Tuesday, July 3:The Lab Squares Off

The afternoon discussion in the BC lab focused on how to answer confusing or intimidating positions. Students learned the importance of pinning their opponent down in CX and engaging the arguments intellectually rather than dismissing them out of hand. Several cases of notoriety were read so that everyone could put newly-learned skills on display. In the evening, things turned personal. Students split up into two teams and competed in a tag-team debate, which was judged by two students and a visiting coach. On a 3-0 decision, the affirmative team of Danielle Smogard, William Hix, Ryan Bennett, Arti Bhatia, and Shadman Zaman defeated the negative team of Rahim Sayani, Todd Liipfert, Henry Curtis, Louis Paine, and Jessie Risman.