Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler,
818/677-2130
carmen.chandler@csun.edu

CSUN Debaters to Take on the Chinese

The debate, which will be at 8 p.m. on Nov. 13 on the university's business auditorium on the west side of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge, is believed to be the first time such a exchange has taken place between American and Chinese college students on American soil.

"We're very excited," said Paul Krivonos, chair of CSUN's Department of Communication Studies. "It's a wonderful opportunity for us to further institutional interaction between Cal State Northridge and Xi'an University."

Four graduate students from Xi'an Foreign Language University in the province of Xi'an, China, and their coach, Yu Baozhu, academic vice president and chair of the English Department at Xi'an University, will arrive in Los Angeles on Nov. 2.

They will spend the week touring California, including visits to Disneyland and Yosemite as well as taking part in two small debates at South Orange College and Cal State Fresno. The Chinese debaters will return to Northridge on Nov. 11 to prepare for the big debate against members of CSUN's debate team, all graduate students.

The two sides will take on the issue of gender equity, in particular whether or not equality between the sexes can ever be achieved. Krivonos said the debate will take place in English. Who will be arguing which side of the issue is yet to be determined.

"We will let the Chinese team decide which side they want; after all, they are our guests," he said.

This will be only the third time that a team from Cal State Northridge has faced off against a team from the Chinese mainland. The first two times, in 1988 and 1991, were in Xi'an. Krivonos said the first debate was actually televised nationally in China.

Next month's debate coincides with the university's third annual Epicenter Classic Speech and Debate Tournament taking place Nov. 13-15 at CSUN.

The tournament draws teams from schools throughout California as well as Utah, Nevada and Arizona. The three-day competition includes contests in parliamentary and policy styles of debate as well as eleven different individual speaking events.

CSUN's debate team coach, Bill Sheffield, said the tournament schedule has been modified to allow participants to watch the Chinese as well as to accommodate opportunities for the Chinese team to watch the American college debaters in action.

"I think there's a great opportunity to learn from each other," Sheffield said.

For more information about the debate or the tournament, call 818/677-3043.