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Two members of the Towson Speech and Debate Team placed first in the fourth annual James Madison Commemorative Debate and Citizen Forum in March, marking the first time international students have won the tournament.
Seniors Baya Tuvshintugs and Peguy Pierre-Louis, both International Debate Scholars, competed against students from 12 other prestigious schools, including Georgetown University and Wake Forest. The pair were pleasantly surprised at their victory.
“I couldn’t believe it because I thought Georgetown was going to win, and when they said Towson I had to ask Peguy if they really said Towson,” Tuvshintugs, a business administration major, said. “This is significant for us because English is our second language.”
Held March 16 and 17, the debate was a part of the university’s Madison Week Celebration, in which the spirit of James Madison is remembered. Coinciding with his birthday in mid-March, the event is held in honor of Madison’s ideal that “a republican democracy is healthy only when informed and civil debate thrives.”
In this year’s competition, 12 teams of two students took sides on the issue “Resolved: that current corporate media conglomerates are an insult to the ideals of the First Amendment.”
Teams were randomly assigned sides and speaker positions, forcing students to be prepared to debate both sides. After advancing to the final round, Towson was placed on the negative side with George Mason University and James Madison against Wake Forest, Mary Washington and Georgetown on the affirmative.
“Our position was media corporations are the only way to further the ideals of the First Amendment,” Pierre-Louis, a computer science and math major, said.
Pierre-Louis explained their argument did not focus on defending media conglomerates but instead emphasized the choice citizens have when it comes to receiving information.
“People still have a choice to find alternative ways to get news,” he said. “It’s exactly what democracy is all about – your ability to make a choice.”
As the last team to speak, Towson had to summarize the points made by the other schools on the con side and build on their arguments with their own views.
Going last also had an impact on the points the team focused on in their speech. Tuvshintugs pointed out that both George Mason and James Madison used arguments their team had planned on using.
“George Mason concentrated on alternative media sources like the Internet and local newspapers; James Madison talked about the alternative to media ownership,” she said. “Those were valid arguments that we had in mind so we had to build on those arguments as well as introduce our own perspective to the debate.”
During her speech, Tuvshintugs said government ownership as an alternative to corporate media ownership would be even worse.
“I don’t think the Bush government would allow a lot of Kerry campaign ads,” she argued. “They criticized corporate media for not revealing the truth about the situation in Iraq, but if you think about it, corporations were the first ones to bring up the issue that there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.”
TU mass communication faculty member Chris Baron, program manager for the Baltimore Urban Debate League, said teams asked questions of each other during the debate.
“It wasn’t like six different speeches going on,” Baron explained. “At any time opponents could interrupt and ask questions.”
The event came on the heels of Towson’s own speech and debate tournament, but the team and coaches refused to let exhaustion hold them back.
“I wasn’t sure if we were going or not,” Tuvshintugs said. “[Debate coach] Beth Skinner took the initiative to drive us three hours to Virginia and she could have easily said ‘Look, I’m really tired, I want to take a rest.’”
Preparation time was limited as a result, but the team said the debate did not require as much research as their usual competitions. Instead, they worked to become familiar with the topic from different perspectives.
“The debate could go in a direction that was not anticipated, so they had to be ready for however the debate started to flow along,” Baron said. “They could prepare some arguments but some of the arguments were not used. The beginning team has a much easier time; they can set up the debate and say whatever they want. By the end, you have to be going in the direction the debate has taken.”
Tuvshintugs explained their technique and approach to the debate differed from other schools.
“Georgetown used a lot of academic language whereas we gave real life examples from our countries, how the media works in Mongolia,” she said.
“I think we also cracked more jokes than any other team. Everyone was so serious, and we made the audience laugh.”
Baron agreed that Towson’s alternative method was significant in winning the event.
“The winning team in this case really was speaking more from the heart and from their own personal experiences, which always makes for a stronger argument when people are not just relying on what other people said but actually able to relate to it on a personal level,” Baron said.
JMU President Linwood Rose presented Tuvshintugs and Pierre-Louis with the Madison Cup trophy during the Madison Day ceremony the day after the tournament.
Both were happy with their achievement and plan to continue with debate after graduation.
Pierre-Louis is one of the first debaters from his native Haiti and feels the skills he is learning will benefit the future of his homeland.
“For me, debate is part of who I am,” Pierre-Louis said. “I think debate for us in Haiti has a great value in terms of struggling to create a democracy. So I always keep in touch with the program there.”
In addition to the Madison Cup, Towson was awarded $5,000 which Baron said would be used for scholarships to send team members to summer debate institutes. A cash prize is usually unheard of in college debate competitions and proved to be incentive for schools to participate.
This was the first year Towson competed in the event and the team plans to continue next year to defend their “Tiger pride.”
“The cup that we got is not permanent,” Pierre-Louis explained. “We have it for this year, then whoever wins the tournament next year will get this cup. So we really want to go back and defend it.”
The Speech and Debate team holds meetings Tuesdays at 5 p.m. in Van Bokkelen Hall, Room 201.
All students are encouraged to attend. For more information, contact Darren Goins at (410) 704-2888.
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