The service was well attended with perhaps 60 people including current and retired faculty, executive staff, alumni, students and friends. Dr. Calgaard spoke of the process of establishing the debate program at Trinity and talked about the impact that Professor Harrison had in building the program. He reflected a bit on his own debate experience and how it paled in comparison to Frank’s accomplishments in debate at the national level. He spoke of Frank with great admiration and warmth.

Dr. Brooks Hill spoke more about Frank’s work building the debate program, Frank’s distaste for administrative paperwork, and his idiosyncratic habits about food. Brooks talked about what a wonderful colleague Frank was and how candid Frank was when applying for the position at Trinity given his J.D. degree rather than a doctor of philosophy degree and his career in the law and as a Congressman rather than an academic career. He, too, remembered Frank with great fondness and admiration.

Jamie Downing spoke about how Frank inspired her and challenged her as a student. She spoke about his role as a teacher, coach and friend. She told a story about attending a professional meeting or tournament with Frank in New Haven, CT; during the summer of 2008 (I think that is the right timing). They went to a dock and watched sail boats coming in and out of the harbor. Suddenly, there was one sailboat coming into the harbor with red sails. Frank called Jamie’s attention to the red sails saying he had never seen red sails before and how unique the sails were. Jamie compared Frank Harrison to the red sails since he was such a unique person.

I don’t know how Jamie got through her remarks without choking up. Dr. Calgaard, Dr. Hill and Jamie all came near to choking up, but held their voices strong.
The Speech & Drama faculty and staff along with the Calgaards, Marc Raney, most of the alumni, current students and me walked over to the reception. I think there were at least 40 folks at the reception. The food was beautifully set-up and presented—crudités and dip, a cheese tray with crackers, broiled asparagus wrapped in pastry, goat cheese and tomato brochettes, artichoke dip, and open bar with beer, wine, and soft drinks and water—as well as delicious. Jamie talked about the naming of the debate squad room being named for Frank and displayed the plaque for everyone to view. She also mentioned the fund that was planned for debate and named for Frank. Four or more alumni stepped forward and shared stories about Frank with the group. These stories focused on some or the funny things that occurred during a debate tournament or around ordering food at a restaurant or Frank’s advice about developing an argument. All the stories were shared with great humor, warmth and respect for Frank. Toward the end of the stories, Jarrod invited everyone up to the debate squad room where the plaque will be hung.

Although the reception group made a dent in the food there were leftovers and Jarrod and Brooks encouraged the current students to consolidate the trays and take it back to the residence halls. The only item left was the artichoke dip and the bar supplies. Everyone enjoyed the food and stories at the reception and I’m sure more than a 100 students enjoyed the leftovers later that evening.

All the best,

Kris

Kristine Nelson Howland
Assistant Director
University Advancement
Trinity University

On September 25, 2009 Trinity Debate went to Houston to lead a seminar workshop on case building for Houston Urban Debate League (check out the pictures in our photo galleries).  Eleven students of all grade levels, majors, and experience levels participated in the event.  Baker Duncan debate scholarship students along with students who had never seen a policy debate round came to volunteer.  Around 250 underprivileged students came to the seminar at Furr Senior High School.  They all met in the auditorium of the high school for a brief overview of the day and the schedule and introductions from the Trinity Debate Team.  After that they broke up into smaller groups and members of Trinity Debate led one of the seminar groups.  We spent the rest of the day working directly with these students to prepare them for their first tournament. 

The students were great and super excited about debate and glad to have the extra help.  Most of their coaches are teachers or former debaters who only know a little about debate, so it was a really good experience for them to be able to work with debaters who are currently competing on the colligate debate circuit.  The volunteers with less experience in policy debate were able to assist in interacting with the students and being positive.  They were able to help them with confidence and basic public speaking skills as well as just being enthusiast and uplifting to make the experience fun.  So many thanks to all of the people who were able to make this experience possible: Jarrod Atchison, Andrew Hansen, Lupita Puentes, Nick Honegger, Mitch Hagney, Nathan Dupont, Jacob Uzman, Jake Muncy, Jena Daggett, Krystal Rountree, Sarah Clemons, Emily Hall, and Sabrina Frank.

The Urban Debate League is a wonderful organization to assist with.  Urban Debate League is currently in 18 cities across the country.  Policy debate which the students in Urban Debate League help them to acquire literacy, critical thinking, research skills, communication, confidence, public speaking abilities, organization, and argumentation skills.  Debate also helps many of these students get accepted into college as well as help them to receive scholarship and financial aid money to be able to afford college.  The debate community also provides a strong support system and community of people to help these students to achieve.  Former debaters are disproportionately represented among leaders in the media, the business word, the law, the academy, and the government. Nearly two out of three Members of the 104th U.S. Congress (1996-97) were former debaters.

 This trip will hopefully also help to show the national headquarters of the Urban Debate League that there is a support system in place from students and professors of Trinity University if there were to be an Urban Debate League in San Antonio.  Because of the benefits of Urban Debate League, it would be wonderful if the program were to be able to be in San Antonio as well.  Please contact me if you have any interest in volunteering with the Houston Urban Debate League or in being a part of the campaign for having an Urban Debate League in San Antonio.

Thanks!

Lauren Williams

The Days of dragging around tubs full of evidence are officially over! During the 2009-2010 debate season, Trinity University debaters will debate using laptops to organize, read, and store their evidence. Every Trinity debate team will carry an extra laptop for their opponents and judges to examine the evidence read in the debate. The debaters will organize their speeches using a series of macros that have been created by various members of the debate community.

Paperless debating is the result of the hardwork and dedication of several people in the debate community including the Whitman and Denver squads who have already made the transition away from paper. We are looking foward to saving money on airline luggage fees, saving prep time during tournaments, and saving our lower backs from hauling those ridiculously heavy tubs around the nation.

To commemorate the life and passing of Frank Harrison, the Trinity University Department of Speech and Drama and Trinity Debate alumni are planning a memorial service on October 17, 2009 at Trinity University in the Marguerite B. Parker Chapel at 2:00 p.m.  A reception and dedication will be held in the Ruth Taylor Courtyard following the service. 

On Friday, October 16, 2009, we will be having a dinner at Silo Elevated Cuisine. Tickets will be $45 per person, which includes a three-course meal, tax and tip.  The total number of attendees must be confirmed by October 3, 2009, so please let us know the number of people attending. 

For more information, or if you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Jamie Downing or Jarrod Atchison.

Thank you,

Jamie Downing