UGA Defeats Oxford Union in Genetics Debate

February 20, 2002

 

Karen Price, left, Fraser Campbell and Dominic Wells-Cole, members of the Oxford Student Union, prepare to respond to University of Georgia student Mary Webb, front, during a Thursday night debate in the University Chapel. Photo: Travis Long, ABH.

They came, they saw, they conquered.

On Wednesday, four UGA debaters and one alternate faced down a team of British debaters from England's finest and oldest debating society, the Oxford Union, and sent the Brits packing.

The topic for debate was the future of genetic engineering, with the team from UGA opposing the resolution that "Genetic research and manipulation has gone too far". UGA's team was composed of three Demosthenians, Mary Webb, Todd Lewis, and alternate Jack Cohoon; one member of the UGA Debate Union, Ken Rufo; and one UGA Oxford Studies Abroad staff member, Carl S. Pyrdum, III (also a Demosthenian alumnus). Representing the Oxford Union were current Union president Karen Price, Fraser Campbell, Dominic Wells-Cole, and former Union president Nick Mason.

The debate was judged by prominent Georgians, including UGA President Michael F. Adams, UGA law professor Peter Appel, the Hon. Norman S. Fletcher (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia), Sen. Douglas P. Haines, interim dean of the UGA School for Public and International Affairs Thomas P. Lauth, the Hon. Lawton Stephens and Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial page editor Cynthia Tucker. The debate was sponsored by the UGA at Oxford Program.

The chapel was packed for the event, and the crowd was treated to a fine performance from both sides. Demosthenian congratulates its members on a fine showing.