Public Debate: SMU vs. The Great Debaters

Debate teams from SMU and Wiley College will match up in a continuation of their long-term relationship. Wiley, a historically black college in Marshall, Texas, was highlighted in the 2007 film The Great Debaters, the story of the school’s 1935 debate team that broke racial boundaries and defeated a national championship team from a white university. SMU had invited Wiley to campus in 1935, but the debate had to be canceled; the two schools finally kept their debate appointment in 2009. The topic of the February debate will be a current controversy of interest to general audiences. The event is open to the public. The debate program is sponsored by the SMU Meadows Division of Communication Studies.