We hope to engage members of the Johns Hopkins community by organizing semi-monthly events modeled after Oxford Union style debates. Each debate will be centered around one motion, and will consist of a pre-debate vote, debate, post-debate vote and open discussion. The affirmative and negative teams of the motion will consist of three debaters each. Anyone who attends the event will be able to par
ticipate in the pre-debate vote and post-debate vote, which will gauge the coherency and persuasiveness of arguments made by each team. The open discussion period will be reserved as a space to share personal stories and experiences, wherein audience members and debaters can engage in free and open discussion about the motion at hand. By empowering participants to share their personal opinions, we seek to acknowledge the complexity of the motions that will be debated, and encourage plurality in identities and thought. We will work with other student groups, academic departments and organizations from Baltimore and beyond. In doing so, we seek to bring together different communities to participate in informative debates and to share their distinct experiences and expertise. Our events will not simply be attended by members of our community, but rather will be defined by them. We firmly believe that our events will serve as a catalyst for the change we want to see on campus – the emergence of civic discourse and the building of connections between diverse members of the University. Motions from past events include:
10/11 - Is religion inherently violent?
11/14 - Is the harmony of a diverse community more important than an individual's right to free speech? Rules of Discourse can be found at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VsuBXU59UZjxEX9aBMqOl9HG-T2GiH6T30qe0b6fxTQ/edit?usp=sharing
