Jennifer Chevinsky, CLAS ’11, has a passion for arguments and rhetoric.
As a student at the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston, N.J., she was involved in the school’s debate team, but when she came to UConn she was disappointed to find out that the University didn’t have one.
“I felt that having a debate team was essential because its something where you learn about so many issues that you wouldn’t get in class,” she says.
So Chevinsky took it upon herself to start one. In 2008, she established the UConn Debate Team, making the art of debate more accessible and fun for all students.
The UConn Debate Team is a member of the American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA). The APDA focuses on the parliamentary style of debate, which trains students to have a breadth of knowledge on a wide variety of topics. The APDA hosts debates every weekend, with teams from universities such as Yale, Harvard, and Stanford. UConn is one of the few public universities that participates in the association.
To practice, the team hosts mock debates and watches videos of previous tournaments. Team members discuss strategies for improving and presenting their arguments.
“A large part of it is the way you speak,” Chevinsky says. “Using ‘ums’ and ‘likes’ counts against you.” She notes that for those getting ready for the job hunt and interviews, debate could help them become impressive speakers.
One of her favorite debate topics is also one of the hottest topics of the year: health care.
“I think that people don’t know how many aspects there are to health care and they tend to over-simplify the issue, but it is good that they do recognize the need for change,” Chevinsky says.
Chevinsky has an individualized major in bioethics and cross-cultural perspectives. Her plan is to continue in her B.S./ M.D. program and eventually obtain a Ph.D. in philosophy or bioethics.
Currently Chevinsky is in France as an intern with UNESCO in the bioethics division. She processes information for the Global Ethics Observatory databases, collecting information on ethics experts, institutions, teaching programs, legislation, codes of conduct, and resources.
In the future, she hopes to bring a debate win home for UConn. The debate team has won individual debates but hasn’t won a tournament.
Although she and her teammates have a serious commitment to the art of debate, they still have fun by debating special topics, such as which would make a better police force, ninjas or pirates.
Says Chevinsky, “You can make a debate about any topic.”
