Q & A

Q1: Are ad hominem attacks allowed?
A1: While such rhetoric is usually discouraged in most debates, as the Roman Senate did use such tactics (see Cicero on the Catiline Conspiracy), it is permitted in a limited form. The censor will decide if such rhetoric oversteps the boundaries of a school environment. Please use common sense and use ad hominem mostly as banter or a joke, if it must be used.

Q2: Are there necessary qualifications to have certain positions?
A2: As the debate is usually done by lottery, there are no qualifications necessary. However, if the student body decides that a certain knowledgeable individual should be in a particular position, then with their consent, that may be arranged.

Q3: Are the methods of the Roman Debate club historically accurate?
A3: As we aren’t assassinating each other on the Senate floor, perhaps not 100% so. However, the form of debate mostly holds true to the original methods used by the senators of Rome. One major change is that there is only one Tribune of the Plebs and that there are measures to ensure that one person doesn’t abuse their power in the form of praetor validation.