The USC Trojan Debate Squad will participate in a Jan. 19 debate about health care and the economy at the Smithsonian Institute to coincide with President-Elect Barack Obama's inauguration. Squad members Paul Harold (pictured, right) and Clare Velasquez (pictured, below left) will represent USC as it debates 
"This debate features two institutions that have long traditions of excellence in intercollegiate debate that is illustrated by their connections to the true story behind the major motion picture, The Great Debaters," according to the press release. "The University of Southern California was host to the Wiley College team in the great debate of 1935, while the most famous member of that team — the distinguished civil rights leader James L. Farmer Jr. — concluded his long career as a beloved professor of history on the Mary Washington campus, a place where his legacy lives on today."
The Inauguration Debate Series event will be held in the Baird Auditorium at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. on Monday, Jan. 19 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event includes three debates, lasting 75 minutes each on energy and climate change, health care and the economy, and foreign policy.
"I feel so lucky for this opportunity to be in Washington, D.C. during such a historic time, and to participate in the excitement of the inauguration by debating issues that are so crucial to the Obama Administration like Health Care and Economic Policies," Velasquez said.
Velasquez is a senior from Grass Valley, Calif., majoring in International Relations. She has a distinguished debate record including qualifying for the elimination rounds of several tournaments including CEDA Nationals. She is the recipient of a full tuition debate scholarship to USC, and representing USC in many debates against UCLA and international debate teams from the United Kingdom and Japan. She is deeply committed to community service in a variety of forms, including working for USC’s Service Learning program, training USC students to teach in the community, and playing a leadership role in USC’s Neighborhood Debate League. She is applying to law school and eventually hopes to practice business law in California.
Harold is a senior from Mt. Airy, NC, majoring in International Relations and Classics. He is captain of USC's Trojan Debate Squad, and has been in the elimination rounds of several tournaments. He is involved in USC's Neighborhood Debate League, which aims to bring policy debate to urban schools in Los Angeles. He has served as Chief Justice of the judicial branch of USC's student government and is a research assistant for a project focusing on religion and international affairs funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. He is currently applying to graduate schools and hopes to work in Washington, D.C. as a policy analyst.
USC Annenberg will also sponsor three journalism students with a Directors Award to cover the inauguration for Annenberg news programs: Katie Kim for Annenberg TV News, Richie Duchon for Annenberg Radio News and Chris Nelson for Annenberg Digital News (a new online news operation being launched in January).
About the Trojan Debate Squad:
The Trojan Debate Squad (TDS) is the USC organization devoted to teaching debate to students for over 125 years. Founded as the first-chartered student organization at USC in 1880, the TDS is one of the nation's leading collegiate debate programs. Today the TDS is a proud member of the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Annenberg faculty and graduate students teach debate to USC students from all degree programs. The Trojans compete in a range of events, but the primary emphasis is intercollegiate policy debate and on-campus public debate.
