Ripon, WI — Polit­i­cal sci­ence pro­fes­sor Steve Yetiv of Old Domin­ion Uni­ver­sity wrote an op-ed col­umn in yesterday’s (Octo­ber 27, 2009) Chris­t­ian Sci­ence Mon­i­tor that is quite rel­e­vant to the dynam­ics sur­round­ing November’s Pub­lic Forum Debate topic, “Resolved: Failed nations are a greater threat to the United States than sta­ble nations.” The col­umn explores the United States’ rel­a­tive decline on the world stage and the impli­ca­tions this may have to global security.

The NFL has part­nered with the Stan­ley Foun­da­tion to pro­vide resources for the Novem­ber topic. The Stan­ley Foundation’s mis­sion is to pro­mote pub­lic under­stand­ing, con­struc­tive dia­logue, and coop­er­a­tive action on crit­i­cal inter­na­tional issues. Its work rec­og­nizes the essen­tial roles of both the pol­icy com­mu­nity and the broader pub­lic in build­ing sus­tain­able peace, and to that end, this topic falls within their “human pro­tec­tion” focus area.

Pub­lic Forum Debate squads can find myr­iad resources as cat­a­lysts for research.

Pur­suant to its mis­sion, the Stan­ley Foun­da­tion is thrilled to hear stu­dent dis­course and pub­lic engage­ment on this issue, and the NFL is excited to raise aware­ness of the medium of debate as a tool for engag­ing the pub­lic and show­cas­ing our fine stu­dent mem­bers. Indeed, this ini­tia­tive seeks to include the pub­lic in Pub­lic Forum Debate!

Here is how you can get involved:

Pub­lic Engagement

Coaches and tour­na­ment direc­tors, find mem­bers of the local com­mu­nity to judge Pub­lic Forum Debate on your behalf. Reach out to your local cham­ber of com­merce, city coun­cil, Rotary, Kiwa­nis, church groups, etc. (Click here for a list of direc­to­ries). Ask your guest judge to serve on a finals panel, or when­ever they’re avail­able dur­ing a tour­na­ment. Allow them to help hand out awards and share a few remarks on behalf of the orga­ni­za­tion they rep­re­sent. Don’t for­get to tell them about all the great ben­e­fits of foren­sics! Down­load a con­ve­nient guide to judg­ing .

Video Doc­u­men­ta­tion

We encour­age teams to video record their pro and con cases, and for coaches to arrange with other coaches to record full debates, all of which can be sub­mit­ted to the NFL in Decem­ber as part of our debrief­ing with the Stan­ley Foun­da­tion. Your school and the NFL ben­e­fit from pro­mot­ing the activ­ity of debate, and the Stan­ley Foun­da­tion ben­e­fits from observ­ing how stu­dents are learn­ing and rais­ing aware­ness on issues impor­tant to the foundation.

Ques­tions about this unique project? Con­tact Adam Jacobi.