Irish debate team visits campus to take on ND club
By ERIN LARUFFA
News Writer
It is not every day that Notre Dame students have to argue that the world would be better off without the discovery of America.
But Notre Dame debate team members Mark Styczynski, Joyce Bohnke and Willis McDonald, all sophomores, had to argue just that in a debate Tuesday night.
The three students argued against three Irish debaters, Michael Deasy, Louise Rouse and Ronan Mullen, who won the Irish Times Final Debate, a competition that began in October with 400 students.
"In Ireland, it's a very prestigious thing to win," said Chris Huck, coach of the Notre Dame debate team.
Many important leaders in the Irish government are previous winners of the competition, Huck said. All three current champions are pursuing law degrees in Ireland.
The team came to the United States about two weeks ago for an American debate tournament. They are currently visiting colleges and universities across the U.S. Notre Dame bid to be one of the host schools and was accepted.
"It's a great honor to have them here," Huck said.
The statement the teams had to debate was: "This house regrets the discovery of America." The Irish debate team chose to oppose the proposal before Huck had actually read the topic.
The teams had 15 minutes to plan its argument, before each team member presented his or her argument.
"It was a little bit odd for me to be debating anti-American," Styczynski said.
One issue the Notre Dame debaters focused their argument on was their claim that American foreign policy is based only in American self-interest.
"Our [foreign policy] motives have always been shady," McDonald said. "We always act in our interests."
The team also argued that the American culture is pervading other cultures.
"You can go into China now and find a McDonald's on Tienamen Square," Bohnke said. "You cannot live your home culture [in a foreign country] … You can't help but be inundated with American culture."
"We destroy other cultures," Styczynski said.
Another issue the Notre Dame debaters argued was the fact that poor Americans are not benefiting fully from American prosperity.
Both Bohnke and McDonald argued that a poor person would be better off living in Cuba than in the United States because, Bohnke said, all Cubans have guaranteed health care.
The Irish debaters opposed the proposition with arguments such as the benefits of American foreign policy, the possibility for cultures to be preserved within America's culture and with the possibility for all people to prosper in America.
"People want to come here. People want to live here," Deasy said.
"We're not calling for the complete American colonization of the world," Rouse said. "America isn't perfect but it is one of the best systems available."
Rouse pointed out that the U.S. helpfully intervened in Kosovo, even though it lacked self-interest in the region.
In addition, during difficult economic times in Ireland, many of the country's people waited for the "American letter" containing money from relatives who had immigrated to America, according to Mullen. He added that America gave immigrants the chance to support their both relatives in America and those who remained in Europe.
"All there would have been is death at home [without relatives in America]," Mullen said.
Unlike most debates, which are typically decided by judges, Huck let the entire audience vote to determine the winners. Most of the audience, as well as the three Notre Dame debaters, voted in favor of the Irish team.
All News Stories for Wednesday, March 22, 2000
