Debates on Campus (Banner)

Debates on Campus

MFSA believes that one approach to restoring MIT's former open culture is to model civil discourse and debate on controversial and contentious topics by holding formal, moderated public discussions – debates, panel discussions, and presentations with public Q&A. Our preferred approach is structured public debates. We believe these are the best proxies for the discussions of opposing viewpoints that should be taking place in the labs, in the dorms, across the dining tables, and in the offices. Debates over focused topics are also an effective tool for expanding the Overton window of subjects that can be seriously discussed in public.

The MIT faculty Ad Hoc Committee of Free Expression provided several recommendations to help improve cultural support and tolerance for free speech on the MIT campus. The Committee noted that learning to engage in dialogue concerning controversial matters is a developmental skill that can be taught, improved, and encouraged. The recommendation specifically aimed at that was for MIT to identify and encourage pedagogical practices that enhance student skills involving the exchange of challenging ideas. Partly in response to this recommendation, MIT has initiated two new programs, the Dialogues Across Differences and the Civil Discourse Project. The debate program that MFSA co-sponsors at MIT reinforces and augments those initiatives. The MIT community needs more examples of open and civil discourse, because cancel culture and self-censorship has become so pernicious and pervasive throughout the Institute, because it has become embedded over many years, and because it continues to be reinforced by the broader social forces opposing freedom of expression.

Debate: Is Decarbonization worth the cost? – November 14, 2024

Our fourth debate was held November 14, 2024, where the following resolution was debated: 

Resolved, The total cost of global net-zero decarbonization by the latter half of this century is well worth the projected global benefits.

John Tomasi , former Professor of Natural Theology at Brown University, and President of Heterodox Academy, served as the debate's moderator

Affirmative Team: 

Kerry Emanuel, MIT Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Science and co-founder of MIT’s Lorenz Center 

Robert Pindyck, MIT Sloan School Professor of Economics and Finance and past President of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. 

Negative Team: 

Steven Koonin, Sr. Fellow at the Hoover Institution and former Under Secretary for Science 

Mark Mills, Executive Director of the National Center for Energy Analytics and faculty fellow at Northwestern University’s school of engineering.

For further information, go to the decarbonization debate webpage. 

Debate: Is sex binary? – April 17, 2024

Our third debate at MIT was held on April 17, 2024, at which the following resolution was debated:

"Resolved: That sex is biological and binary, and gender identity is no substitute for sex in social policy." Former ACLU President Nadine Strossen moderated the debate, with the following participants:

Affirmative Team: 

• Alex Byrne, Professor of Philosophy at MIT and author of Trouble with Gender: Sex Facts, Gender Fictions,
• Holly Lawford-Smith, Associate Professor in Political Philosophy at the University of Melbourne and author of Gender-Critical Feminism.

Negative Team:

• Alice Dreger is an American historian and journalist, a Guggenheim Fellow, recipient of the Heterodox Academy’s Courage Award, and author of Galileo’s Middle Finger

• Aaron Kimberly, a trans man, mental health nurse, Director of Public Engagement with the LGBT Courage Coalition, and co-host of the Transparency podcast.

For further information, visit our debate page.

Debate: Is STEM systemically racist? – November 2, 2023

MFSA co-sponsored our second debate on the MIT campus in the fall of 2023. Nadine Strossen reprised her role as moderator in the debate, with the following participants:

Affirmative Team: 

• Chad Womack, Vice President of National STEM Programs United Negro College Fund
• Jaret Riddick, Senior Fellow at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Georgetown University

Negative Team:

• Luana Maroja, Professor of Biology and Chair, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Program, Williams College 

• Erec Smith, Associate Professor of Rhetoric, York College of Pennsylvania;  President and Co-founder, Free Black Thought.

Debate: Should academic DEI programs be abolished? – April 4, 2023

MFSA co-sponsored our first debate on the MIT campus, open to all members of the MIT community, in the spring of 2023. Nadine Strossen, former President of the American Civil Liberties Union and professor of law emerita at New York Law School, served as moderator. The participants in the debate were as follows:

Affirmative Team: 

• Heather Mac Donald, Thomas W. Smith Fellow, Manhattan Institute
  
• Patanjali (Pat) Kambhampati, Professor, Department of Chemistry, McGill University
  

Negative Team:

• Pamela Denise Long, CEO, Youthcentrix; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Antiracism Consultant

• Karith Foster, Founder, INVERSITY Solutions; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Specialist