WWU debaters to take on Chinese students Feb. 16

Western Washington University’s debate team, the Western Debate Union, will host a student debate team from Jiatong University in Xi’an, China at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 16 in Communications Facility 120 on the WWU campus.

This event is free and open to the public; the topic of the event’s debate is “Resolved: The United States and China Have a Mutual Interest in Combating Islamic Fundamentalism.”

The debate is part of a tour of the U.S. that has been arranged by the International Debate Education Association and which the Western team is helping to sponsor. Students from Beijing Foreign Studies University were part of a debate on campus last year.

Western will be represented by sophomore Morgan Haskins (Anchorage, Alaska), junior Sarah Jackson (Eatonville) and senior Zach Furste (Fort Collins, Colo.). Each of these students is also a member of the competitive intercollegiate team and a veteran of numerous debates against a variety of collegiate opponents from across the country.

The format will feature three debaters for each side, and include an audience question-and-answer period. The Western Debate Union, CASCAID, and the WWU Department of Communication are sponsors of the debate; for more information, contact Steven Woods at (360) 650-4879.