Although they may not actually influence U.S. foreign policy, a group of SIUC students will spend the next week debating whether the United States should change its policy towards Mexico.

The SIUC Debate Team is busy researching their debate topic, The US should substantially change its foreign policy towards Mexico, before they begin their first tournament of the semester at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas on Sept. 15, team members said.

Greg Simerly, director of debate, said the team spent Labor Day weekend researching and preparing their arguments.

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We examined each of the terms and phrases, he said. We determined that the topic will be broad. Foreign policy encompasses anything that goes on between the U.S. and Mexico.

Members divided into units of two to develop their arguments, Simerly said.

They got together to develop an affirmative case proving that the topic is true, he said. As a group, we’re working on a negative case proving that we should not change our foreign policy towards Mexico.

Simerly said the team is composed of twelve members who are, for the most part, juniors and seniors, but this year’s team has one freshman and three sophomores.

We have a variety, he said. We have students from a large range of majors, among them speech communication, finance and political science.

Debaters who remained in Carbondale during the summer met each week for practice debates and discussions in preparation for this fall, Simerly said.

First-year coach Steve Hunt, a graduate majoring in Speech Communication, said he was happy to be a part of the SIUC Debate Team.

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I was really impressed by the amount of work and committment this summer, Hunt said. In 11 years of debating, I’ve never been as excited to begin a season as I am now.

Jeremy West, a junior in Speech Communication from Puyallup, Washington, said he is also looking forward to the new season.

There has been a lot of progress during the last two years, he said. This fall, we have a bigger team and a lot of hard workers.