Mary Gray (left) and the Rev. LaSimba Gray (right) present Even Kirkham and Evan Wood with the championship trophy from The Great Debate in Memphis. Kirkham and Wood are members of the University of Mississippi forensics team, which has piled up plenty of awards in recent competition across the country.
OXFORD, Miss. – Two members of the University of Mississippi’s forensics team have proven again they are a “small but mighty force,” coming out as winners of “The Great Debate.”
Evan Kirkham, a public policy leadership major from Dallas, and Austin “Woody” Wood, a sophomore political science major from Southlake, Texas, competed in an exhibition debate March 1 in Memphis against students from Wiley College of Marshall, Texas.
The debate topic was “Resolved: President Barak Obama should be re-elected.” Kirkham and Wood were prepared to debate either side of the argument, but Ole Miss won the coin toss and debated the affirmative.
“Their case for the affirmative was thought-provoking, evidence-based and laced with the type of rhetoric that both inspires and promotes thought,” said JoAnn Edwards, director of forensics in the university’s Lott Leadership Institute. “They represented Ole Miss with dignity and grace, and as their coach I am extremely proud.”
Wiley College was documented in the 2007 movie “The Great Debaters,” for beating the national championship University of Southern California team in the 1930s. The movie starred Denzel Washington.
The Rev. LaSimba Gray of New Sardis Baptist Church in Memphis came up with the idea of The Great Debate and issued invitations to the two schools.
Wood said he was honored to have the privilege to compete in The Great Debate against Wylie College because the event embodied the idea of seeking different perspectives.
“It was a coming together of many different people with many different backgrounds, and I know that everyone in the building was there with an open mind and willing to hear the thoughts and ideas of whoever it was that was speaking,” said Wood, who is also a Provost Scholar. “Forensics is crucial to many students because it is an opportunity for seeing so many different perspectives. I felt it was yet another testament to the true of nature of why I feel competitive forensics is one of the most amazing extracurricular activities.”
The trophy will be displayed at the Lott Leadership Institute.
“It was an historic night indeed, and one that is representative of our passion and dedication to reasoning and truth,” Edwards said.
Since January, the Ole Miss team has traveled across the nation and returned with numerous accolades. At Lewis and Clarke College in Portland, Ore., the team won three first places and top novice in two events, at the University of Alabama they were finalists in extemporaneous, prose and dramatic interpretation, at Suffolk University they won two firsts, had multiple finalists and at Marshall University they were the top novice in two events and had numerous finalists and a sixth place sweepstakes.
Besides Kirkham and Wood, the team includes Justin Charles, a junior theatre arts major from Tyler, Texas; Robert Gore, a senior public policy leadership and Chinese major from Hattiesburg; Victoria Jones, a freshman public policy leadership major from Oxford; Angelica Spence, a junior theatre arts major from Stone Mountain, Ga.; Elizabeth Tettleton, a junior marketing communications and hospitality major from Oxford; and Jackie Watson, a freshman business and Chinese major from Oxford.
For more information on the Ole Miss forensics program, contact JoAnn Edwards at jedwards@olemiss.edu.