Katie Sullivan ’27
News Editor
On March 24, 2025, the Benedict Joseph Fenwick Debating Society hosted its third debate of the semester in the Levis Browsing Room in Dinand Library. The guest judges observing the debates were Holy Cross Professors John Bunke, Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, and Timothy Joseph, Professor of Classics and Director of Peace and Conflict Studies. Topics included whether the humanities are elitist and whether the United States should withdraw from the Middle East.
The prompts discussed are meant to represent relevant items of discussion. Previous topics have included whether teaching heresy undermines Catholic education, if diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in higher education should be abolished, and whether Climate Change is a First-World Problem. Executive Board Member and Treasurer for the Society, Nora Kelly ’27, discussed how topics are decided upon. “We typically come up with debate topics by meeting together and discussing some of the most pressing and challenging current news issues.” Focusing their prompts on “political, economic, philosophical Holy Cross-centric prompts.” Kelly went on to further state, “In terms of the prompts themselves, our goal is to have either word them in a way which deems them neutral or allows the underdog a bit of leverage.”
The first debate of the evening considered whether the humanities are elitist. The affirmative consisted of Madelyn Lazzara ‘28, Micheal Schwerdt ‘27 and Nicholas Gobo ‘28 argued in the affirmative. The negative included Ella Murray ‘27, Liam Murphy ‘25 and John Zimmerman ‘26.
Lazzara opened the debate by focusing the affirmative argument on how a privileged, powerful elite shapes the humanities. Schwerdt and Gobo echoed Lazzara’s argument, with Schwerdt emphasizing how humanities are inherently elitist due to history being driven by those of an elite background. The negative pushed back on this idea, saying the humanities aided in the reading and writing education. The negative focused their argument on the accessibility of the humanities to the masses, arguing a formal education is only one way to engage with the humanities citing examples of public libraries and watching movies.
Professor Joseph and Professor Bunke thanked both teams for discussing the issue and offered constructive criticism. For instance, Professor Bunke highlighted the lack of development on where the potential elitism might be coming from. The professors ultimately decided the negative won.
The second debate discussed the question on whether the US should withdraw from the Middle East. The affirmative consisted of Jack Drobny ‘27, Elliott Stalls ‘28 and Ian Sykes ‘28. The negative included Daniel Capobianco ‘25, Margaret Baughman ’27 and Anthony Mann ’26.
Drobny started the second topic by stating the total cost, eight trillion dollars, that the United States has spent on wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond, leading into the affirmative positioning their argument around the belief that the United States does not need to send physical or financial aid to assert dominance within the Middle East. Capobianco opened the negative’s argument by posing the question, “If you saw an old woman getting mugged in the street, would you help her?” using the analogy to focus their argument around the humanitarian nature of the United States intervention and its responsibility to foreign allies.
Professor Joseph and Professor Bunke thanked both sides for their efforts, while suggesting that the teams could have clarified the nature of their argument. Additionally, Professor Joseph spoke of his appreciation for both sides considering the moral implication of the argument. The evening concluded with Professor Joseph using the Holy Cross phrase “To be patient with ambiguity” to declare no clear winner.
As the spring semester starts to wind down, the B.J.F. Society plans to host their final event on April 7th, with prompts still to be determined. For more information, follow the B.J.F. Society on Instagram at thebjfsociety or reach out via email at bjfdebatingsociety@g.holycross.edu
Featured image courtesy of the B.J.F. Society
Web Edited by Zexuan Qu ’28
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