Collegiate Debate Adopts Nuclear Weapons Topic

The Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA), the governing body for intercollegiate policy debate, has adopted nuclear weapons as the topic for the upcoming 2009-2010 season.  The current provisional wording (subject to a set of meetings on this question) reads:

Resolved: That the United States Federal Government should substantially reduce its reliance on nuclear weapons in its national security policy

With the amount of time that college debaters devote trying to uncover every relevant quotation, fact, or counter-argument this could be an important step in cultivating young interest and knowledge on the issue similar to what Joe Cirincione talked about at NYU in March when he said:

Mr. Cirincione offered specific thoughts about the role that universities can and should play in the debate over the future of nuclear weapons policy, nonproliferation, and disarmament. First, he observed the extraordinary contribution of Stanford University, where faculty members George Shultz and Bill Perry have convened an ongoing discussion among scholars and practitioners about “Steps Toward a World Free of Nuclear Weapons” under the heading of “Reykjavik Revisited,” recalling the summit meeting between then U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev in October 1986. Mr. Cirincione pointed out that “this whole movement was hatched at a university.” Universities “change the paradigm; you change the way people are thinking about this,” argued Mr. Cirincione, who also encouraged universities to support scholars with breakthrough ideas and to do serious research in the area of nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. He emphasized that universities should provide fora for public debate on nuclear weapons policy, including opposing viewpoints, and also provide venues for U.S. Government officials to connect with the public. Finally, Mr. Cirincione included students specifically in his call to “get involved” and make political leaders care about nuclear weapons policy.