WASHINGTON – Controversies over African American studies in K-12 education and immigrants’ access to health care services will serve as points of dispute when the Howard University debate team clashes with the Hampton University team in Cramton Auditorium, on Friday, February 10, at 1 p.m.

The “Real HU Debate” is free and open to the public and is part of an effort to increase civic engagement on Howard’s campus. Angela D. Minor, Esq., associate professor and director of forensics in the Cathy Hughes School of Communications, described the meeting of the two schools as the first opportunity in years for a major in-person exhibition-style debate on campus.

“We have not had the ‘Real HU Debate’ since 2020 because of Covid,” Minor said. “I’m beyond ecstatic. This is an opportunity to reinvigorate the HBCU tradition of debate as an intellectual sport and as crucial component of African-American academic culture.”

The debate features two resolutions. The first asks whether immigration status should be part of the eligibility criteria for recipients of the Affordable Care Act. The Howard debate team will argue in the affirmative, while Hampton argues against it.

The other resolution centers on the belief that African American Studies should be implemented as part of a National Curriculum for K-12 public schools. The Howard team will argue in the affirmative, while Hampton will try to negate the resolution. Minor called this a critical topic for greater discussion in the country right now.  This House believes that African American Studies should be implemented as part of a National Educational Curriculum for K-12 public schools.

“There are certain schools of thought that have the intention of abolishing African American studies in K-through-12 education,” Minor said. “They are using critical race theory as an excuse to terminate African American studies and even erase Black history.”

Howard University’s commitment to forensics dates back to the early 1940s. In 1973, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Forensics Program was founded by Dr. Laura A. Fleet. The debate team is housed out of the Department of Strategic, Legal and Management Communication in the Cathy Hughes School of Communications. Today, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Forensics Program is thriving, preparing more than two hundred students to become leaders in the global community through speech, debate and mock trial intercollegiate competitions. Howard University is one of the few HBUCs which competes in forensic intercollegiate competitions.

For more information, contact Angela Minor, via angela.minor@howard.edu

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About Howard University

Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private, research university that is comprised of 14 schools and colleges. Students pursue more than 140 programs of study leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University operates with a commitment to Excellence in Truth and Service and has produced two Schwarzman Scholars, four Marshall Scholars, four Rhodes Scholars, 12 Truman Scholars, 25 Pickering Fellows and more than 165 Fulbright recipients. Howard also produces more on-campus African American PhD recipients than any other university in the United States. For more information on Howard University, visit www.howard.edu.

Media contact: Sholnn Freeman, sholnn.freeman@howard.edu