Manhattan College - Manhattanite Yearbook (Riverdale, NY)

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COUNCIL OF DEBATE Two hundred forty-four victories as against only forty-six defeats. A stag- t;erin5 record, no matter what the field of endeavor. Manhattan ' s Council of Debate has com- piled |ust that record during the past years in meetings with such schools as West Point, Notre Dame, Dartmouth, Rutgers, Catholic LIni ' ersity, ViUanova and many others. Mem- ories of this former power — or perhaps it was the dimly-heard voices of those who had defeated these scliools — caused a small group to attempt reorganization of the Council last Fall. At the first meeting of the group, Mr. Henry O ' Brien took over as moderator of the group and since that time his deep in- terest in debating and in members of the Council has been of great aid in helping overcome the many obstacles standing in the way of reorganization. On the evening of March 5, the Alumni Room in Cardinal Hayes Library resounded to the voices of Manhattan debaters for the first time in three years. Ed Walsh and Bob McLoughlm, both debating for the first time, presented the negative of the proposition, That labor should be given a direct share in the management of industry. However, their experience was not sufficient to gain a ictory and the Council had to be satisfied with a draw with the Bucknell debaters for the opening of the season. 200

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GLEE ClUB WITH one of the hardest-working mod- erators in the College at their hehn, the men of the Glee Club have come through with one of the organization ' s most produc- tive seasons. For when October, 1946 saw Manhattan ' s huge enrollment of almost 2,500 men on the campus, the energetic Brother Basilian started from scratch with- out a single man returning from the pre- vious year ' s singing group. When the enthusiastic director issued his iirst call for choristers, he was swamped by no less than two hundred applicants. From this large group, Brother Basilian chose what proved to be a finely balanced group of seventy voices. After over two months of constant practice with small groups and the weekly Wednesday evening combined re- hearsal, the group put on their first concert of the year at the annual St. Vincent de Paul Christmas show in December. This started a lont: series of concerts o throughout the city, with the programs at the College of iVlount Saint ' Vmcent and at the New York Athletic Club outstanding. The latter event included four ensemble numbers sung with the N.Y.A.C., the Kings County, and the hicarnation Holy Name Society Cilee (dubs. Following the final appearance of the group at the Ct)mmencement Exercises on June 10, jovial William Leary, president of the Cilee (dub, announced that an executive society was already busily engaged in work- ing out a schedule of events for next year. 199

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To sharpen the arguments and speaking ability of the affirmative and negative teams which had been formed, a schedule of debate forums on the labor question was drawn up for presentation at school and nearby parish Holy Name Society meetings. Following one of these open-discussion, labor forums held at St. iVTonica ' s parish in lower New York, the Council received a congratulatory letter from the Rev. George Kelly, the parish priest. The letter read in part: I wish also to convey to the men my appreciation of the fine job they did and my congratulations that they handled an in- teresting topic with clarity and appeal. Further praise was forthcoming when one of the Council gained individual honors in the Hearst Oratorical Contest. Paul Nichol- son, president of the Council and Manhat- tan ' s representative in the contest on Patrick Henry, was one of a trio chosen for the final round after an unprecedented three-way tie with two Fordham men. The Debate Council gained its first vic- tory of the season over a visiting University of Vermont team, but not before losing a decision to St. Peter ' s in a meeting held at the Xavier Labor School. The honors of gaining the first victory went to an aflfirma- tive team composed of John Brosnan and John O ' Leary. The next decision favoring Manhattan was rendered shortly after the Easter vacation in a lively meeting with Boston College. A strong Boston team representing the negative side of the labor proposition consisted of ' William J. Murphy and ' William Hennessy. However, Paul Nicholson and John Mc- Carthy, speaking with skill and assurance, presented a strong array of arguments and counter-arguments to swing the decision to Manhattan ' s favor. The debatintr season closed after meetings with lona College, Fordham, St. Peter ' s, and St. John ' s. The Council of Debate was under the moderatorship of Mr. Henry O ' Brien during the 1947 term, and the officers were Paul Nicholson, John McCarthy, Robert McLough- lin, and Richard Pendergast. 201