Around the World at the Ath: Thanksgiving
Crystal Widado '27, moderator, is in their first year at CMC. In the Debate Union, they help coordinate national and international education outreach initiatives, including middle school and high school leagues, workshops, and summer residential programs.
Louis Layman '26, debater, directs Debate Union professional communication programs, including townhall reviews of Republican candidate debates, a guest lecture on photographic atomic history by the former Artist-in-Residence at Cal Tech, and the Debate Union’s public policy podcast series, Uncommon Ground. As a high school student, he won top international debate competitions in China and Vietnam.
Yui Kurosawa '26, debater, is one of the top public performers for the Debate Union, participating in panel discussions, presidential debate commentary, and public debates.
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.