John Meany john.meany@claremontmckenna.edu reports on the new project of the Claremont Colleges Debating Union.
Public Debate/Discussion and International Exchange
You are cordially invited to participate in SpeakOut!, the Claremont Colleges Debate Union's public debate and discussion event program series, including community public affairs roundtables, broadcast debates, international exchanges, essay contests, and public speaking and argumentation workshops. Students, faculty, and administrative staff of secondary school institutions (middle school and high school), as well as representatives of colleges and universities, are welcome to participate.
Many thousands of students, from young adolescents participating in class and contest middle school outreach programs to university political and social activists, are involved each year in Debate Union projects. For example, during November alone, the Debate Union will offer more than 40 major public events, including international secondary school exchanges featuring students from Jordan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, and Slovenia; class and contest middle school debate programming for many thousands of students in the Middle School Public Debate Program network (the MSPDP is a proprietary program of Claremont McKenna College and the Debate Union); and the production of more than 20 live and broadcast, campus and community, public debates, roundtable discussions, open forums, internet debates, and podcasts on public affairs issues. Claremont debate partners will sponsor additional scores of events.
How can you participate?
If you are in the Southern California area, you may request to be added to the regional public events mailing list. This list will be used to solicit community public event partner institutions and announce upcoming events and essay contests.
If you are outside the region (within the US or from an international location), you may request to be added to the national/international public events mailing list. This list will be used to solicit exchange partner institutions and coordinate online essay, debate, discussion and other contests and events.
The individuals on either mailing list will also have access to public debate and discussion curricular materials and web resources. To be included in the mailing lists, please send a request to debate.union.public@cmc.edu.
The Debate Union looks forward to identifying and working with new partners interested in promoting public and professional communication opportunities, from the coordination of undergraduate research conferences and establishment of home-and-home public debate exchanges to secondary school professional development seminars on teacher presentation skills and international essay contests for students in the middle grades.
- About Claremont public event programs -
Public debate and argumentation has been a core element of Claremont Colleges Debate Union programming for 20 years. Each year, the Debate Union sponsors hundreds of campus and community events. The Debate Union produces two weekly cable television programs on public affairs and the media; collaborates with college and community social and political activist organizations on lecture series and debates; integrates public argument in dance and performance art at college faculty and student recitals; hosts dozens of online debates and public affairs podcasts; provides faculty and student support for academic and professional oral presentations (e.g., maintains debate and argumentation in the curriculum models [DAC] in undergraduate and graduate international relations, media studies, modern languages, political science, economics, psychology, and education classes; conducts mock interviews for scholarship candidates); hosts student and professional development and civic educatio
n workshops; promotes innovative outreach projects with academic institutions and non-profit groups; establishes community service projects with businesses; coordinates quantitative research projects for debate and CT learning outcome assessment.
The Middle School Public Debate Program, a featured element of public event and outreach programming, is the largest and fastest growing educational debate outreach program in the United States, currently serving more than 10,000 students and teachers in class and contest programs in 26 states and 4 countries. For more information on the program, please visit www.middleschooldebate.com. If you are interested in volunteering for program participation as a judge, please contact Kate Shuster regarding the judge certification program. Certification is required prior to event judging. More than 100 Southern California new family and community participants have received judging certificates in the first month of 2006-2007 competitions.
The Debate Union produces public speaking and debate guides for use in the classroom, as well as to facilitate effective public speaking, argumentation, and refutation skill development by college and community organizations. Debate Union guides are used by many hundreds of college students annually, as well scores of academic institutions and organizations. Select guides are used to facilitate EFL and ESL instruction in the US and abroad. CCDU public debate and discussion support is used as a medium of language instruction for students participating in Pitzer College's Center for Intercultural Education and Language Instruction, one of the most innovative and challenging language programs in the United States.
For more information, please contact:
John Meany
Director of Forensics
Claremont Colleges Debate Union
Claremont McKenna College
500 East Ninth Street
Claremont, CA 91711-6400
USA
909.607.2667 TEL
909.621.8249 FAX
john.meany@claremontmckenna.edu
For specific questions or additional information on the Middle School Public Debate Program, please contact:
Kate Shuster
Director of Debate Outreach
Claremont McKenna College
500 East Ninth Street
Claremont, CA 91711-6400
USA
909.607.9383 TEL
909.621.8249 FAX
kate.shuster@claremontmckenna.edu
