Seikel & Miller, University of Houston debate, 1968-69: one
magical season.
Melissa Obegi, 1982 NFL Lincoln-Douglas debate champion, and coaches (Miller & Perry)
"Coach Heffler" (the only one with full beard) leads a wild tribe of Burroughs Indians to CHSSA glory.
"DISPUTATIO BONUS EST."
For those of you who were not forced to take Latin in high school, the above-referenced sentence translates as: "Debate is good."
In selecting this as the motto of DEBATE COLLEGE, we were more than influenced by the words of the fictitious educator and philanthropist, Emil Faber, of Animal House fame (to wit, "Knowledge is good"); and, ironically, academic Debate and Animal House are actually and forever linked.
As Jay Heinrichs noted in our required text, Thank You for Arguing:
"Daniel Webster picked up rhetoric at Dartmouth by joining a debating society, the United Fraternity, which had an impressive classical library and held weekly debates. Years later, the club changed its name to Alpha Delta and partied its way to immortality by inspiring the movie Animal House. To the brothers’ credit, they didn’t forget their classical heritage entirely; hence the toga party" (p. 5).
Simplistic as our motto may be, we believe it to be true. Debate is good. It’s all good: Kritik, Lincoln-Douglas, Mock Trial, Moot Court, Oregon-style Cross Examination, Parliamentary, Performance, Policy, Public Forum, whatever...
And yet despite the information explosion and the internet revolution, despite the 24-hour news cycle, despite new and unparalleled educational opportunities, it appears that academic Debate is highly fragmented, often at war with itself, - and, quite possibly - in decline.
We have created DEBATE COLLEGE to serve the interests of the entire Debate Community, as well as the public at large. Our curriculum is designed to teach those skills which are fundamental to all forms of academic Debate. We believe that by undertaking this task with this ecumenical spirit we can "give something back" to Debate, while simultaneously advancing the common values of formal, reasoned, documented, and structured argumentation.
Michael H. Miller, J.D. Jean E. Perry, M.A. Ira P. Heffler
