Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia has
challenged the Oxford Union Society to a formal debate for the third time and
the Oxford Union has accepted this challenge. On Monday, March 17 at 7 p.m. in
the Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall, several of that world-famous organization’s best
debaters will compete against an elite UGA team in a hybridized
British/American-style debate. The third installment will be of great
significance as the series is currently tied.
“Like its previous iterations, the 2008 debate promises to
be an hugely exciting event, which will showcase some of the best young
thinkers and speakers from both campuses,” said Kalpen Trivdei, director of the
UGA at Oxford program. “The topic is timely, provocative, and well
chosen. I look forward to a second well-deserved UGA victory.”
The Oxford Union was founded in 1823 as an arena for the
free exchange of ideas among students, and it soon became the forum for
political debate in Oxford.
Many British prime ministers have served as past presidents of the Oxford
Union, and world figures such as Robert Kennedy, Mother Theresa, Yasser Arafat,
Jimmy Carter and Nelson Mandela have addressed its members. The Union team will
be a hand-selected group of “all-stars.”
UGA’s team also will be assembled specially for this event.
Drawing from the membership of the Georgia Debate Union, the Demosthenian
Literary Society, the Phi Kappa Literary Society, the Law School
and several other organizations, the UGA team will represent the variety of
programs the university offers. First team members include: Naveen
Ramachandrappa, UGA law student who participated in ’03 debate; Josh McLaurin,
Foundation Fellow, UGA Debate Union member;
Meg Turlington, member of the Mock U.N. and Demosthenian Society;
Matthew Williamson, member of Demosthenian Society and a UGA at Oxford Alum.
Alternates include: Andrew Paradis, member of Phi Kappa; Brittany Cambre, UGA
Debate Union member; and Spencer Diamond, UGA Debate Union member.
The debate topic is “Resolved: That the United States
Federal Government should ratify and implement the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court.” This topic will likely access such issues as
coercive interrogation, federal policy toward genocide and atrocities committed
in foreign countries, the U.S.’s moral, political, and social responsibility in
Iran, Iraq, North Korea, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Darfur, etc. The Union
team has elected to argue the affirmative position and the UGA team will
therefore argue the negative.
The moderator is Fraser Campbell, former president of the
Oxford Union, fellow of All Souls College
at Oxford University
and trainee solicitor at Clifford Chance Law firm in London. Fraser was the captain of the Oxford
Union team for the 2003 UGA vs. Oxford Debate.
Distinguished judges for the event include UGA President
Michael F. Adams; John Wiles, District 37 senator; John Hinchey, senior partner
at King & Spalding Atlanta; Martin Rickerd, British Consul General in
Atlanta; Louise McBee, retired UGA interim provost and former member of the
Georgia House of Representatives; Jere Morehead, vice president for
instruction; and Steve Jones, superior court judge, Western Judicial Circuit.
In the last fifteen years, the University
of Georgia has fostered one of the
leading study-abroad programs in Oxford.
In 2007, with the generous help of the University
of Georgia Foundation and the support
of Adams, the program has been fortunate to open a new facility for student
use, a fully-renovated, 11,000 square-foot Victorian mansion in the heart of North Oxford. UGA continues to be one of only three
American programs—and the only program at a public university—to operate
year-round. Many UGA students join the Oxford Union upon arriving in Oxford, and, because of UGA’s status in Oxford
as a respected sister institution – UGA students hold associate membership at Keble College
during term – a healthy rivalry has developed between Oxonians and the University of Georgia.
For more information on UGA at Oxford, see http://www.uga.edu/oxford/.
##
