The "Evil Empire" Strikes Back

AWED OPPONENTS call it the Evil Empire. Over the past decade Dartmouth's debate team has compiled one of the winningest records of any competitive collegiate enterprise. Its dominance reached a peak during the eighties. "No one was even close," says Ken Strange, Dartmouth's coach since 1979. Now its strength, which dropped only a little from its legendary status over the past few years, looks indominable again.

"We're highly organized," says freshman debater Andre Hylton, who explains that, with 30 active debaters, Dartmouth fields more teams in competitions than any other school. "That's why teams call us the Empire. And we're evil because we've got the best coaching."

Here is a list of awards determined by a poll of teams:

Best Team of the Decade. Lenny Gail '85 and Mark Koulogeorge '85 went undefeated as sophomores and juniors. Gail was named Best Debater of the Decade.

Coach of the Decade. Ken Strange led his teams to win the national championships in 1984 and 1988, and to second place in 1981, 1983, and 1987. In 1984 he began the Dartmouth Debate Institute, a summer program for high school juniors and seniors—considered one of the best in the nation.

Tournament of the Decade. The Dartmouth hosted National Debate Championship in 1986 won top honors. Herb James, professor of speech and debate coach from 1949-1979, came back to the College to organize the tournament.

Although 1988 was the last year that a Dartmouth team won the nationals, the College's debaters have made it to the semifinals every year except one since then.

This year, the Evil Empire is striking back: Ara Lovitt '94 is rated the country's top debater; a group of 12 freshmen, the nation's best high school debaters last year, have team," according to Lovitt. At the Harrvard Tournament earlier this year, 13 Dartmouth teams made up one third of the entire field. One of the most respected and exciting tournaments of the year took place in the classrooms of Dartmouth Hall on January 23 and 24: the Dartmouth invitational round-robin tournament. In an event that attracted the nation's top debate teams around the country, Lovitt and teammate Steven Sklaver '94 went undefeated.

With three full-time coaches and a team that will see only one debater graduate this year, the Evil Empire is destined to live on. May the force be with it.

A timer works the toptourney in ,86.