By Carly Watson
Michigan State University Debate participated in a public debate at CitizenDetroit’s Dinner and Dialogue event last week.
Eva Farber, economics freshman, and Piper Meloche, James Madison sophomore, represented MSU at the event. CitizenDetroit featured Farber and Meloche debating whether the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) millage should be renewed on the upcoming ballot.
Farber debated in favor of renewing the millage based on the intrinsic importance of art and the expansion of programing that the millage allows. Meloche debated against extending the millage because of the benefits from private funding for the DIA and the tradeoffs for families from increased property taxes.
Over 200 attended the event held at the IBEW Local Union 58 in Detroit. Other speakers at the event included Reggie Turner, Wayne County DIA Campaign Co-Chair, and Kevin Grand, a contributor at RightMI.
“We love having the opportunity to publicly debate issues that will be featured on the May ballot for voters in Detroit and the surrounding area. Debate is the perfect method to parse out all the different sides of an issue and our students worked hard to research whether the DIA millage should be extended,” said Carly Watson, MSU Debate Team Program and Events Coordinator.
The MSU Debate team is part of the Honors College.