News | Old Gold & Black
Thursday, November 1, 2012 | Page 3
Deacon Profile: Allan Louden
BY FLETCHER LAICO Staff Writer laicft12@wfu.edu
As the 2012 presidential election reaches its peak, Wake Forest is home to a leading thinker on the debates and political advertising that are central to the race for the presidency. Allan Louden has worked as a professor of communications since 1977 and currently serves as chair of the department. Louden earned his bachelor’s at Montana State University, a Master’s at the University of Montana and his Ph.D at the University of Southern California. While Louden has experience in an array of professions, the lion’s share of his professional work lies in the field of debate. Additionally, Louden is a member of the Board of Trustees for the National Debate Tournament. He has served as a consultant for debate preparation for two political campaigns, and is also an academic consultant and frequent contributor to debatescoop.org, a web site dedicated to review and commentary of national political debate. Could you describe your capacity within the Elizabeth Dole and the Bob Brown campaigns? With the Elizabeth Dole campaign, my capacity was fairly minor. We did a couple months of debate preparation. Her husband, Bob, who ran for president, said, “Let’s find someone who knows about debate as debate rather than as a political thing.” They found me on my webpage, and I started talking with her and we got along really well. She hired me for a couple months — for just debate prep with a team of people. That was really fun. The other [campaign] was for Bob Brown, a personal friend who was running for governor of Montana. I did six months of debate prep on that campaign. I haven’t done campaigns besides those two — it’s a young man’s game, not for a professor. The campaigns are much more by the seat of their pants than they appear, there’s always a state of chaos on some level.
debate in terms of the first debate. It had an afterlife of 10 days or so, which is unheard of. Why does it still have legs? Well, only a part of these debates is about policy. It has more to do with our impressions and [the candidates’] personas. Heading into the first debate, there was this notion that Obama was leading from the back and not as strong of a leader as he could be. During the debate, that’s kind of what we saw. There was also the notion that Romney is a weasel, but Romney looked almost presidential and informed. It changed our perception of Romney and reinforced our perception of Obama. Our [pre-debate] view of Obama gave the debate legs. You have worked at Wake Forest since 1977. Do you have any additional plans for your career or are you content with your main role as a professor? I can count on my hands — maybe on my toes now after 35 years — how many days I didn’t want to come to work. One never checks everything off the list the list only gets larger. There are a couple books that are unwritten. First, the history of Wake Forest and the history of debate rolled into The History of Wake Forest Debate. Debate started in 1835 and it mirrors the school. Debate was kind of the heart and soul of this school for its first century. I think that story needs to be told. I also wanted to write a book that integrates all of the research on political advertising. As a debater, are there any speakers or debaters that you particularly admire?
As a prominent figure in the field of debate, what do you think of the three recent presidential debates?
Reagan was always fun to watch in debates because he had facts and figures, but he was always really talking about a larger picture. Sometimes Obama is very subtle politically, which is fun to watch. When you say “debate,” I think back 30 years when people actually engaged each other’s ideas during debates. It was based on deep research, not a pollster or pundit. By contrast, what we got [in this year’s third presidential debate] was a combination of three things: stump speeches, bad political ads and state townhalls.
The first debate this time was pretty influential. We’re still talking about the third
What newfound abilities do you hope students leave your class with?
POLICE BEAT Larceny
• An offender forcibly entered the Pit after hours and removed a cardboard stand-up. The report was filed at 1:44 a.m. Oct. 22. • Unknown subject(s) removed an iPhone from an unsecured backpack while the victim played basketball near in Lot U. The report was filed at 7:25 p.m. Oct. 23. • Unknown subject(s) removed an unsecured motorized scooter from Lot W1. The report was filed at 5:56 p.m. Oct. 24. • A victim stated to University Police that an offender removed several electronic items from their residence on Polo Road. The report was filed at 2:50 p.m. Oct. 23. • Unknown subject(s) removed a pair of Beats headphones from an unsecured locker The report was filed at 9:49 p.m. Oct. 26. • Unknown subject(s) removed three pumpkins from victim’s front stoop. The report was filed at 10:27 a.m. Oct. 27.
Clare Stanton/Old Gold & Black
Allan Louden, professor of Communications, can be found petting his golden retriever, Wyoming, in the shade on the Mag Quad. I try to teach my students points of views of the world. There’s a difference between knowing and knowing about. So now I teach a lot less detail, a lot less stuff and more different points of views. College is about learning how other people
• Unknown subject(s) removed perfume from victims room. Unknown if door was locked or not. The report was filed at 12:45 p.m. Oct. 28.
Underage Consumption • University Police responded to a call about the offender sleeping in a car. The offender had consumed alcohol under the age of 21. The report was filed at 2:29 p.m. Oct. 25. • EMS was dispatched to the university in reference to an unconscious subject lying between cars in the parking lot. The subject was underage and intoxicated. The report was filed at 11:23 p.m. Oct. 26. • University Police was dispatched in reference to an unconscious individual. The individual had consumed alcohol and fell and hit his head on concrete sidewalk. EMS transported to WFUBMC. The report was filed at 12:47 a.m. Oct. 27. • University Police responded to a call in reference to an
see the world. During four years of undergraduate study, every once in a while you should wake up and say to yourself, “Wow, I didn’t know it works that way” or “I didn’t see it that way before.’” That’s education.
unconscious male. The offender was intoxicated underage and transported to WFUBMC by EMS. The report was filed at 1:35 a.m. Oct. 28.
Trespassing • Two juveniles were issued a trespass warning because they had been observed removing items from the locker room in Reynolds Gym. The report was filed at 12:43 p.m. Oct. 26. Scan this code to visit police.wfu.edu