Team COA debates Team JapanThere will be a public debate between the Japanese National Debate Team and “Team COA” on the topic of Nuclear Power on Wednesday, March 5 at 7 pm at the Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Community Center.

Every year the Committee on International Discussion and Debate brings two of the best Japanese college debaters to the US for a month long tour of several colleges and universities. COA was selected (out of many possible colleges) as one of the host schools this year.

The National Communication Association has sponsored international student debate exchanges since 1922, when a student debate team from Oxford University toured select American colleges in New England. An American student debate team went to England the following year, and a debate team from Cambridge University came to America. For the first 30 years of the program, debate teams from Oxford and Cambridge Universities alternated annual tours of America while American debate teams made biennial tours of Great Britain. The Committee on International Discussion and Debate was created in 1929 to sponsor these exchanges. In 1969, the program was broadened to incorporate student debate exchanges with Japan.

This debate will give COA students and the local community a chance to watch college debate at the highest level first hand, while providing a means to continue COA’s commitment to international cultural exchange.