Missouri Debate Union (MDU) hosted its first student forum debate of the year on Oct. 14 at the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy in Jesse Hall. Two teams, the government and the opposition, competed for a cash prize and debated the motion “Resolved: This House believes the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was unjustified.”  

The event was MDU’s second student forum debate following its inaugural debate on Feb. 25, 2021. The debates are loosely based on the Oxford Union, University of Oxford’s centuries-old debate society where two speakers on each side argue for or against a topic. Junior Luke Pittman, MDU’s co-founder and outreach chair, said Oxford Union’s debate style emphasizes open discussion on issues more than modern competitive debate does. 

“When we have debates right now, it’s all about dunking on the other side, getting a quick one-liner,” Pittman said. “We wanted something that was more intellectual, something that really got to the issues and Oxford Union does a great job of that.”

Similar to Oxford Union style, MDU’s debate was structured in a way that allowed the public to participate by asking the debaters questions and voting on a winner themselves. Pittman said this aligns with MDU’s goal of promoting civic engagement.

“We didn’t want the audience to just be idle bystanders,” Pittman said. “We want them to have an active role in shaping the conversation and shaping the way that the debaters view the case of their opposition; we thought that’d be a more engaging conversation.”

Sophomore Kyler Richard and freshman Jaden Reed argued in favor of the motion, while sophomore Ben Kimchi and freshman Isaac Yontz argued against it. A panel of judges voted on which team’s argument was strongest after taking into account the public’s vote, eventually naming Kimchi and Yontz the winners. Yontz received a cash prize of $300 and Kimchi, who won the Best Speaker award, won $450. 

The government side’s arguments focused on the moral implications of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Richard and Reed discussed topics ranging from women’s rights to education. In hindsight, Richard said her team had a stronger morals-based argument compared to Kimchi and Yontz, who mainly relied on strategy and logic in their arguments. 

“I’m actually very proud of what we argued today,” Richard said. “I still stand by it, I still obviously stand with the people of Afghanistan and I in some ways do agree with [the opposition].”

Reed, who had never participated in debate before, said her and Richard’s arguments were mostly based on “emotional propaganda,” but the audience was not as receptive to it as she hoped. Although her team lost, Reed said the debate was a valuable experience for her and the people who watched it as well. 

“[The debates] opened my eyes to a different viewpoint that I hadn’t really been exposed to,” Reed said. “Although the majority of people here already have a good understanding [of the topic], you never know who’s going to turn up and who might be educated much more than they have been in the media they typically consult with.”

Kimchi competed in debate all four years of high school. He said the extensive research and preparation that goes into building a debate case is the best way to understand a topic. 

“You have to make your argument and you have to condense a lot of thoughts into a really short, simple bit that you can tell people and that they can understand,” Kimchi said. “You really will have mastered your understanding of a certain issue.”

Given the high turnout at the debate, MDU plans to have a student debate every semester, with the next one planned for midway through spring semester, Pittman said. MDU also expects to host a series of other events throughout the year, including town hall discussions with The Associated Students of the University of Missouri, a professor debate and a meet and greet with the mayor of Columbia — all in hopes of encouraging students to become more involved in politics.

“We really want to see students get into civic engagement, go into civil and public service after this, having them engaged in a civic debate like what we did [on Oct. 14] and talking and thinking about matters like this, which affect everyday life,” Pittman said.

Edited by Namratha Prasad, nprasad@themaneater.com