Visiting Brits Debate G-20 Protest
Mere hours after the tear gas had cleared from the streets of Oakland following protests of the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, the William Pitt Debating Union hosted a public debate, September 30, 2009, on the motion, "This house would crack down on protestors." Proposing the motion were visiting British debate champions Dan Bradley and Andrew Tuffin, while Pitt Department of Communication graduate students Joseph Sery and John Rief urged a sitting-room only audience in the Cathedral of Learning's English Nationality Room to reject the motion.
In their opening case, Bradley and Tuffin pointed fingers at journalists for fanning the flames of protest violence with sensational stories, while Sery and Rief defended free speech and cautioned that an overwhelming police presence during demonstrations has a tendency to slide into indiscriminate crackdowns. After exchanging sharp, and often entertaining, points of information, the debaters fielded audience questions from the floor and then closed with summary statements.
Bradley, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Manchester, and Tuffin, a recent graduate of King's College in London, were visiting Pittsburgh as part of the 2009 British national debating team's tour of the United States.
The tour, sponsored jointly by the National Communication Association and the American Forensic Association, runs nearly four months and supports public debates across the country. In addition to matching wits against Rief and Sery, Bradley and Tuffin visited several Department of Communication undergraduate courses during their stay in Pittsburgh, including Communication Process, Public Speaking, and Argument. During these class visits, the British champions teamed with WPDU undergraduate debaters Carolyn Just, Jeff Kurr, and Paul Masters to debate topics including drug legalization and juvenile justice. "Several of my students said the class visit was the best thing they've seen at Pitt," said Department of Communication teaching assistant Tom Dunn, who hosted a debate for his Wednesday morning Public Speaking class.
From Pittsburgh, the British champions will travel next to Missouri, Kansas and Oregon for debates. They finish their tour in late November at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. To stream a video recording of the September 30 public debate in Pittsburgh, click here.