PONI Debates the Issues: College National Champions
Resolved: that the United States should ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
June 10, 2010, 5:30-7:30 P.M. (EDT)
Each year, hundreds of university students around the country spend countless hours researching, strategizing, and debating on a single topic. College policy debaters build unique research and critical thinking skills, but also gain an intimate knowledge of the chosen topic.
The intercollegiate policy debate topic for the 2009-2010 academic year – reducing reliance on nuclear weapons in U.S. national security – was selected based on a topic proposal co-authored by Chris Jones and Jessica Yeats of the CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI). Over the last year, over ten thousand two-hour intercollegiate debates were held on the subject.
This engagement with college debate advanced both of PONI’s original goals: first, to build a community of young nuclear experts; and, second, to generate new ideas about nuclear issues. By spending a year in the vast and proliferating literature about nuclear weapons policy, top-level debaters attained a deep knowledge of nuclear issues far beyond usual undergraduate study.
It is with great pleasure that PONI brings four of the country’s best college debaters for an exhibition at CSIS. Typically, PONI’s live debate series has featured renowned senior nuclear experts. This will be the inaugural PONI debate between next-generation experts.
This will also be the first opportunity for these college debaters to test their ideas and receive feedback from distinguished policymakers and policy experts, including Dr. William Bookless, Director of the Policy Planning Staff at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Dr. John Harvey, Principal Deputy to the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Chemical and Biological Defense Programs.
The teams selected for this event are Eric Lanning and Carly Wunderlich of Michigan State University, the reigning national champions after their recent victory at the college National Debate Tournament, and Ovais Inamullah and Stephen Weil of Emory University, recipients of the Copeland Award, which recognizes the best year-long performance. They will debate the resolution: “that the United States should ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.”
