Arts 150, filling up fast

Steve Johnson welcomes a crowd of 350 at Arts 150.

The slushy parking lot is getting full, folks are standing at the parking kiosk to buy their tickets, and the auditorium is loading up! Steve Johnson is welcoming the crowd.

When public discourse is as rocky as ours is today, Johnson hopes debate skills will help us think more critically about public issues.

He is introducing the motion: This house would abolish additional penalties for crimes deemed to be hate crimes.

Stanford will argue in defense of  adding penalties for hate crimes. The UAA team has perhaps the more uphill battle of arguing that there should not be additional penalties for hate crimes.

And the debate begins.