Debate Team Tackles Ferguson Controversy: Riot or Protest: Community Reactions to Police Brutality

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Posted by: admin on March 25, 2016, No Comments

Riot or Protest? That’s what members of East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania’s Debate Society will explore on Wednesday, April 6 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Student Senate Chambers in the University Center at ESU as they examine community reactions to police brutality. This event will begin with a structured, competitive debate between members of ESU’s Douglass Debate Society, a project of the Frederick Douglass Institute at ESU and the Frederick Douglass Institute Collaborative, a statewide organization.

According Storm Heter, Ph.D., head coach of the debate team and ESU associate professor of philosophy and religious studies, the debaters will consider the following proposition: The civic unrest that followed recent instances of police brutality should be considered protests rather than rioting. One team (affirmative) will argue for the proposition. The other team (opposition) will argue against the proposition. Debaters will be allowed constructive speeches, rebuttal speeches and cross examination periods.

“We’ll be tying our debate to the death of Michael Brown that occurred in August 2014,” Heter said. “According to media accounts, Brown was a black teenager shot to death by a while police officer, Darren Wilson. Our students will argue whether or not the social unrest that followed, now simply known as ‘Ferguson,’ was an appropriate community response to police brutality and questioning whether or not community members were exercising their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.”

Sponsored by ESU’s department of philosophy and religious studies, the event is open to the general public at no cost. Following the debate, students will join Dr. Heter in conducting a discussion on police brutality and community response.

“We hope campus and community members will come out and become part of a national conversation,” said Heter. “The process is very interesting and inclusive of its audience.”

For more information about the debate, contact Heter at sheter@esu.edu or at (570) 422-3168.