(Andrew T. Yarbrough / Fourth Estate)
Despite current events, both sides maintained a respectful debate
BY ANDREW T. YARBROUGH, STAFF WRITER
Bridge at Mason, Student Government and the Office of Student Involvement hosted the annual Election Forum Debate between the Democrats at Mason and the George Mason College Republicans. Keely Calloway and Pranav Choudhary represented the Democrats at Mason, while Blake Reed and Ali Motamedi represented the College Republicans on the debate stage Oct. 28.. This debate was held in Lecture Hall, with a wide variety of topics being discussed relevant to our day and age. Each party was given 1 minute and 30 seconds to discuss their viewpoint, and the opposing party had 30 seconds to provide a rebuttal before moving on to the next topic.
While the debate mostly maintained decorum compared to the recent Virginia gubernatorial debate, there were still outbursts of laughter from the College Republicans when topics such as “acting like the most diverse university” or “the President’s AI video of dropping poop from an F-16 plane” were discussed or brought up.
Both sides debated respectfully, even shaking hands and thanking one another during the short recess midway through the debate. In our current political climate, I encourage and expect more debates to be conducted with the same level of professionalism.
Civil conversations don’t happen as often as they used to, particularly due to the rise of social media in the past few years. These in-person conversations help one another understand current events, consider different view points and develop a sense of belonging in this nation.
It’s critical to our democracy to maintain civil conversations that are professional and respectful to each party regardless of their different viewpoints. That is how we discuss things in business, and the government should reflect just that.
One such instance of clashing views came as Democrats Pranav Choudhary and Keely Calloway advocated for the Affordable Care Act subsidies to continue and argued that the recent attacks on the University were unjustified, while Republicans Blake Reed and Ali Motamedi deemed the investigations justified due to the influx of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives on campus, and Gregory Washington’s advocacy as an undergraduate student at North Carolina State University in the 90’s. I personally don’t think we should judge a man on his actions while was an undergraduate student 30 years ago.
As pointed out by the College Republicans at the event, we all live on the same planet and attend the same schools at the end of the day. It’s up to each party to come together on issues and find a common ground that helps advance our country as one.
The topics debated included things like immigration, the impact of tariffs on the economy and recent political attacks. Each party expressed their own opinion on these topics and presented factual evidence.
The debate was split into two parts, with the first half of the debate including pre-selected agreed upon questions. The second half consisted of questions from the audience.
Despite some encouraging remarks by both parties, I decided not to continue viewing the debate simply because of the rhetoric being displayed by the College Republicans. I ended up watching the rest of the stream later on Student Government’s Instagram livestream. Phrases like “You shouldn’t vote,” and “International students shouldn’t come to Mason” are ideas that harm the continuation of immigrants coming to this country legally, bringing new ideas and innovations.
I believe it’s important to participate in discourse like this, establish your own opinion, do your own research and shape these events into something that contributes to the growth our political atmosphere desperately needs.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Fourth Estate welcomes opinion articles by people of all beliefs. If you feel strongly about a subject and want your voice to be heard, please email Opinion Editor Emma G. Schaible at eschaib@gmu.edu.
