratory.

As the host of the tournament, the Harvard society did not actually debate, nor will it contribute speakers to the speech competition taking place today.

However, Harvard will compete at Vassar College next weekend and at the world championships in Edinburgh next January.