Without money, it's hard to do much in this world. Duke Mock Trial is learning this lesson the hard way-the team is sitting out this weekend's national tournament because it can't afford the $3,200 to get there.
For the past three years, Duke Mock Trial has placed among the top 10 at the national mock trial tournament in Des Moines, Iowa. Despite qualifying for the competition, this year's eight-member squad will be staying home.
In the past, individual members of the mock trial team assumed part of the $400 per-person travel cost. This year, however, three members were unable to do so, said Trinity senior Matt Zisow, the organization's president. Because the team was unable to raise this extra money, it will not compete in the tournament.
Zisow said the team's inability to attend the national competition will hurt the program's future by eliminating an opportunity to gain experience. Only one member of next year's team will have competed in a national tournament, he said.
"It's analogous to college basketball," he wrote in an e-mail. "Throw a team like Florida, with relatively little national tournament experience, against a team like Michigan State, with all the experience in the world, and what happens? Tournament experience toughens a team and enables success."
Trinity junior Dave Weksberg, next year's president, agreed but said next year's team could work to overcome its inexperience by scheduling more scrimmages with other universities' teams. "It's just a matter of prepping a little bit more and trying to step up the level of pre-regional competition," he said.
In previous years, the team partially offset its expenses with a limited amount of money from Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Sue Wasiolek's travel account. Wasiolek was the team's adviser until the end of last year.
The group receives about $750 from Duke Student Government each year, Zisow said. According to DSG bylaws, student government money cannot fund the majority of travel expenses-including airfare, accommodation and food expenses.
"What we try to fund is mostly, in its essence, on-campus programming," said Trinity senior Daveen Chopra, chair of DSG's Student Organizations Finance Committee.
Last year, members of the mock trial team paid for the majority of its travel expenses individually, but were later partially reimbursed when the group obtained $2,000 from the University Fund. This year, some members were not able to take the risk that this money would not be provided again, said Trinity senior Jeremy Huff, the team's vice president.
The team attempted to obtain funds from several administrators, academic departments and the law school, but met only limited success. "A lot of University funding is funding that should be, and is, spent on activities that involve a large number of students," said Huff.
Director of Debate Richard O'Dor said the University's debate team funds its activities, including travel to competitions, through an endowment provided by alumni in addition to funding from Student Affairs.
"It would be nice if there were additional funding for... academic-type competitions," O'Dor said.
Some universities do provide this kind of monetary support. Glen Havra-Neubauer, the administrator for Furman University's mock trial team, said his organization would send 23 members to the national competition with funding furnished mainly by the Furman student government, alumni, other individual donors and the academic budget.
"I was just shell-shocked that Duke isn't going [to the nationals]," he said. "They're an incredible team, and they're really, really good."
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