A demonstration debate will be held between Linfield College forensics students and two members of the English-Speaking Union from Great Britain.
Matthew Wilmore and Chessy Whalen are currently on an American tour with the Committee on International Debate and Discussion (CIDD). They will visit Linfield on Oct. 2 and 3, presenting a demonstration debate with the Linfield forensics team Friday, Oct. 2, at noon in the Pioneer Hall Reading Room at Linfield.
On Saturday, Oct. 3, the two will attend the fifth annual Oregon State Penitentiary debate tournament with Linfield’s team.
“This is the first time in my career at Linfield that we will have an opportunity to host the CIDD British debaters,” said Jackson Miller, professor of communication arts and director of forensics. “It will be a great honor to have them on campus.”
Students are also looking forward to the challenge of competing against skilled international debaters, said sophomore Lacie McElvain. “I am excited to meet and compete with them,” she said. “They both have impressive resumes and I am sure there will be plenty to learn.”
Whalen just completed her B.A. in history at Balliol College Oxford. She was an active member of the Oxford Union Debating Society, representing the school at various national and international tournaments including the European Championships in Vienna where she was a quarter-finalist. In addition to debating competitions, she was active in the college choir and with various sports teams including mixed hockey and casual women’s cricket. She will begin a job at a strategy consultancy in London in March.
Wilmore recently completed a LLM in human rights at the University of Edinburgh. He previously received first class honors from the University of Sheffield in politics and philosophy. He has worked as a debate coach and judge for the English-Speaking Union since 2013 and has also taught in schools in Israel and Nigeria as well as at various universities in the U.K., France and U.S. He is an accomplished competitive speaker, winning the European Championships in 2014, and was a semi-finalist of the 2013 John Smith Memorial Mace. He has acted as chief adjudicator at competitions in the U.K. and Europe.
For more information, contact Miller, 503-883-2625, jmiller@linfield.edu.
