The University of Mary Washington is among six colleges that will take part in the first Inauguration Debate Series on Monday, January 19 in Washington, D.C.
The Inauguration Debate Series also will feature Michigan State University, Wake Forest University, the University of Southern California, Fayetteville State University and Voorhees College. The teams will debate the priorities of the new Obama administration, including energy and climate change, health care and the economy and foreign policy. Three debates, lasting 75 minutes each, will be held between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Baird Auditorium in the National Museum of Natural History on the Mall.
Mary Washington will debate the University of Southern California from 11:10 a.m.
to 1 p.m., arguing health care and the economy and will be represented by Terrell Taylor, a sophomore from Dale City, Va. and Kevin Kallmyer, a junior from Olney, Md. USC was host to Wiley College in the debate of 1935 that was chronicled in the 2007 box office hit “The Great Debaters” (although the film substitutes Harvard for USC). The most famous member of the Wiley team, civil rights leader James L. Farmer Jr., concluded his long distinguished career as a professor of history at the University of Mary Washington. UMW has had a long tradition of excellence in intercollegiate debate, consistently ranking among the nation’s top debate teams by the National Debate Tournament and the American Debate Association.
The event is sponsored by the National Museum of African American History and Culture in cooperation with the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the Debate Consortium, with support from the Presidential Inaugural Committee. The consortium, formed in 2008 by the White House initiative, is working to revive the legacy of debate at historically black colleges and universities.
Dr. Timothy M. O’Donnell, director of debate at UMW and chair of the National Debate Tournament Committee, is among the leaders of the consortium. Other members are Jeff Porro, who co-wrote the story of 1935 Wiley debate team, and John W. Davis II, former director of debate at Howard University.
In the pilot program, historically black colleges and universities will partner with a university that has a nationally competitive debate program to help train students and coaches. For more information, contact O’Donnell at (540) 654-1252.