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Debate investigates whether WV is better off having left VA
April 22, 2013 · Is West Virginia better off having seceded from Virginia? That's the question discussed during a special debate between West Virginia University and James Madison University students.
The debate is one of many events taking place around the state to honor West Virginia's upcoming sesquicentennial.
Two members of the WVU debate team engaged in a policy debate against two members of James Madison’s team, a school in Harrisonburg Va.
The WVU team argued in favor of the resolution, “West Virginia is better off having seceded from Virginia.”
James Madison’s team argued to negate the resolution.
During the debate, one team member spoke for four minutes each.
Then the other team member spoke for six minutes each, to further develop each team’s arguments.
Finally, there were three minute closing speeches, so each team could have one final chance to convince the judges they deserved to win.
Following the first four speeches, an opportunity was given to the opposing team to cross-examine the speaker.
The WVU team asserted West Virginia’s sense of identity has been strengthened by its separation from Virginia, because it has been able to establish a distinct culture and a sense of community.
The JMU team argued that statistics show Virginia is ahead of West Virginia in many economic statistical categories, and therefore West Virginia isn’t better off.
Following the lively exchanges, the audience was asked to give a vote on who they thought won.
WVU prevailed. AJ Warne is a member of the team and a business management major at WVU.
He’s from Clarksburg and says he really enjoyed representing his state.
"West Virginia’s culture, West Virginia’s community involvement, and our educational systems, are some of the things that make our state really unique; that make our state great," said Warne.
"I don’t think we would have had those same opportunities if we were still part of old Virginia."
Daniel Spiker and Andrew Yim represented James Madison. Both of them are from Virginia.
Yim says the debate’s rules and the resolution itself are a bit different from what happens in typical policy debates.
"Within the debate community, we usually don’t argue about whether West Virginia, would it have been better off if it had seceded, because sometimes that can get on a personal level, and that would affect certain people," Yim said.
"Certain people wouldn’t want to talk about it."
Daniel Spiker says the teams shared some information beforehand about what was going to be discussed.
"AJ and Allie gave us a copy of their speech, which was typical of collegiate debate. The other side knows at least initially what you are going to be saying," said Spiker.
"They gave us theirs, and we prepared ours and disclosed it to them as well. Besides those two speeches, there wasn’t necessarily a lot of disclosure beyond that."
At this time, there isn’t a scheduled “flip of the coin” debate, so to speak, where WVU’s debate team would have to travel to Harrisonburg to debate the JMU team again on a similar resolution.
The debate is the first of many scheduled events that are taking place around the state to celebrate the state’s 150th birthday, on June 20.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin recently announced a 3-D film will be shown on the State Capitol Building, the evening of that day.
Other Capitol Grounds events include an outdoor symphony concert and a day-long festival on Saturday 22nd, with a car show, Chili Cook-Off and Civil War re-enactors.
Gov. Tomblin says it will all be incredible.
"It’s a big day not just for our state, but for our country. 150 years ago, our country was torn apart, divided by the Civil War," Tomblin said.
"As the war went on, the people of what would soon be West Virginia make a decision, to stand for freedom, equality and the United States of America. This is a celebration that you won’t want to miss."
The celebration will continue until June 23.
Two members of the WVU debate team engaged in a policy debate against two members of James Madison’s team, a school in Harrisonburg Va.
The WVU team argued in favor of the resolution, “West Virginia is better off having seceded from Virginia.”
James Madison’s team argued to negate the resolution.
During the debate, one team member spoke for four minutes each.
Then the other team member spoke for six minutes each, to further develop each team’s arguments.
Finally, there were three minute closing speeches, so each team could have one final chance to convince the judges they deserved to win.
Following the first four speeches, an opportunity was given to the opposing team to cross-examine the speaker.
The WVU team asserted West Virginia’s sense of identity has been strengthened by its separation from Virginia, because it has been able to establish a distinct culture and a sense of community.
The JMU team argued that statistics show Virginia is ahead of West Virginia in many economic statistical categories, and therefore West Virginia isn’t better off.
Following the lively exchanges, the audience was asked to give a vote on who they thought won.
WVU prevailed. AJ Warne is a member of the team and a business management major at WVU.
He’s from Clarksburg and says he really enjoyed representing his state.
"West Virginia’s culture, West Virginia’s community involvement, and our educational systems, are some of the things that make our state really unique; that make our state great," said Warne.
"I don’t think we would have had those same opportunities if we were still part of old Virginia."
Daniel Spiker and Andrew Yim represented James Madison. Both of them are from Virginia.
Yim says the debate’s rules and the resolution itself are a bit different from what happens in typical policy debates.
"Within the debate community, we usually don’t argue about whether West Virginia, would it have been better off if it had seceded, because sometimes that can get on a personal level, and that would affect certain people," Yim said.
"Certain people wouldn’t want to talk about it."
Daniel Spiker says the teams shared some information beforehand about what was going to be discussed.
"AJ and Allie gave us a copy of their speech, which was typical of collegiate debate. The other side knows at least initially what you are going to be saying," said Spiker.
"They gave us theirs, and we prepared ours and disclosed it to them as well. Besides those two speeches, there wasn’t necessarily a lot of disclosure beyond that."
At this time, there isn’t a scheduled “flip of the coin” debate, so to speak, where WVU’s debate team would have to travel to Harrisonburg to debate the JMU team again on a similar resolution.
The debate is the first of many scheduled events that are taking place around the state to celebrate the state’s 150th birthday, on June 20.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin recently announced a 3-D film will be shown on the State Capitol Building, the evening of that day.
Other Capitol Grounds events include an outdoor symphony concert and a day-long festival on Saturday 22nd, with a car show, Chili Cook-Off and Civil War re-enactors.
Gov. Tomblin says it will all be incredible.
"It’s a big day not just for our state, but for our country. 150 years ago, our country was torn apart, divided by the Civil War," Tomblin said.
"As the war went on, the people of what would soon be West Virginia make a decision, to stand for freedom, equality and the United States of America. This is a celebration that you won’t want to miss."
The celebration will continue until June 23.
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