Photo by Mary-Grace Byers
Francesco Pinque
Staff Writer
Sunday evening, the Veritas Society held their first Dumb Ox Charity Debate of the semester in Finnegan Fieldhouse, a tongue-in-cheek discussion of households.
The motion was “This house believes that your household shouldn’t exist.” While the structure of the Charity Debate resembled other Dumb Ox Debates with opening speeches and a subsequent open floor, special rules were added in order to raise money for Steubenville’s AIM Women’s Center.
For the opening speeches, junior Riley Brooks and senior Heather Kamataris affirmed the motion while seniors Alessandro D’Anselmi and David Hahn opposed it. All four speakers delivered speeches that sparked plenty of laughs from the audience.
If someone in the audience wanted to speak during the open floor, that person paid $3 for a green ticket. The cost for a red ticket that could be raised to stop a person in the middle of his or her speech was $10. If a household wanted the chairman, Clement Harrold, to wear their household gear in the middle of the debate, they could purchase a $50 yellow ticket.
Throughout the evening, participants could also donate $1 to vote either for or against a specific household’s existence. Before the final votes were tallied up, many attacked or defended particular households, comparing similarities among households, addressing stereotypes and accusing each other of hypocrisy in following their household covenants.
The open floor section of the debate consisted of a flurry of green cards, red cards, household roastings, laughter, hissing and snapping.
Several speakers criticized Martyres Regis (Martyrs) household for having a monopoly on student government and other big clubs on campus, such as the Veritas Society. Harrold, being a Martyrs member, the chairman of the debate and the vice president of student government was brought up as an example of this monopoly.
The last open floor speaker, John Selle, compared Martyrs to the Illuminati. A member of Martyrs quickly flashed a red ticket, stopping Selle’s speech.
Throughout the night, several households paid to have Harrold wear a Servants of the Savior jumpsuit, a Martyrs sweatshirt and a Little Flowers sweatshirt.
By the end of the debate, a total of $919 dollars was raised. The household with the most positive votes was Totus Tuus Maria, while the one with the most negative votes was Magnifica Amorem Christi.
“It was a great, raucous debate where I’m firmly convinced (that) Martyrs ‘delenda est’ (must be destroyed),” said sophomore Quan Kok.