The DePaul College Republicans and DePaul Democrats sparred Tuesday night over issues such as race relations, immigration, the economy and foreign policy in their annual debate, the Sheffield Scuffle.
As students filed in, debaters sat at their respective tables under the hot spotlights, fumbling over notes, adjusting ties and wiping sweat from their foreheads before the questioning began. Moderator Joseph Mello, a political science professor at DePaul, softly spoke into the microphone and called for opening statements and promptly started the questioning.
As the debate began to ramp up on the issues at hand, the Democrats got off to a strong start, hitting hard on the points of Planned Parenthood, a topic that has been heated debated among the major U.S. presidential candidates.
“Abortion is legal and abortion is not something that women should apologize for,” said Democratic debater Mikayla Ziegler.
Senior Republican debater Brendan Newell had differing opinions of the economic aspects of Planned Parenthood outlining how it “funds itself and doesn’t need outside help from the government.”
Some may have first thought the overwhelming Democratic turnout would affect the perceived victor of the night, but as the debate developed, it became apparent that despite upperclassmen Newell and Nicole Been on stage, the inexperience of the two freshmen on the team showed.
“The fact is that we had a lot of new members up there presenting our ideas and it’s a big challenge for freshmen coming in,” Newell said, noting he was still happy with their performance.
This all boiled over when freshman debater Evan Sulley had his chance to rebut the statements of Democrat Garret Sanborn, who spoke about cutting military spending. Sulley did so aggressively, which ended up sidelining him the rest of the night.
“You look at me sir, we are at the most peaceful time in the world, and that is because of our military strength,” Sulley said while looking directly at Sanborn from across the stage. “You got me? It is because of our military strength. By you saying that we should cut our military spending, I can’t believe anyone would say something so chalice.”
The crowd began to chuckle as his statements grew more aggressive and his speech slowly began to unravel. His response was met with a shot to the heart delivered by the Democrat.
“The military has become a sacred cattle in this country and I don’t really like the fact that you are calling me or insinuating that I am anti-military,” Sanborn said. “I just went to school for the Marine Corps this past summer and I am going to serve my country as a pilot. Do not lecture me on the importance of military strength and what the United States has done for the world.”
Before answering the next question that was posed, Newell thanked Sanborn on behalf of all the college Republicans for his service, which led to prolonged applause from the audience.
It was a lively moment that ignited the only friction between the two parties all night. But the moment was indicative of how the night went for the Republican side as the debate took turns into the different topics.
Dems president Nassir Faulkner discussed race relations and the Black Lives Matter movement passionately.
“The movement isn’t about black-on-black crime, white-on-black crime, it’s about the problems people in the African American community face in our society today,” Faulkner said.
He went on to speak about the unnecessary militarization of police forces across the country.
“There is no need for a police department to have a military vehicle that is sold to them by the Department of Defense,” Faulkner said.
Hosted in the Student Center, the audience of about 50 observed, cheered and asked questions of the candidates on stage. Democratic students came out in droves to support their debaters, but less can be said for the Republican side. This lack of vocal support on campus is one factor that the DePaul College Republicans have come to expect and Wednesday night was no different.
“I just think that is the nature of this campus, the campus itself is liberal,” Been said. “We are used to it and we are not going to sit here and play the victim, we are going to fight as hard as we can and try and get the conservative message out there.”
The audience on both sides seemed to be satisfied with the performances of their representatives on stage.
“I think we were very strong and defended our positions well in particular on foreign affairs and public health. I think both sides were well spoken but can’t help but feel like we came out on top,” said audience member Gabie Hart, the Treasurer of the DePaul Democrats.
The audience on the other side felt confident in their group’s unwavering stances on the important issues to the conservative message.
“I think we did really well on foreign policy and economics, but they did well on the more domestic angles,” said Republican supporter Jishnu Sarker.
Even after the debate both sides were gracious of the others participation and opinions both echoing the sentiment that debate is healthy and to go out and vote.
