Newly formed ABE club will host Lincoln-Douglas debates this Saturday, Sunday

IU’s period of being the only Big Ten school lacking a debate team ended this year with the creation of the new club ABE at IU.

Junior Aasiya Mirza developed the club to commemorate the life of Abraham Lincoln and to explore the issues that took place during his presidential reign.

As a celebration of the president’s 200th birthday, the club has planned three events, including a Lincoln-Douglas debate scheduled to take place this weekend.

Debates will occur Feb. 7 and 8. All of the debates will take place in the Hutton Honors College.

Lincoln-Douglas debating is a particular style in which everyone debates a certain policy resolution each round, Mirza said. The style involves one-on-one debating in which the debaters give a case to support either the affirmative or the negative.

Members of the team began practicing for the debate in November. Many participating students do not have experience debating.

Junior Jacob Turner, a newcomer to debate, previously participated in mock trials.
“We talk in front of people, that’s about the only similarity,” he said. “I really do enjoy debate. It’s something new.”

With the help of a few graduate students and the addition of a new debater, the team feels like they have jumped ahead months in preparation, Mirza said.

“This is our first debate as a team,” she said. “We want to get our feet wet. Next year is when we’re really going to start in.”

Of the 15 schools invited to the debate, only three will be attending. The University of Illinois, Ball State University and DePauw University will participate in the debates.

Some schools are not participating because the students do not use the Lincoln-Douglas form of debate, Mirza said.

The style was chosen in order to allow students to participate in the same public speaking style as Lincoln, Mirza said.

The topic of discussion chosen for this event is whether or not the U.S. government should significantly curtail the powers of the president, Mirza said. While this discussion mirrors the issues brought up in Lincoln’s lifetime, it also relates to George W. Bush’s time in office. Lincoln and Bush were both called tyrants during their presidencies, she said.

Professors and graduate students will judge the preliminary round. Dean of Students Dick McKaig and Bloomington’s city council and will judge the semi-final and final rounds.

“For the semi-finals and final rounds we wanted judges who were more knowledgeable about this type of debate,” Mirza said.

Because some of the judges are less acquainted with the style of debate, the debaters are focusing more on their performance, Mirza said.

After this year, the debate team will become its own organization apart from ABE at IU, said freshman Ronak Shah.

The team hopes to hold the celebration annually and to make a solid base with this first event, Mirza said.

“We wanted to see what the interest would be like,” Shah said. “And if it doesn’t work, Abe would still love it just like our mothers would.”