4th Speech Contest sponsored by the Touro College SGS/NYSCAS

“Domestic Violence” is the topic of the First Prize winner in the 4th Speech Contest sponsored by the Touro College SGS/NYSCAS Department of Speech and Communication, November 14, 2007.

Sophomore Kristina Stone won First Prize (and $100 cash) for her hard-hitting speech on “Domestic Violence” in the 4th Speech Contest sponsored by the SGS/NYSCAS Department of Speech and Communication on November 14, 2007. In a little over 4 minutes, she graphically documented the statistics, types and ways to prevent domestic violence. Kristina was chosen by her classmates as the Finalist for the Interpersonal Communication class, taught by Professor Hal Wicke.

The judges chose Bijaya Adhikari as the Second Prize ($50 cash) winner. Her topic was “Nepal: Never Ending Peace and Love.” She has taken Communication courses from Professor Richard Green and Barrie Cline.

Third Prize ($25 cash) went to Elizabeth Rankine for her speech “One of the Top Five Killers: Domestic Violence.” Her instructor is Professor Thomasina Tucker.

The judges gave Honorable Mention recognition to Yelena Mullokondova for her speech on “Feral Children.” Her instructor is Professor Barrie Cline.

The three judges included Dean Donne Kampel, Professor Anna Amaez of Education and Professor Helene Bergman of Accounting in the Business department.

Other Finalists included Cartier Greeley (“Obesity”), Narayan Malla (“Human Rights in Burma”), Milton Rivera (“The Mayan People in Guatamala”), Rachel Rosen (“Eating Disorders”).

Each semester, the Speech and Communication Department sponsors a Speech Contest for students in the three Communication classes. Finalists are chosen by their classmates after the class presents their information speech assignment. Begun in Spring, 2005, previous Speech Contests winners and finalists are available on the Internet at http://www.profgreen.tv/.

This announcement can be seen on the Touro Communication Club Blog @ http://www.tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com/

Holiday Party, Thursday Dec. 20 (note changed date) @ 1:30 p.m.

IN ROOM 610 (note room change) @ 50 WEST 23RD STREET
BRING FOOD FOR 3 PEOPLE. IT MUST BE KOSHER. HOPEFULLY NOT EVERYONE WILL BRING CHIPS AND DIP! THE COMMUNICATION DEPT WILL PROVIDE THE BEVERAGES, CUPS, PAPER PLATES AND UTENSILS.
BRING YOUR FRIENDS BECAUSE WE’LL BE SHARING IDEAS ABOUT FUTURE ACTIVITIES:
Some of the ideas we talked about yesterday included:
- A visit to the Museum of Television and Radio on West 52nd Street to see the Kennedy- Nixon debates.
- Having a guest speaker.
- Working toward establishing an honorary society in Communication.
- George Backinoff’s activities on intercultural communication.

• Notes on Conversation #8 – Thursday, November 8, 2007
  After we found out that Room 602 had a class in it, we moved to Room 610 which is a much larger room for our activities.
  A solid group of willing members seemed eager to learn more about debate and certainly the Presidential campaign. Two new people, Narayan Malla took photos and Calishea Gordon really got involved. It was nice to see Brian Brown who returned (in an earlier meeting, Brian showed us how he does "cold calling" on the phone which he does as a stock broker.). Milton Rivera, Josephine Stewart-Romillie, Drani Grabu and Antoinette Miller are now old-timers. Of course, George Backinoff, David Nussbaum, and Richard Green of the Communication faculty joined our efforts.
  Hal Wicke asked the group to fill out a survey of 11 questions on issues facing America. They ranged from the war in Iraq to Social Security to Immigration..

Take the Survey on "Where Do You Stand? A Survey of Views to Match with a Candidate" by clicking on the following web address:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ongoing/select_a_candidate/

It was helpful to identify a lot of issues we face in America.
Next, we read a NY Times transcript excerpt of the exchange between Senator Clinton and Tim Russert at the last Democratic debate in early November.

View this debate, as posted below, by The New York Times, on video, with the complete transcript of the debate with a transcript analyzer:

Democratic Debate, 10/30/2007

Democratic Debate, 11/15/2007

Democratic Debate, 11/28/2007

www.youtube.com/republicandebate

CNN/YouTube Republican Debate, (Also Click Here.)

Democratic Debate, 12/13/2007

As the script was being read, we stopped and analyzed ("parsed" is another word for analysis) the language. Everyone agreed that Clinton looked like she was "flip-flopping" on the issue of driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants in NY.

As always, these issues are very complex. Any politician is faced with the dilemma of trying to explain complicated issues simply and with just a few words. Hal used the term "bumper sticker’ responses – most audiences are not as familiar with the issues as is the candidate. Clinton or anyone else must give a short, crisp, clear answer to a very complex problem in a few seconds. Otherwise, the audience may perceive the candidate doesn’t know what he/she is talking about or is vague or stupid.
Teachers are often faced with a similar dilemma. Difficult ideas require much explanation. The politician does not have the time to explain the fine points. That’s why True/False questions are not useful teaching tools because a black/white answer to a complex issue can be misleading and deceptive. It’s like when children ask their parents, "Are we going to die?" or "Why does the sun disappear at night?" What kind of "bumper sticker" answer can you give to those questions?
Digression: in 1972 when George McGovern was running against Richard Nixon, McGovern visited Borough Hall in downtown Brooklyn near where I was teaching at the time. As he passed by the crowd, shaking hands, someone shouted, "What are you going to do about cancer?" Without skipping a beat, McGovern said, "Make a war on it!" That’s an example of "bumper sticker" answers to complex issues. (Remember, McGovern lost badly to Nixon!)
Next, we made a list of possible practice debate topics. We chose "Invading Privacy." Hal then put the topic into a formal "Resolution": "Resolved: that the U.S. government should stop all ways of invading privacy."
The PRO team (called the Affirmative) will defend the resolution – whether they agree with it or not. The CON team (called the Negative) will try to destroy the Affirmative teams position.- also whether agree with it or not.
Next, we listed all the possible arguments we could think of on both the Affirmative and Negative sides. Then we divided up into four teams of two. Each side spent 10 minutes, talking through how they would prepare their "case" – their position.
Next we had four sets of two person debates while Antoinette walked around, observing the debate. The schedule was as follows:
Affirmative – Constructive speech – 2 minutes
Negative – Cross-examination – 1 minute
Negative – Constructive speech – 2 minutes
Affirmative – Cross–examination – 1 minute
It was fun to watch. Everyone was going at each other with a lot of energy. One debate got confused as to which side each debater was on. Antoinette, as judge, found that all 4 Affirmative people won the debate.
In the post-debate debriefing, we first talked about what the experience was like, then how they did and what they would do better next time. George Backinoff commented that when he was in graduate school, he acted as a judge and was amazed at how rapid the exchanges were and how, over time, all the debaters had to improve because the other team found new evidence to support their case.
Probably, the most important observation was that our next step should be to increase the preparation before the debate. After a while, you realize you run short of ideas and information and doing "homework" becomes necessary to improve your skills.
There is an old debate adage, "The debate is won in the library." With the internet it is a brand-new game.
We then talked about our Holiday party on Thursday, December 13th. We also decided that we would continue meetings in January between semesters.
Come join us at our first party!
Hal Wicke
Touro Communication Club

width=11 height=11>