The second annual State Debates forum, put on by the MSU Speech and Debate Team in conjunction with the Student Association, the MSU College Democrats, the MSU College Republicans and the Young Americans for Liberty, took place in the Bettersworth Auditorium in Lee Hall Wednesday night.
The debate centered around several different topics, ranging from healthcare and immigration, to public higher education and sexual assault allegations.
Before the debate, Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill served as the keynote speaker. In her speech, Spruill said the students at Mississippi State University were far ahead of where she was when she attended MSU.
“In my path to being a mayor, I never anticipated doing it,” Spruill said. “So I ran for things like speech and debate, that was the classic, you had to take it.”
As for how the event played out, Spruill said she loved the fact students were engaged.
“They are our future leaders,” Spruill said. “They’re putting themselves out there to be a part of what makes us very special in our country, and that’s the constant public dialogue.”
The debate consisted of four rounds. In each of the rounds, all three parties had one representative debate the issues. The MSU College Republicans and Young Americans for Liberty had three representatives in the debate, while the MSU College Democrats had four.
One of the three Young Americans for Liberty representatives was Andrew Word, a senior accounting major from Prattville, Alabama. Word said the parties agreed on most issues.
“I think it was pretty good, I think we agreed more with [College Democrats] on the immigration issue,” Word said. “And we had a lot of common ground with Democrats and Republicans, so I think generally both parties came to an agreeance with what we were assigned; and we also had disagreements, but that’s going to happen.”
One of the representatives for the MSU College Republicans was Stephanie Durr, a junior double majoring in political science and sociology, with a minor in pre-law from Shreveport, Louisiana. Durr said although the Republican way is the “best way,” the topic is always up for discussion.
“I think it’s important for students to be educated on how each party kind of views main platform topics,” Durr said. “I think it was really cool to have the forum to do that.”
One of the representatives for the MSU College Democrats was Emily Tingle, a sophomore from Vicksburg double majoring in political science and sociology, and the secretary for College Democrats. Tingle said it was a great event overall.
“I think it’s really good for us to just have the debate so we get to hear from a bunch of diverse opinions,” Tingle said.
During the debate, each representative had two minutes to formulate their party’s respective views on the issue presented, followed by a rebuttal period of roughly five minutes.
One of the issues on the table was free college tuition. Adam Sabes, a junior communication major and the Republican representative on this issue, said there is a better alternative to free college.
“Senators Mike Lee and Marco Rubio introduced legislation encouraging something called, income share agreements,” Savis said. “Basically, what this is potential students would go to private investors to give their pitch about why they deserve to be funded for their college education.”
The Democratic representative on this issue was Georgiana Catherine Swann, double majoring in political science and psychology. Swann said many individuals have to work long hours and perform on sports teams to keep their scholarships. Swann said public higher education should be made free to help students, our economy and the national image.
“According to the center for American Progress, by 2020, 65 percent of jobs will require a bachelor’s or associate’s degree,” Swann said. “U.S. young adults rank 10th in terms of post-secondary education credentials.”
The representative of Young Americans for Liberty for this issue was Sam Miller, a senior industrial engineering major.
“What we need to do is get the federal government out of the business of student loans,” Miller said. “This sounds crazy, but not too long ago we had a housing crisis, which was made possible with the government involvement in loans.”
Each of the three organizations featured can be found on OrgSync through students’ MyState account. OrgSync contains the meeting times for the organizations.