By Senta Scarborough
On the night of Oct. 25, at the start of the busy USC 2013 Trojan Family Weekend, parents, visitors, alumni and students packed into a standing room-only venue to watch two opposing nationally ranked teams take center stage.
But the excitement wasn’t for one of the Trojan’s storied athletic programs. Instead, it was to commemorate the university’s courageous and historic commitment to social advocacy through its debate program.
In 1935, USC, then the defending national championship debate team, broke racial barriers to compete against an undefeated all-black Wiley College of Marshall, Texas. Wiley’s win that year earned them the honor of being the first historically black college to win a national championship – and its debaters set the stage for the civil rights movement. Wiley College’s James L. Farmer Jr., would later organize Freedom Rides to protest a segregated transportation system.
That debate also inspired the 2007 film The Great Debaters, starring Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker, which depicts Wiley College defeating Harvard’s debate team for the national title. Washington portrayed Wiley’s coach Melvin B. Tolson and directed the movie. After the film, he donated $1 million to help Wiley College revive its debate team.
Last week, 78 years after the original debate, Wiley’s team, known as the Melvin B. Tolson/ Denzel Washington Forensics Society, traveled to Los Angeles for a rematch in an exhibition debate against the USC Annenberg Trojan Debate Squad. It was the first time the teams had met at USC since the historic debate; last year, USC traveled to Wiley for the first rematch since 1935.
More than 200 people, including alumni from both schools and Wiley College President Haywood Strickland, Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price and The Great Debaters screenwriter Robert Eisele, filled a room at the Salvatori Computer Science Center.
In honor of the groundbreaking 1935 debate, USC’s debate coach, USC Annenberg Professor Gordon Stables, and Wiley’s coach, Christopher Medina, selected a social justice-related theme: the merits of affirmative action.
“It is hard to imagine nearly 90 years ago that education narrowed who students are exposed to. It made education less valuable for all students because they learn from each other,” said Stables. “If tonight's debate is remarkable, it is remarkable because of the role that debate plays in the lives of students, communities and universities.”
“The great thing about the diversity on both of our teams is that it happened by accident. We are a perfect example of the world that those great debaters were fighting for in 1935,” Wiley College debater Lyle Kleinman (‘17) said.
The Trojan team argued that the role of race should be expanded in university admissions. They claimed that the loss of affirmative action has meant a decrease in diverse students and perspectives in college classrooms. Wiley debaters argued that affirmative action sends unprepared students to college, setting them up to fail. (Teams negotiated debate topics and sides beforehand.)
The lively 40-minute debate outlined the pros and cons of affirmative action in higher education and garnered enthusiastic affirmations and applause from the packed house.
A powerful moment occurred when USC debater Christian Patterson (Political Science, News Media and Society minor, ’15) spoke from his personal experience.
“You may call it tokenism when you have one black student or one Latino student in your classroom but I can tell you from personal experience, when I'm in that classroom, I don't feel like it’s tokenism. I feel like I'm doing something. I feel like I'm telling people about a problem that they would not know anything about if I were not there,” Patterson said.
But Wiley debaters countered that these programs can harm minority students who aren’t ready for college.
“If a student cannot get science books in their elementary classroom how do you expect them to become nuclear astrophysicists? How do you expect someone to find the cure to cancer when they can't read?” Kleinman said. “Affirmative action paints a color on failure…We set them up to fail, and we argue that this is the best policy out there.”
USC’s debate team captain Clara Purk (International Relations and Global Business, Global Communication Minor, ’14), was one of the teammates who traveled last year to Wiley College for the debate rematch. She said both teams instantly bonded. Before last week’s debate Purk even received a “good luck tonight” text from former Wiley opponent and graduate, Cary Chavis.
In the week prior, USC and Wiley students had dinner together and they also attended a USC football game afterwards. They learned both Wiley College debaters were freshmen and from California – and the USC students came from Utah and Wiley’s home state of Texas.
“[Debate] has helped me see so many perspectives that I wouldn’t have considered before,” Purk said. “Debate is so unique, because it gives us the opportunity to understand both sides of an issue.”
Those are skills USC Annenberg Dean Ernest J. Wilson III feels are crucial for students and society today.
“What these young people are doing today dates back thousands of years to Cicero,” Wilson said during his opening remarks of the debate. “But it is also a very modern tradition. If we think about debate teams and then we think about social media – what is social media? What is blogging? What is the Internet, other than simply the latest modern opportunity to engage in debate? And to engage in debate that is principled and forthright, that can be critical, is essential for citizenship.”
Today, USC continues that 1935 spirit of collaboration by encouraging student debate both locally and abroad. They are teaming up with the George Soros’ Open Society Foundation to develop online debating tools to link schools around the world.
Over the past five years, USC also has partnered with the LA Metro Debate League to help build debate teams in 17 Los Angeles Unified School District high schools.
“The purpose is really to teach these kids critical thinking and research skills,” said USC student Jordan Friedman (English, Communication minor ’13), who greeted visitors to the debate and serves as the head volunteer coordinator for university’s partnership with the local urban debate league.
“Students are reading material they are actually engaged in and getting the skills necessary for college,” said Friedman, adding many high school students also earn debate scholarships.
Scholarships and support have made the difference at Wiley College as well. After the popularity of The Great Debaters, there was a resurgence of interest in debate, and Wiley’s student enrollment has tripled.
The film also changed the life of Nate Parker, the actor who portrayed one of the 1935 Wiley team members and served as judge for Friday’s exhibition.
“It really changed my perspective in terms of being a part of my community, not only to those who look like me, but the nation at large. I have a responsibility to attack any issue I feel is unjust,” Parker said.
The outcome of the debate was “very close” but Wiley College defeated USC in the end. Despite the loss, Parker said everyone benefits by encouraging future leaders.
“All of the debaters are incredible speakers, their presentation and the preparation was fantastic,” Parker said.
“One of tonight’s debaters is interested in political office. These are the leaders of tomorrow and we have to cultivate them. I think we did that by filling this room up, by being supportive in the debate.”
(Photos by Neftalie Williams)
