Five members of Elon Law's Black Law Students Association (BLSA) served as judges at the 2010 debate tournament of the National Association of African-American Honors Programs (NAAAHP), hosted by North Carolina A & T University, in collaboration with North Carolina Central University and Winston Salem State University, from November 10-13.
The tournament was part of the NAAAHP’s 19th Annual Conference, which seeks to develop, enhance, and support honors programs at Historically and Predominantly Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs and PBCUs). In addition to the debate, the conference included panels and workshops featuring honors program directors and faculty, and additional programs for undergraduate honors students including an Academic Quiz Bowl and a Model African Union program.
The debate tournament offered undergraduate honors students from HBCUs and PBCUs the opportunity to debate the following proposition: Resolved: The U.S. federal government should substantially increase social services for persons living in poverty in the United States.
Elon Law students serving as judges at the tournament were: Tiffany Gray, Lu Johnson, Ashley Smith, Kathy Stewart, and Ricky Watson.
Gray, a member of the Class of 2012 at Elon Law and president of BLSA, said that she and her colleagues enjoyed the experience and hoped to have had a positive impact on the undergraduate honors students they met.
“I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to assist with the NAAAHP’s annual debate competition, which is one of many programs that it facilitates to promote scholarship among African- American students,” Gray said. “I hope that by seeing African-American law students, like myself and others that assisted with the competition, the young men and women in the program will be inspired to further their education through graduate studies.”
Dr. Stephen C. Ferguson II, Assistant Professor in University Studies at North Carolina A & T University, coordinated the debate competition.
Click here for information on the 2010 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day form at Elon Law, cosponsored by BLSA, exploring the impact of sit-ins on the American Civil Rights Movement.
Click here for details about BLSA’s 2010 initiatives for Black History Month.
Click here for information about the African-American Male Leadership Summit of the Beta Epsilon Boule hosted at Elon Law in March.