Daytona State College made its debut at the Grand Debate on November 6th, sending two student debaters and one alternate to compete against peers from across the state of Florida.
Hosted by the Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions at St Petersburg College, “The event has been taking place at St. Petersburg College since 2019. It started as an event within the St. Petersburg College campuses but has now been expanded to invite debaters from other state colleges as well,” said DSC Professor Faith Bryant.
She added, “this year’s lineup featured teams from Palm Beach State, Eastern Florida State, Hillsborough, Daytona State, and the host college, St. Petersburg.”
DSC’s team included Lucero Lara Martinez and Antonio Valley, with Austin Carey serving as alternate. The debate began at 5:30 p.m. According to club advisor Professor Bryant, both Valley and Martinez represented DSC well and received many compliments from attendees.
The topic was whether the government should regulate social media content policies, and Valley was assigned to argue in favor of regulation.
His opponent focused on First Amendment protections, and warning that government control could lead to censorship and limit free speech.
“The bulk of her argument was that this would turn us into a fascist state or a communist state,” Valley said. “You can’t criticize the government anymore, it’s limiting your freedom of speech.”
Each round gave debaters two minutes to present their case and two one-minute rebuttals.
“One thing I was very impressed with is how some people managed to fit in tons of statistics,” Valley said. “There were some people, like the first and second place winners, who were actually debating each other, and they managed to fit in like ten each during their whole time.” Valley added, “were all like man this is like Mike Tyson and I don’t know, prime Muhammad Ali going at it, because one of them would cite something and then the other person would immediately swing back with some other statistic.”
Valley placed third and received a $250 prize. He said his delivery helped him stand out despite having fewer sources than other competitors.
Valley has been invited to debate at the state capitol in February in front of the governor and state legislators.
“My sources were my weakest point. I mean I had the least out of everybody, which is why I was so surprised I even made it to 3rd place,” he said. “The overwhelming thing, was that I presented very well, and I was told that the bulk of my points came from my being so relaxed and conversational.”