Debating the future
By Ron Weisberger ’65

y first two years in college were rather quiet and peaceful. In those days, Glassboro was a rural place and, while not entirely separated from the world, it was easy to feel sheltered in the small-town atmosphere. Then, in my junior year, I joined the Glassboro State Forensic Society, and my understanding of the world—and my place in it—changed dramatically.

On November 22, 1963, my teammates and I were traveling to the University of Vermont for our first large debating tournament. Somewhere in New York State I heard that the president had been shot. My first reaction was to think, rather absurdly, that they were referring to our college president, Thomas Robinson.

By the time we reached our destination we learned that President Kennedy had died. Like others, I was stunned at this totally unexpected turn of events. Not realizing the enormity of what had happened, I initially felt disappointed that the tournament had been ruined. Those running the event, though, decided it should go on because “he would have wanted us to do it.”

At first we went through our paces almost as if nothing had happened. Slowly, as we prefaced each debate with a statement of regret and as we talked informally among ourselves, it began to dawn on me that the assassination of our president meant that something had irreparably changed for us and our country. For me, spending the weekend of this national tragedy with students from around the East was a pivotal moment. I was 20 years old and beginning to see that the world extended far beyond South Jersey.

A month later, my horizons were expanded again, although in a different way. I took my first airplane ride to a tournament at Harvard University along with fellow debater Frank Esposito ’65 and our coach, William Beattie. For me that was akin to going to Mecca. We stayed at a fancy Harvard residence hall which had its own swimming pool, and we attended what seemed to me a very sophisticated reception—we were served sherry in an ornate room. During the tournament we managed to defeat a team from the University of Pennsylvania which garnered us a headline in The Whit. All in all it was heady stuff.

During the rest of my undergraduate years, I had many more wonderful experiences with the Forensic Society. With my teammates Vivian Schroeder ’73, David Tarr ’65 and Tom Thudium ’67, we attended tournaments throughout the Northeast and debated teams from around the country. While we lost as much as we won, it was the opportunity to engage in these intellectual games and to explore various sides of the issues of the day that convinced me that I wanted to continue my education. Visiting a variety of colleges and universities also created a lifelong interest in higher education.

When I graduated in 1965 and headed for graduate school at Kent State University, I could hardly imagine the changes that were in store for me. But, in the next few years as I struggled through graduate school and became involved with the anti-war movement, my debating experience would go a long way towards helping to keep my head above water. Thanks to my time at Glassboro, I was no longer a South Jersey kid but a mature adult with a much more broad perspective on the world.

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Ron Weisberger is coordinator of tutoring at Bristol Community College in Fall River, Mass., and resides in Pawtucket, R.I. He holds a doctorate in higher education from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst.