Any Student Congress diehard has offered one: a desperate attempt to justify Congress and its recognition in the Debate/Forensics/Speech world as a legitimate event. What few people realize, however, is that congress isn’t just Extemp gone wrong or Impromptu meets OO meets Policy. Within the event of congress, the rules are unlike those of any other event…h
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If I hear someone else ever tell me that Student Congress is a pursuit of “Forensic Art” one more time I might just pulverize some poor, unassuming and completely innocent spud into mashed potatoes. Really. People who want to elevate what we do on a more-or-less regular basis to a form of art simply do not grasp the essence of the event. Michelangelo, DaVinci, Titian, Van Eyck, Rembrandt…that is art, and they are artists. No one would ever accuse General George S Patton of being an artist – or Napoleon or Julius Caesar or even General Maximus Decimus Meridius, for that matter – of being an artiste, but their pursuits are all more in line with ours. If you still harbor the opinion that Student Congress isn’t “war on the floor,” then you probably have not participated in enough really good break rounds.
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Writing this article about Student Congress, I really needed to have a jumping off point. My first try at a column was going to be on why people choose to do debate, and further choose to participate in Student Congress. Obviously, a person chooses to do debate because it’s an instant popularity boost. I know many freshmen are out there thanking the Debate powers-that-be whe
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