Open for all students to observe, the annual Great Debate commenced between the College Democrats, the College Republicans and Young Americans for Liberty.
The debate was held Wednesday evening in the Mell Classroom Building from 7:30–9 p.m.
“We want to engage our students and let them know what [Republicans] stand for, what Democrats stand for, what Young Americans for Liberty stand for," Seth Ingram, vice chairman for the Auburn College Republicans. "It’s an opportunity for them to learn what we’re all about.”
Ingram said the organization was excited and anticipated a great night.
The debate consisted of three topics, with each topic submitted by one of the debating parties along with two questions in each topic written by the group.
The topics submitted were prison reform by the College Democrats, war by Young Americans for Liberty and abortion by the College Republicans.
“I think it’s going to be really interesting, and it’s an original idea,” said Whitt Watts, sophomore in communications. “I think it’s good to see people actually talk about stuff instead of just hourly debating.”
Pizza and soda were provided for the audience to enjoy during the debate.
Carsten Grove, sophomore in industrial engineering, and Troy Ferguson, junior in economics, debated for the College Democrats.
Troy Beckham, senior in materials engineering, and Daniel Bond, senior in political science, represented Young Americans for Liberty, Auburn’s libertarian club.
Michael King, junior in political science, and Ian Dudar, freshman in mechanical engineering, spoke on behalf of the College Republicans.
This year’s mediator was The Auburn Plainsman’s Editor-in-Chief Chip Brownlee, junior in political science and journalism.
“I’m glad we got the opportunity to do this,” Dudar said. “I think we should do this more often.”
For prison reform, all three parties generally agreed that drug possession should not be a federal crime, but the College Republicans said states should be able to determine for themselves whether to make drug possession a crime, pointing to the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which gives to the states all powers not enumerated for the federal government.
The College Republicans and Young Americans for Liberty disagreed with the College Democrats on whether private prisons should be used.
Grove said there has been a massive increase in inmates in federal prisons for drug possession over the past few years and said the number of drug users has not decreased during the same time period.
For war, the College Democrats and the College Republicans both said that the U.S. has a part to play in global security, but the Young Americans for Liberty argued the U.S. should have no part in any conflict outside of U.S. borders that doesn’t pose an immediate security threat to the United States.
With regards to the discussion on abortion, the College Democrats and Young Americans for Liberty were in favor of legal abortion while the College Republicans were against it.
“That is between you, your God and whoever does the abortion,” Bond said.
After all the topics were discussed, spectators were allowed to ask questions. Most of the questions asked were related to gun control and abortion.
"I don’t see why you would let them [an adult] carry a gun on the streets and in shops and in churches and everywhere they go in their everyday lives and trust them not to kill someone with it, but as soon as they walk onto a college campus, they simply cannot be trusted,” Dudar said.
The debate ended with each party discussing the GOP’s recent tax cut bill after prompted by a question from Brownlee, who pushed the participants on the bill’s deficit effects.
“I think it went well, it was a great event," Ingram said. "We had a great turnout. The crowd was involved. The Q&A from the audience, I think, was the best part — getting our student’s voice on their opinion and hearing from our student organizations about how they feel on the issues.”
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