No Karl Mundt Debate Tourney here this year
Posted on Wednesday, February 10, 2010
By ELISA SAND, Staff Reporter
While Dakota State University officials had planned to continue to host the Karl E. Mundt debate tournament in Madison this year, that plan did not work out.
Jona Schmidt, DSU's director of public relations, said Wednesday that the university had intended to host the tournament, but the Harrisburg School District scheduled a tournament for the same date this weekend.
A debate tournament has been held in Madison for more than 40 years in honor of the late Sen. Karl Mundt, who was the longest-serving U.S. senator for South Dakota and the first Lake County resident to seek a national political office. He was also a university professor for DSU (then Eastern State Normal College).
While at the Madison campus, Mundt was head of the speech department and helped create the local Pi Kappa Delta speech fraternity. Throughout his career, Mundt was noted for his speaking skills -- which started at Madison High School as a member of the debate team.
The Karl E. Mundt Foundation was formed in 1963 and has been located at the DSU campus library since its dedication in 1969.
The tournament brought hundreds of competitors to Madison from area schools.
Madison High School Principal Sharon Knowlton said that participation in the two-day tournament, which began on a Friday and continued on Saturday, made it difficult to hold classes on Friday because of the traffic congestion at the school.
Because of those issues, MHS officials approached DSU two years ago about hosting the tournament and utilizing more space on campus for the event.
Knowlton said there was never any intent for the tournament to leave Madison. Due to the number of schools that would participate in a debate tournament, having two tournaments on the same weekend isn't feasible. Other weekends within the debate season aren't available for more tournaments.
Schmidt said that DSU is continuing to look at a variety of options. DSU also hosts the Mundt Oral Interp contest in the fall, which could be expanded, she said. Another idea is the establishment of a Student Congress speech event.
"We're trying to take this and make it into a new opportunity," she said.
©Madison Daily Leader 2010