One Thanksgiving "tradition" in America is debate: from pecan pie vs. pumpkin pie to sweet potatoes vs. yams, not to mention "livelier" family disputes, Americans love to disagree at the dinner table.
To celebrate this American tradition, we bring back the Claremont Colleges Debate Union for a lighthearted take on one of our most popular programs, Debate Night at the Ath.
Black Friday promises soaring economic optimism and opportunities for gift-sharing for friends and loved ones. Or it might just be the most recent and best evidence of ongoing and disturbing changes in retail shopping, as well as the manipulative forces influencing consumer behavior. In any case, global and US Black Friday sales have skyrocketed in recent years – US sales are expected to exceed $10 billion this month.
Consumers want to take advantage of low prices, as the average price savings is 31%. Consumers are also increasingly appalled by the outdated product options, confusing adverts, and low-quality goods. Is it time to consider another path?
Please join members of the Claremont Colleges Debate Union for a lively debate on the topic, “Consumers should opt out of Black Friday.” The audience will have an opportunity to engage participants during a comment and question period during the debate, as well as vote on the outcome. Heckling is encouraged.
The Claremont Colleges Debate Union is among the nation’s largest and most successful college debate societies, with substantial intercollegiate competition, professional communication, and educational outreach programming. The debate’s participants are award-winning national and international competitors, including Grayson Shaw PO ’25, Cameron Quijada SCR ’25, Louis Layman CMC ’26, and Bilal Najaf PZ ’28. The moderator is Marley Thomson PZ ’27.
The Claremont Colleges Debate Union (CCDU), directed by John Meany, is a 5C program centered at Claremont McKenna College; it is among the largest and most successful college debating societies in the nation. The Debate Union offers three major debate and communication programs – intercollegiate competitive debating, public/professional communication training and events, and educational outreach. Programming is national and international. Students may participate in any or all programming.
Members of the CCDU attend 25 or more debate tournaments each year. CCDU teams have won 5 national championships (varied formats) and placed second five times, ranked in the nation’s top ten in 24 of the past 29 years, and received many, many hundreds of team and individual awards at major national and international competitions. Additionally, the CCDU's Public Debate Program has served hundreds of thousands of middle and high school students in the US and in 39 other countries, primarily representing socially and economically marginalized communities. CCDU students produce text and video curricular materials, conduct educational research, direct instructional seminars for secondary school teachers and students, manage tournament operations, and judge at competitions. The Public Debate Program's US middle school national debate championship is now the largest debate tournament competition in the country.
