April 01, 2008
Dr. Edward Schiappa to deliver 2008 Brigance Forum Lecture
Professor Edward Schiappa will present the 2008 Brigance Forum lecture on Wednesday
April 2 at 8:00 p.m. in Hays Hall 104. The lecture is free and open to the public.
The Brigance Forum, an annual event hosted by the Wabash College Rhetoric Department, honors the legacy of W. Norwood Brigance. Professor Brigance educated generations of Wabash men during his tenure at the College (1922-1960). During that time he made an indelible mark in the classroom (“Room Filling Energy”!), was a forceful public speaker, an exemplar of the public intellectual, and a scholar of great renown. Among his many scholarly accomplishments was his work as editor of the pioneering two-volume set History and Criticism of American Public Address, editor of the Quarterly Journal of Speech, author of numerous textbooks on public speaking, and President of the Speech Association of America (forerunner to today’s National Communication Association). For these accomplishments, in 2007 Brigance was recognized as a Distinguished Scholar in Communication by the National Communication Association, a fitting and overdue honor. In honor of his memory, family, friends and former students have made generous contributions to make the annual Brigance Forum lecture possible.
We have been honored through the years to host a number of distinguished rhetorical scholars, drawn to Wabash based on Brigance’s legacy and the continued dedication of the College to rhetorical studies. This year we are honored to have Professor Edward Schiappa, Chair of the Department of Communication Studies and the Paul W. Frenzel Professor of Liberal Arts Chair at the University of Minnesota, present the lecture. Professor Schiappa is the author of five books including Defining Reality: Definitions and the Politics of Meaning (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2003), Protagoras and Logos: A Study in Greek Philosophy and Rhetoric, (Columbia: U. of South Carolina Press, 2003, 2nd Edition) and The Beginnings of Rhetorical Theory in Classical Greece (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999).
Professor Schiappa's lecture, "Rethinking Criticism of Stereotypes and Representation in Popular Culture" is drawn from his present scholarly project. In it he provides a sweeping critique of how "stereotypes" and "representations" of minorities are typically analyzed by popular culture critics. He argues that too many critics are guided by impossible norms he describes as "representational correctness," neglect audience responses, and fail to consider what he describes as the larger "representational ecology" of mass mediated popular culture.
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March 10, 2008
Wabash Defends National Title -- Brings Home First Place at DSR-TKA National Tournament
The Wabash College Parliamentary Union defended the debate championship it won at the University of Mississippi in 2007 by again taking first place in Parliamentary Debate at the 2008 DSR-TKA National Tournament, held March 7-8 at the University of Florida.
Robert Bloss ’09 and Grant Gussman ’09 went undefeated during the tournament, winning
a final round debate for their opposition on the topic “The United States should normalize relations with Cuba.” Steve Ellis ’09 and Kevin Travis McLaughlin ‘09, the 2007 DSR-TKA champions, finished third. In addition, Gussman was recognized as the top individual speaker in parliamentary debate while McLaughlin finished fifth. This year’s debates focused primarily on United States policies and politics as in addition to the final round topic, debaters were asked to consider topics such as “The U.S. federal government should become more involved in Latin America,” “The U.S. federal government should increase NASA funding,” and “The United States should adopt universal health care.”
Wabash also brought home two awards in individual events. Gussman finished second in Extemporaneous Speaking while Ellis and McLaughlin finished seventh in Duo Interpretation.
Wabash has long been a member of DSR-TKA, the only national forensics honor society. Delta Sigma Rho was formed in 1906 by faculty at a number of Midwestern institutions. Tau Kappa Alpha was born in Indianapolis in 1908, a student society initially formed by Butler, Earlham, DePauw, Notre Dame and Wabash (Wabash was represented at the founding by students Walter H. Linn and Lawrence Devore). In 1963 TKA (denoting “Honor for Merit”) merged with DSR (denoting Oratory is Power). Joining returning DSR-TKA members Robert Bloss and Grant Gussman, this year Kevin Travis McLaughlin was initiated as a new member of the organization (see picture at left). In becoming members students accept an ethical pledge to “encourage in others a high standard of excellence in the use of the spoken word” and “never to speak so as to mislead others or to deny any person or group the rightful liberty to be heard.” Throughout the years, Wabash has won many awards at DSR-TKA, including national championships in debate, persuasive and extemporaneous speaking, and student congress. The DSR-TKA tournament is taking at least a temporary hiatus, to be replaced by an undergraduate research conference with a particular focus on forensics. Wabash will remain a member of the organization.
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February 24, 2008
Parliamentary Union Finishes 5th in State—Gussman leads way with state championship in Impromptu.
The state of Indiana has a distinguished history as a premiere location for intercollegiate forensics competition. In 1874, Wabash joined Asbury, Butler, Hanover, Indiana, and Purdue to form the first Indiana oratorical association. That tradition continues today through the Indiana State Individual Events Tournament. The 2008 State Tournament was held Saturday February 23 at the University of Indianapolis
All five Wabash College students who participated in the tournament earned at least one award, propelling Wabash to a fifth place finish. Leading the way was Parliamentary Union’s Speaker of the House, Grant Gussman ’09, who earned Wabash’s first varsity state championship in a number of years by winning Impromptu speaking. Gussman also finished third in the state in Extemporaneous speaking. Sophomore Victor Nava, Vice President of the Parliamentary Union, returned to Crawfordsville with two fourth place finishes—one in Extemporaneous speaking and the other in Poetry.
Robert Bloss ’09 also had two award winning performances. In addition to a fifth place finish in poetry, Bloss captured third in the experimental event, Biographical Informative, for his oration on long-time Wabash College Speech Professor W. Norwood Brigance. In his first tournament experience with a cutting from Of Mice and Men, Kevin Travis McLaughlin ’09 finished sixth in Dramatic Interpretation while Steve Ellis ’09 retired his Prose piece by finishing sixth in the event.
The Parliamentary Union will conclude its 2007-08 tournament travel schedule by attending the DSR-TKA national tournament at the University of Florida, March 6-9. The College will be represented by Bloss, Ellis, Gussman, and McLaughlin at the competition.
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January 24, 2008
Rhetoric at Celebration of Student Research
Tomorrow, Friday January 25, marks Wabash’s 8th annual Celebration of Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Work. There will be a record 86 presentations of student work at the Celebration, covering every academic area of study at the college. Included among those oral and poster presentations will be five presentations of research developed in Rhetoric courses.
At 1:30 in Detchon Hall 209, junior Rhetoric major Grant Gussman will present “What's Wrong with History? An Ideological Analysis of Miracle.” Grant’s project, developed in Professor Todd McDorman’s Rhetoric of Sport course, raises questions of ideology and collective memory in an examination of rhetorical strategies employed in the 2004 Disney film, which chronicles the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team’s Gold Medal performance (“The Miracle on Ice”). Grant contends that in the film history was re-envisioned in order to advance an ideology of American superiority and to make the film more appealing to contemporary audiences.
At 2:40 in Detchon 220, senior Rhetoric major Jared Conaway will present his Senior Project, “The Ideology of Roger Goodell: Ensuring Great Football Players are Great Men.” Jared’s project examines the rhetoric of National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell in reference to player conduct issues. Jared contends that in reaction to a well publicized rash of incidents involving player misconduct, Goodell has adopted a “law and order” ideology that stresses personal responsibility and citizenship, using this ideology as part of a corrective action strategy to reassure football fans of the moral value of the NFL as a source of family entertainment.
Three Rhetoric-themed presentations will be presented in Detchon 211 from 2:40 to 3:40. At 2:40, senior History major Richard Roomes will present “Ballot or the Bullet,” a rhetorical analysis of the famous Malcolm X speech. In the project, which Richard developed in Public Speaking with Professor Jennifer Abbott, a contemporary perspective on the continued meaning of the speech for society, race, and politics is offered.
Following Roomes, English major Shayne Dube will present “Hip Hop: A Survival of the Secrecy Tradition in African American Expressive Culture,” a project he developed last spring in the African American Rhetoric and Expressive Culture course taught by Professors David Timmerman and Tim Lake. In the project Shayne examines coded methods of communicating via music developed by African Americans in Antebellum America and considers how Hip Hop represents the survival of this tradition. Then, at 3:20, Mathematics major Marquise Triplett will present “African American Social Dancing,” a project also developed in the Timmerman and Lake immersion course last spring. Marquise examines the role of dance in displays of personality and identity and in terms of its significance in African American social history.
The Celebration of Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative work is scheduled from 1:00 to 4:20 in Detchon Hall. All presentations are free and open to the public.
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January 20, 2008
Parliamentary Union Scores Success at Bulldog Battle
Parliamentary Union successfully opened 2008 by claiming several awards at the “Bulldog Battle,” a Speech and Debate competition held at Butler University on January 19.
In an academic replication of the battle for the Monon Bell, Wabash and DePauw faced off in the final round of parliamentary debate to determine the tournament champion. The spirited debate over whether the federal government should respond to the home mortgage crisis concluded with a DePauw victory. Thus, Robert Bloss ’09 and Jonathan James Torrez ’10 took home the second place trophy (or, in this case, large stuffed bulldogs that were given out as awards). Bloss and Torrez’s performance also earned Wabash a second place finish (and a trophy this time) in the team competition.
In individual events, Wabash finished with three award winning performances. Victor Nava '10 finished fifth place in Poetry. Two Wabash competitors also participated in an experimental event held at the tournament. The event, entitled No Little Black Book, challenged performance conventions for oral interpretation. Steve Ellis ’09 took second place in the event while Nava finished third (each also earning a large stuffed bulldog).
The Parliamentary Union looks to build upon its early year success with upcoming competitions at the Indiana State Individual Events Tournament (at the University of Indianapolis on February 23) and the DSR-TKA national tournament (at the University of Florida, March 7-9).
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January 12, 2008
2007--The Year in Review
2007 is over—and 2008 is almost two weeks old. As a final summation of the year that was, here is a list of some Rhetoric Department related events from 2007.
Spring: Todd McDorman was on leave as the McLain-McTurnan-Arnold Research Scholar for his project “Transforming Death: Rhetoric and the Right-to-Die.”
February: Senior rhetoric major Tim Schirack wins the 133rd Baldwin Oratorical Contest.
February: The Parliamentary Union records a 4th place team finish at the Indiana State Individual Events Tournament, hosted by Butler University. Wabash was led by Kevin Billups '10, Grant Gussman '09, Kevin Travis McLaughlin '09, Victor Nava '10, and Jonathan Torrez '10.
Spring: Jennifer Abbott has the lead article in the new volume of Women’s Studies in Communication: “The Positive Functions of ‘Negative’ Rhetoric: Feminists’ Expository Campaign Against the Promise Keepers.” Women’s Studies in Communication 30 (2007): 1-33.
March: The Parliamentary Union scores a 6th place team finish at the DSR-TKA national tournament. Kevin Travis McLaughlin ’09 and Stephen Anthony Ellis Jr. ’09 win the DSR-TKA national championship in Parliamentary debate while award winning performances were also turned in by Victor Nava ’10, Ian Bisbee ’07, and Kevin Billups ’10.
April: For his essay, “History, Collective Memory, and the Supreme Court: Debating ‘the people’ through the Dred Scott Controversy,” Todd McDorman is presented with the Rose B. Johnson SCJ Article Award for Volume 71 (2006) of the Southern Communication Journal.
April: James Coleman McGuffey is awarded the Joseph O’Rourke Jr. Award in Rhetoric in recognition of the best Senior Project for the class of 2007.
May: An impressive set of Rhetoric majors graduate: Ian Bisbee, Frank Knez, James Coleman McGuffey, Chris McNicholas, Matt Plachta, Ryan Pritchard, T.J. Schaffer, Tim Schirack, H. Jake Turner, Robert Van Kirk, Geoff Walker, and Drew Weintraut. Post-Wabash destinations range from Eli Lilly Corp to law school to graduate school to yet other locations in the private sector.
July 1: David Timmerman becomes Chair of the Fine Arts and Humanities Division.
The Rhetoric and Public Affairs Series at Michigan State University Press accepts for publication, Todd F. McDorman and David M. Timmerman, eds. Rhetoric and Democracy: Essays in the Tradition of W. Norwood Brigance. To be released in Fall 2008.
November 17, 2007: On the 111th anniversary of his birth, W. Norwood Brigance is recognized as a Distinguished Scholar in Communication. Brigance was one of four scholars elected to this honor in 2007.
November 25: Zoe Marie Abbott is born to Professors Jennifer and Michael Abbott.
December: Jennifer Abbott is awarded tenure and is promoted to Associated Professor effective July 1, 2008.
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September 26, 2007
2007 Moot Court Call-Out
Tonight, at 7:00 p.m. in Baxter Hall 114, David Timmerman and Rick Pitts will introduce the 2007 Wabash College Moot Court problem.
The Wabash College Moot Court competition, now in its 14th year, is a unique experience, one that is rarely available to undergraduates, and offers Wabash students an excellent opportunity to engage in legal argumentation with training and support from Wabash alumni who are now practicing attorneys.
At the center of the program is Rhetoric Professor David Timmerman who organizes the campus portion of the event and works closely with alums Matt Griffith, Scott Himsel, Rick Pitts, and others in connecting students and alumni in this exciting and intense competition. The primary competition will take place Saturday October 20th as 25 to 30 Wabash students will gather to present their cases to judging panels featuring alumni and faculty. Several students will advance to the semi-finals before the top four advocates will be selected to participate in the finals round, which will be in Salter Hall on Tuesday October 23rd at 7:30 p.m. Past finals round judging panels have included several Indiana Supreme Court Justices and many Indiana Court of Appeals Justices, as well as featuring one sitting judge who is a Wabash alumnus and one Wabash faculty member each year.
The success of the program can be seen in many ways, including the dedication that students exhibit to the competition, preparing despite not receiving any course credit. Similarly, the program is an excellent way for Wabash students to meet alumni who are working in various sectors of the legal profession. The success of the program is also illustrated by the many competitors who have gone on to have amazingly successful Moot Court careers in law school. For instance, Chris Miltenberger ’03 won the Wake Forest Law School Moot Court competition for first year students, a competition featuring more than 150 participants, and went on to represent his school in national competitions. Similarly, R. Scott Medsker ’03 led his Moot Court team at Catholic University to a second place team finish in a national competition. And Adam Christenson ’03 won the Indiana University-Bloomington Moot Court competition.
In preparation for the Wabash competition, students are given materials and coaching necessary for arguing a hypothetical case before a panel of judges. Competition comes from fellow students who are assigned the opposing argument. No prior legal knowledge is necessary, and outside research, while possible, is not emphasized. Rather, the emphasis is placed on the skills of oral argument, that is thinking on one's feet, responding to challenging questions, and clarity in oral speech.
This year’s problem, again authored by Rick Pitts’ 83, involves the issue of voter identification laws (an issue that, just yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up). In the problem, a fictional state has a requirement of a photo identification, such as a driver's license, to vote. The plaintiffs contend that it is an unfair and unconstitutional requirement, having the practical effect of disenfranchising the poor, minorities and the elderly in violation of various constitutional protections, including the Fourteenth
Amendment's "Equal Protection Clause." In response, the fictional state's governor and election commissioner have defended the statute by arguing that the statute is merely a law to regulate the conduct of an election and meets all constitutional requirements.
If you are interested in participating in or judging at this year’s competition, or would like to hear more about the program, contact David Timmerman (timmermd@wabash.edu) for more information.
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