Changes

Founded during the 1997-98 yearby Lesley Blum '98, Jon Kravis '99, Benjamin Monnie '98, and Abby Williamson '98, the Debate Union worked with the Gargoyle Society with the support of President of the College Henry Payne to provide a campus forum for debating current issues. The Union was based loosely on the Oxford Union and held public debates throughout the year. These debates featured two teams of three, with each team usually comprising of a Williams faculty member, a current or former Williams student, and an invited speaker. Each team would give two speeches, and then members of the audience could give a two-minute "floor speech" supporting one side or the other. Afterward, each team would close with a speech.   Some previous debates and speakers (with approx school year): 2002-2003 Affirmative Action in the context of college admissions Linda Chavez (Center for Equal Opportunity President), Dan Burns '06 Andrew Cuomo (2002 candidate for governor of New York), Aaron Jenkins '03  2001-2002 Are Non-U.S. Citizens Subject to the Protection Given by the Bill of Rights? yes: Nadine Strossen (ACLU President), Neil Hoffman '04 no: Patrick Buchanan (Political Analyst), Sarah Iams '04   2000-2001 Should the private lives of politicians matter? yes: Jonah Goldberg, Mike Pinkel '03 no: Dale Bumpers (AR Senator)   Constitutional need for the right to bear arms Michael Dukakis (former MA governor), Professor Tom Garrity, Avi Raina '02   1998-1999 Morality of assassination George Stephanopolous, Jon Kravis '99 Richard Betts   Should freedom of speech protect pornography? Amanda Amert '97 Brian Elieson '97   1997-1998 Is Public Education Worth Saving? yes: Dr. Benjamin Hooks (former Executive Director of the NAACP), Professor Steven Gerrard, Adrian Ludwig ‘98 no: John H. Sununu (former Chief of Staff in the Bush administration and current co-host of CNN’s Crossfire), Professor Andrew Sabl, Eric Soskin ‘99   Should the US impose trade sanctions on China for human rights violations? yes: Harry Wu (Chinese dissident)