The Inside of the Lit ‘n’ Deb

I was desperate! It was Wednesday. I could see no light at the end of the tunnel. Hell, there wasn’t even a candle illuminating the black-hole I was in. The “Staff V Students debate” was due to take place the following day and I hadn’t one concrete lecturer lined-up to take part. Not that lecturers are made out of concrete - what I mean is that not one had given me a definitiveYES to my inviting plea. I was in limbo, at the end of my tether I had paced the tower-blocks, loitered outside prospective lecturer’s offices and had made valiant attempts to strangle myself with the cord of the extension-phone in the SU.

Suddenly I paused, exhaled and did what any innovative Internal Convenor would do. I rang Dr. Leo Smyth! Here was the man who in last year “Staff V Students debate” had captured my impressionable heart. Here was the man who I had the sheer cheek to ask if I could take him home with me that night. I even told this man that I wanted his words to lull me to sleep. What was I thinking? At the time. I thought that absolutely everyone in the Kirwan had wanted to he serenaded off to dreamland by Leo’s literary lilting. Perhaps they did, but were too afraid to say so.

So this particular Wednesday, when there seemed to he no hope, Leo granted me, and the Lit ‘n’ Deb his oratory talents once more and I will be forever grateful. He simply said that he couldn’t refuse me! If only I were 30 years older……….! Once Leo was in the bag, my luck began to change. Dr. Brendan Wilkins, who I had been pursuing with a keen eye all week consented to speak, as did Economics lecturer Matthew Coffey. Things were falling into place, as they always inevitably do. The motion was aptly chosen — “that this house believes that youth is wasted on the young.” The Lecturers of NUI, Galway were proposing the motion.

Our generation sustained many unfounded digs that night made primarily on behalf of Dr Wilkins. He was of the opinion that we the youths of today are apathetic and that we are all lacking in revolutionary fervency, a fervency which existed in his day. I knew there was something missing in my life — I haven’t yet left faeces on the desk of a College President. Mr Keith Mave pointed out quite rightly that the penalties today for such rebellious carry-on are more severe. Why risk our degrees? I remember becoming continually frustrated throughout the night. What was making me o angry as the Lit ‘n’ Deb’s constant compulsion to concentrate on the quantity of those outside our doors rather than the quality of those who speak inside the Kirwan. Surely the fact that you attended a debating society that night meant that you were indeed not wasting your youth, that you were interested in perhaps, improving your public speaking, meeting fellow debaters, listening to the esteemed staff of our University. I think we defended our generation admirably that night in the Kirwan Theatre, hence the motion being defeated. We do not waste the gift that is out youth. Instead we at the Lit ‘n’ Deb welcome this gift and we incessantly try to make our society attractive to prospective members. But the fact is that we cannot be responsible for the apathy that exists outside our doors. We can only do our best to entice students away from the college-bar and an apathetic existence and into the Kirwan for a night of wit and stimulating entertainment.

The “Staff V Students debate” was the highlight of the various Internal events which I had to organise this year. Although there may have been sparks flying here and there, they only added to the spirit of the night. It’s great to see lecturers taking an active interest in the extra-curricular lives of their students, and it’s a pleasure to listen to their words of wisdom.

Diane Halley

Internal Convenor