By Randy Fiedler
Almost from the time when Baylor University began classroom instruction in May 1846, Baylor students have honed their abilities to reason, research and defend ideas and policies through meeting their peers in formal debates.
In the University’s early days in Independence from 1845-1886, and during the first four decades of its residence in Waco beginning in 1886, the student literary societies –– the Philomathesians, the Erisophians and others –– dominated much of student extracurricular life. In the absence of intercollegiate athletics or other modern entertainments, debates held each month within the societies, or debates held between students representing rival literary societies, became some of the most popular events on campus.