<p>Hahaha someone in the previous post likened Parliamentary Debate to something along the lines of … “Drunks with a debate problem”.</p>
<p>-_-;</p>
<p>This is actually kind of worrisome (?). My #1 by far passion is Model UN and Debate (and frankly the only ‘talent’-if you can call it that, that I have). Err I really wanted to really really do well at the collegiate debate level~ Was even thinking about attending a thursday night Philo session thingymabob later this month lol. But yea… seriously, how is debating at columbia (model un, parliamentary, jsa etc. etc.)</p>
<p>a floormate of mine does model UN and he always rants and raves about it in good ways when you talk to him about it</p>
<p>see my second page post about the Parli team in the other thread.</p>
<p>also, dunno if it interests you but the mock trial thingy at columbia also seems to be pretty good.</p>
<p>sorry i dont really have any first hand experience with that stuff, just friends who do it…</p>
<p>also, by Philo do you mean Philolexian (or something spelled like that)? i would STRONGLY advise against that. i went to a philo sponsored event early this semester, it was just crazy, nothing more.</p>
<p>i used to be on parliamentary debate and it was a great experience. rather than policy where your constructives are based on research, i felt that parli gave you a chance to think of crazy yet amazing resolutions to debate.</p>
<p>i would highly recommend trying it out and seeing the Parli network with all the schools. it’s truly amazing.</p>
<p>I’m a vice president for Parli debate so hopefully I can clear up some misconceptions. </p>
<p>“Drunks with a debate problem” would have probably been true of the Parli team about four years ago…then it disintegrated and has been repopulated with people who are generally not too enthusiastic about liquor, period…which is unfortunate, because parties now tend to be rather short and incredibly sober, and there’s not as much team bonding as there could be. Team dinners at nice restaurants have had better results. </p>
<p>One more corrective- no one wears wigs or speaks in accents in Parli debate, although there is quite a bit of imported British vocab used and some other interesting quirks- banging rather than clapping, standing with one’s hand behind one’s head as if there were a wig, etc. Occasionally there are gavels used.</p>
<p>If you have any more questions, PM me. </p>
<p>I too would advise against Philo; it’s a very…cliquish and introverted sort of thing and they only seem to interact with the rest of the campus community around the time they hold their Bad Poetry contest. Model UN seems even more insular. Policy debate is also flawed in my opinion; all that research is very time consuming and you tend not to build your ability to think on your feet in the same way Parli debaters can. </p>
<p>If you were planning to be on campus for a Philo event, you might want to come visit during the weekend of the Parli tournament in March; Columbia will be hosting Parli debaters from across the country.</p>
<p>Parli is relatively fluid since you can choose which tournaments/events to go to…I wouldn’t call it that cliquish. But yes, most things are cliquish, though to different degrees.</p>
<p>philo, moreso than most things at columbia, tends to be a collection of misfits. this implies both good and bad things. i</p>
<p>My first exposure to the Parli team, on the other hand, was hosting 10 kids from Harvard/Brown and then judging for the tournament the next day, sometime in early 2004 i think. boy were they nuts, the lot of 'em. I think I scared them by flowing the debate and judging it policy-style. one thing i can say for sure is that the debates were entertaining as hell. i think one case was “Resolved: That Sylvester Stallone will eventually make a Rocky 6”. I guess we know who won that argument, sooner or later.</p>
<p>Parli uses flow charts as well, Denzera, so they shouldn’t have been scared off…unless they were first-time novices. Judging (or doing anything, for that atter) policy-style, though, will certainly earn Parli people’s aversion.</p>
<p>Truazn- the team used to be amazing; there’s actually an old website that details its glorious history:</p>
<p>Unfortunately, since its late 2003 implosion its quality sunk and has since only managed to rise to mediocre. Our best candidates have tended to become distracted by their workloads or their desire to remain in the city over the weekend, while the late leadership was not exactly a boon to membership. It’s been hit or miss attracting top candidates from high school debate who have wandered their way into Columbia; it doesn’t help that the admissions office is only now beginning to coordinate recruitment. Anyway, Columbia isn’t regularly making final rounds as it used to, but it’s certainly nowhere near the laughingstock of the league.</p>
<p>Philolexian is… interesting. They’re probably the most eclectic group of people I’ve met. Thespians, writers, engineers, musicians, comp sci programmers, whatever. We are a little cliquish, but in my experience we’re more than happy to welcome you into our ‘clique’ if you’re willing to go down the rabbit hole.</p>
<p>Philo’s ‘thing’ is mock-elitism. The meetings are run by people in robes and occasionally wigs. We ‘debate’ absurd topics, and just about anything goes.</p>