Vassar Debaters Defeat Amherst A photo and article describing the "first debate with a woman's college in the history of Amherst" are the only items on this page. The Amherst debate team, made up of Merrick, G. A. Goebel, and C.S. Rauschenburg, lost to Higgins, Barclay, and Ray of Vassar by the score of 2-1. The subject of the debate was this: "Resolved that it is in accord with the public interest to abridge the right to strike and the right to lockout by requiring industrial disputes to be settled by compulsory tribunals."