Each semester, the College of Communication and Boston University host the Great Debate – an event specifically directed at addressing controversial subjects and allowing students to participate and witness the issue develop in front of their eyes. While organizers have made many important and timely issues the topics of past debates, BU hit new heights this year with Wednesday night’s discussion of same-sex marriage.
The issue is the issue right now, and by making it the subject of this year’s Great Debate, BU brought the issue right to students. BU is a prime location for such a debate because it is the largest school in Boston – the city in which the issue itself sprang to people’s attention with the Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling that will allow same-sex marriages in the commonwealth starting May 17.
And this year’s debaters were some of the central players on the issue. Mary Bonauto, who argued and won the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case that declared same-sex marriage constitutional, led the affirmative side and Genevieve Wood, vice president for media at the Family Research Council – a main anti-gay-marriage group – led the opposition. Bringing in some of the main players was an excellent move on the part of debate organizers.
But while BU did an amazing job bringing in the professionals to debate the issue, organizers should have tried harder for student participation and turnout. COM puts on the event, and therefore promotes the event to its students, but members of the entire university community could have gotten a great deal out of the discussion. Instead, the Tsai Center was only partially full.
Great Debate issues – specifically Wednesday night’s – are extremely important and timely, and overall, BU hit it big with this year’s event.
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