Following the recent cancellation of the Policy Debate Team season, President George Bridges wrote in an email today that the college would be suspending all Debate Team activities for a minimum of two years. The decision came after multiple years of Title IX complaints and other problematic behaviors by team members and coaches during travel to competitions.
Senior Lauren Hauck is a History and Art History double major. She's been involved with debate at Whitman since her first year when she learned parliamentary debate, and she became a policy debater her...
Twelve members of the Whitman Debate Club will join inmates of the Washington State Penitentiary in debate on Thursday, December 4th.
The topic? The groups will discuss whether an individual's right...
Two years ago, a member of the Washington State Penitentiary education staff, Dr. Joe Cooke, Jr., approached the Whitman debate program about hosting a debate where Whitman students and prisoners debate together over current issues. Dec. 3, 2013 marked the date of the first ever debate.
Following last spring's Title IX investigation, a number of concerns have been raised regarding the relationship between students and assistant coaches and the administration's expectation and treatment of these coaches. Assistant coaches are almost always recent graduates, often just a year removed from being Whitman students. Despite their closeness in age to members of the team, they are hired as members of Whitman’s instructional staff and are expected to conform to the same codes of conduct as other staff members. In moving forward, members of the debate team hope there can be more positive and open communication from the administration, starting with the hiring of a new Director of Forensics. Steps to begin this process had been underway with the creation of an advisory group consisting of alumni, current debaters and a faculty member to provide input for a new director.
In spring 2012, Whitman administration carried out a Title IX investigation into a report of a sexual assault by a former assistant debate coach. Individuals who were called into questioning with the investigation board, however, have been extremely unhappy with the way the investigation was handled. None of the individuals who were called in to speak received a follow-up from the board or a final report nor were they told when the investigation was concluded. Given these concerns, 135 debaters, alumni and Whitman community members have signed a petition on change.org asking the college to conduct an independent investigation into its Title IX investigation.
Whitman is a safe environment to experiment with who you are, what you think, and just be different, yet students often don't take full advantage of this.
Director of Forensics Jim Hanson is stepping down from his position. Debate team members and debate alumni are confused about the decision and looking to the administration for more answers.
The Pioneer asked candidates running in the 2013 ASWC Executive Council elections about their qualifications, goals for next year and favorite study spots around campus.
Monday, Oct. 22, students headed to Maxey Auditorium for a screening of the final presidential debate. The two candidates, perhaps tired of criticism for their behavior, showed signs of self-restraint...
The Vice Presidential debate was a hotly contested event on the national scale. Some people raved that Joe Biden came out strong and effective with his simple, to-the-point discussions about the Obama...
In the debate community, it's not uncommon to hear derogatory terms used to describe female debaters who come across as overly aggressive. The unequal gender ratio within the activity seems to stem partly from its history as an activity practiced largely by white males and also from general sexism in society.
