Alumni

Annual First-Year Student Debates Get Under Way

First-year students in Valparaiso University’s interdisciplinary honors college will debate the presidential primary process and other issues during the 22nd annual Christ College Freshman Debates beginning April 8.

The debates are the culmination of eight weeks of research, preparation and practice of oral argumentation.

Each debate will take place from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. in the Mueller Hall Refectory on campus. At the conclusion, audience members will vote on which team they believe made the more convincing argument.

The debates are open to the public without charge. Debate topics are:

April 8 – Whether the United States should suspend military and financial support from any government without democratically elected officials;

April 10 – Whether the United States should adopt the proposed American Plan for presidential primaries (a graduated random primary system in which the first primaries would take place in small-population states);

April 15 – Whether commercial tracking and marketing should be banned from social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook;

April 17 – Whether Valparaiso University should change its mascot.

For more information, call (219) 464-5022 or visit valpo.edu/christc.