Debate Dinner

I'm really glad I went to the debate dinner last night.  I had a really good time.

First, the students were all excited.  I got hugs and smiles.  I think it made us remember it's all about trying to educate and make a difference in reducing the spread of HIV in this country.  Forget the rest of the mess.  Yes, the debates could should have been run better, but the students that came together and did their part with dignity and respect.  I'm proud of them.

Second, I ended up sitting with two people I really respect.  One is a Head of Dept at Uni and the other works for BAHA.  They are both insanely intelligent and we had some really great conversation.  We chatted at length about the hiring a new VC for the university (oh, I didn't blog about that... well, let's just say, that I'm already walking a fine line with my blog!).  Anyway, I enjoyed it.

I had to laugh as Uni people got up to speak and we publicly apologized for any issues that occurred during the debates.  Then NACS ended up talking about that they've "decided" a few things since this debate.... one is that they want future universities to take ownership of the debates and run the whole thing.  (Uh, no.... you need an outside person to run it so it's fair... as in a third party, sponsor, or NGO...but whatever... ).  They also said that they need to look at adjudication and that they realized they needed to "take over" the adjudication and changed it half-way through.  It shouldn't be student run.  Wow.  We only requested that BEFORE last year's debates, but whatever....  Then they said they need to look at the scoring.  They said on stage they are looking for content and ideas and that's how they scored.  Um, the scoring sheets (that were provided to all the teams) where 40% manner, 40% matter, and 20% method.  That's how it's supposed to be scored.  However, it was obvious that if you didn't get the draw for the more "correct" side, you weren't going to win.  How do you argue against topics that have all the statistics on the other side?  The only thing you can do - pick apart the topic or argue semantics or redefine it to work in your favor.  They didn't like that.  I get it.  They want to educate the students and crowd.  Well, the students are just trying to win the debates.  Luck of the draw if you got the "wrong" side.  Unfortunately, you loose pretty much by default.  So, NACS is going to look at providing topics or questions instead of debating statements.  Oh, and they said they were grateful that the sponsorship came through at the "11th hour".  Hmmm, that explains so much (I personally heard from some of the sponsors that they weren't approached until the 11th hour... but.... no comment.)

Anyway, the decided next year that it will be held at UPNG.  I think that's great as they can start forming a committee now.  We pulled our stuff together in a couple months.  And, frankly, Unitech still hasn't gotten any money from NACS.  They sent some money to the wrong account and was returned.  We're still waiting.  Nothing like fronting money that we just don't have.  If I can't get a working copy machine, how are we supposed to pay for food for 150 people for three days?  I really hope our chairperson is able to sort  it out and get reimbursed.

So, everyone was asking, you're doing this again next year, right?  You'll be here, right???  I just nodded and drank my wine.  I'm a sucker.  But I'm already confident in UPNG's ability to pull this off.  If only we had the same authority, we could have rocked this event.

Anyway, I'm going to take the debate team out this weekend.  After them sleeping in my office (so they could have internet access to prepare) and working so hard these past four days, they deserve something fun.  Yeah, to The Place for giving me ten free passes this weekend.  I really appreciate it.  I'm taking the team DANCING!