March 28, 2013

Lewis & Clark debate to host Irish Times champions

Three students from Trinity College Dublin will travel from Dublin to Portland, OR, to appear in an exhibition debate between champions of the Irish Times competition and three of Lewis & Clark’s top debaters. The debate will take place on Monday, April 1 at 7:00 PM in Lewis & Clark’s Templeton Student Center Council Chamber.

Three students from Trinity College Dublin will travel from Dublin to Portland, OR, to appear in an exhibition debate between champions of the Irish Times competition and three of Lewis & Clark’s top debaters. The debate will take place on Monday, April 1 at 7:00 PM in Lewis & Clark’s Templeton Campus Center Council Chamber. 

About the debaters

Kate Brady, John Engle and Liam Brophy won the Irish Times Debate Final on Feb. 22 at Queens University in Belfast. Brady was the individual winner, while Engle and Brophy won the team competition, debating the topic of emigration. Their visit to Portland is part of a larger tour of the United States, an annual tour that has taken place each of the last 33 years.

Representing Lewis & Clark College will be debaters Emily Halter (CAS ’14), Joe Hykan (CAS ’13) and Benjamin Mann (CAS ’14). Halter and Hykan return to Portland after finishing in 7th place in the nation at the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence. Both Halter and Hykan were recognized among the top 10 individual debaters in the nation at last week’s national championships. They will be joined by Mann who finished among the top 32 teams in the nation at the National Parliamentary Debate Association’s championship tournament.

Debate topic

The topic for Monday’s debate will be gun regulation- “This House prefers the gun laws of the Republic of Ireland to the gun laws of the United States of America.” The team from Lewis & Clark College will affirm the topic, while the Irish Times Champions will oppose the motion.