At Western, Debate isn't just argument, it's an immersion

The WWU Debate team explores. They travel. From Washington, D.C to Detroit to Nagasaki, they find the heart of their annual theme, and learn as much on the ground as they can. 

The Debate+ program led by Director of Forensics Travis Cram and Assistant Director of Forensics Korry Harvey places students in the center of the issues they will examine.

“Debate is more than just a tournament for students. It’s also about the critical pedagogy of place,” said Harvey.

In 2024, working with the theme of nuclear proliferation, the team went to Washington, D.C. to visit the Enola Gay, the plane used to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. The group also met with nuclear proliferation experts Paul Kerr from the Congressional Research Service and the late William Burr, who spoke about the declassification of nuclear security documents.

After meeting with officials in D.C., the students traveled to Japan to see the effects of those bombs, the logical conclusion of nuclear arms as a war strategy, and to inform themselves about the human impact of nuclear war. 

For Bothell native and psychology and Honors alumna Annabelle Eckel, the 2023-24 debate theme of nuclear proliferation was especially meaningful. Her mother and maternal family are Japanese, and she has been on frequent visits to Japan to see relatives. In a deeply personal way, she is acutely aware of the legacy of WW II and the scars the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima left behind. 

“Growing up, it’s been a double-edged sword for me to see the cultural histories of both sides and navigating those differences,” Eckel said. “It’s something I thought a lot about. So much has changed, but even a few decades before they met, it would have been unfathomable for my parents to even have done so — much less form a family. It gives me hope that relationships can be forged among groups of people who have historically been antagonists.”

That hope fueled Eckel’s understanding as she journeyed through the sites, exploring nuclear nonproliferation and learning about nuclear conflict.

Las Vegas native Abbie Halpin, an honors student majored in political science and economics, said the experience of traveling to Washington, D.C. and Hiroshima, Japan was eye-opening and life-changing. 

“When we visited the Enola Gay, we were surprised by the lack of information at the display about its role in World War II,” she said. “The plaque is very vague and doesn’t address the plane’s primary purpose.”

Harvey described the trip as a great experience for the travelers. 

“The trip to D.C. prompted us to be more serious about that part of history and the past,” said Harvey.

Eckel’s mother and grandparents grew up in Japan without much mention in school of the nuclear bombing and aftermath in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. 

“Part of that is the shame and loss that are part of Japanese culture surrounding those events. It’s different now, but back then, schools in Japan didn’t discuss those events much at all. In reflecting on my own educational background in the U.S., we only spent a few days studying the dropping of the bombs on Japan, and I was totally unaware that there was any disagreement around the rationale for the decision calculus in dropping the bomb,” said Eckel. “I was always told we saved 2 million people by dropping the bombs, but I didn’t realize that that perspective was rooted in racism among other flawed ideologies. The other perspective within the debate is that the Japanese were exhausted and devastated already about to surrender, and the dropping of the bombs was a display for U.S. world power and dominance heading into the Cold War.”

When the team traveled to Japan, they immersed themselves in the legacy of the nuclear bombs and the complexity and depth of the aftermath. In partnership with Weber State University, they led a demonstration debate for students at Aichi University in Nagoya, Japan. They also spent time with hibakusha, survivors of the attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

“We had conversations with hibakusha Mito Kosei, an in utero survivor of the bombing of Hiroshima, members of Nihon Hidankyo, a confederation of A- and H- bomb sufferers, and Nobel Laureate Satoshi Tanaka-san. We talked about nuclear weapons, including discussions surrounding their experiences as survivors, the legacies of these weapons, and nuclear policy.” said Halpin.

The hibakusha we met with were given very little information about how the radiation they were exposed to would affect their children,” said Halpin, “Because the little information known at the time about the effects of radiation on the human body and future generations was wrought with propaganda and secrecy, the Japanese public and hibakusha faced great uncertainty about their health and stigma as a result of the uncertainty and lack of understanding of the lasting effects. One of the hibakusha we met with had eight types of cancer and many surgeries.”

The students were in Japan in June of 2025 when the bombing of Iranian nuclear sites began. 

Halpin felt the situation was close to home.

“Being in Japan forced us to see that moment the bombs dropped in Japan and draw those parallels with another war starting, and it gave us a perspective that these things we normally compartmentalize deeply affect people around the world,” she said.

As for solutions, these women see debate as the path forward to solve conflict and prevent more of it. 

“Debate isn’t about having two sides of an issue fight and then agree to one side,” Eckel said. “It’s about finding understanding between those two opposing viewpoints.”

“Understanding is where we connect the human experience and find that understanding that makes the world better,” Halpin said.

WWU Debate is currently exploring the history and policy of arms sales in the United States.

Go here to learn more about Debate at WWU. 

Frances Badgett works for the Office of Communications at WWU.