Debate, in one or more of its many forms, has been with us since perhaps 1100 B.C. in China. The Greek poet Homer recorded three of the important political debates of his era, and the Roman statesman Cicero achieved fame for his courtroom debating skill. The medieval Roman Catholic Church was the center of public debates exploring the nature of being and other philosophical and theological questions.
Any one of those debates might have just as appropriately been held on a university campus as in a senate or a church, because debate, at its heart, is about becoming informed and about the coexistence of conflicting ideas. The debate process -- whether it takes the form of organized forensics or has a special format like a modern political debate -- is rooted in the same ideals that guide an institution of higher learning. In fact, classical Roman education focused on the design and logical development of argument, including practical exercises.
As Chancellor William H. Danforth said in his remarks announcing Washington University as the site for the first presidential debate of 1992, "This is a great thing for St. Louis and a wonderful thing for Washington University -- a place dedicated to debate, argument, hearing different opinions and, through all that, searching for the truth."
Provost Edward S. Macias, Ph.D., said that the essential element of the debates -- the airing of the key positions on important issues -- "is the same thing that we honor here. As an independent university, we have the ability to hear and consider all sides of the issues."
"The goal of a debate is to arrive at the truth," said Kathleen Drury, lecturer in argumentation in the Department of English. "The ideal is not to defend a bias but to engage in an honest inquiry. That coincides with the goal of the university."
For Drury, the University was precisely the right place for the presidential debate. "Maybe the setting helped the candidates keep the truth in mind while they were on the stage," she said.