News Editor
In the event of a zombie apocalypse, would you rather be a human or a zombie? This is the question HWS Debate Team members will answer in the Sanford Room outside of the library next Thursday, Oct. 31, in a show debate open to the public. To know what you’ll be in for, here’s a quick rundown on the debate.
The HWS Debate Team does a style of debate called British Parliamentary Style Debate, or BP for short. BP consists of four teams of two people arguing as either side government (who is in favor of the motion) or side opposition (who is against the motion). For the debate taking place on Halloween, the government teams will be pro-zombie, while the opposition will defend remaining human.
In competition, teams are randomly assigned to one of the four positions: Opening Government (OG), Opening Opposition (OO), Closing Government (CG), and Closing Opposition (CO). Each of the teams has a specific job to do, with OG defining terms and parameters for the debate to take place in, OO setting up the case against what has been proposed and possibly giving their own plan, and the back half teams adding new and significant arguments or viewpoints as well as contextualizing the debate.
At a tournament, there is a panel of judges normally led by the Chair, who helps lead the panel in the decision-making process to see which team takes what score. For next Thursday’s debate, the audience will decide what group reigns supreme.
If you attend, you will be able to see this take place and watch some of the world-class and award-winning debaters we have at HWS go head-to-head on some Halloween fun! The event will begin at 5:45 pm.