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Michigan high school students will receive unique resources and training on national debate topic
For Immediate Release
MIDLAND — The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, an independent, Midland-based think tank, today announced the venues for its 17th Annual High School Debate Workshops:
Midland – September 20, Valley Plaza Resort
Grand Rapids – September 21, WMU Conference Center Downtown
Jackson – September 22, Commonwealth Commerce Center
Livonia – September 23, Burton Manor
The workshops
are designed to provide high school debaters with powerful intellectual
resources and training for their debates on the National Forensic League’s
resolution for 2004-2005. This year’s resolution reads as follows:
"Resolved: That the United States federal government should establish a foreign policy substantially increasing its support of United Nations peacekeeping operations."
High school debate coaches throughout the state will receive formal invitations to these programs during the next two weeks. This is the 17th year the Mackinac Center has hosted Michigan’s students and debate coaches at nominal fees for intensive study of the Forensic League’s annual resolution.
Each workshop will feature a panel of debate experts ideally suited to this year’s topic:
June Arunga is director of youth outreach at the
Inter-Regional Economic Network in Kenya and has lectured in Europe and the
United States on such topics as globalization, trade and economic freedom in
Africa. She has produced a BBC documentary on the African diaspora and is a
first-hand witness to U.N. peacekeeping operations.
Doug Bandow is a widely published syndicated columnist and
a foreign policy specialist for the Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute. His
work at the institute includes a variety of studies involving United Nations
policies.
Gregory Rehmke is a program director at Economic Thinking/E
Pluribus Unum Films, a nonprofit organization in Seattle. He has spoken and
written on each year’s national high school debate topic since the 1980s.
This year’s debate topic is particularly timely. Michael LaFaive, the Center’s workshop coordinator, notes that "with Iraq, Afghanistan, and the horrors of Sudan in the news daily, this year’s debate workshop is perfectly positioned to increase our students’ knowledge of world affairs."
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The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a nonprofit research and educational institute that advances the principles of free markets and limited government. Through our research and education programs, we challenge government overreach and advocate for a free-market approach to public policy that frees people to realize their potential and dreams.
Please consider contributing to our work to advance a freer and more prosperous state.
