On the evening of Wednesday, February 28, community members gathered in the Faculty Room to watch the school’s first “Student Open Discourse Forum,” organized by the Democrats, Republicans, and the Political Union Clubs. 

Co-head of the Republicans club, Meilan Antonucci ’24, and co-head of the Democrats club, Will Trachsel ’24, debated U.S. immigration policy. 

Student heads of the school’s political groups began discussing ways to encourage open political discussion across campus with Mr. Rick Hazelton, director of the center for global understanding and independent thinking, in the spring of 2023. They also obtained approval from Mr. Andrew D’Ambrosio, dean of student life, and Mr. Craig Bradley, head of school, before moving forward with their plans. 

Antonucci said, “I remember campus, especially when I was an underclassman, as a very divisive place where it was difficult to share your political views. With the election season upon us, we wanted to create a space for students to openly disagree. As upperclassmen, we thought it was important to set an example of this happening in a respectful way through the discourse forum.” 

After considering a variety of topics, the leaders of the Democrats, Republicans, and Political Union clubs decided on the topic of immigration. Trachsel said, “With recent surges of immigration in the U.S and a lot of people calling for change surrounding the issue, we knew this discussion would interest the community.” 

Antonucci said, “The topic of immigration had the right mix of being a personal issue for people but also something that we could talk about in a healthy and productive manner.”

Wednesday’s debate was divided into two discussions on the issues of the U.S Southern Border and undocumented immigrants within the country. Each sub-debate commenced with background information provided by Matias Acevedo ’24 and Chris Mitchell ’24. 

Antonucci and Trachel then debated and answered questions from the moderators, such as, “Do you agree with the breaking up of families at the U.S Southern Border?” and “What do you make of the asylum process/asylum seekers?” 

Students had the opportunity to ask the debaters questions relating to the topic or their responses after hearing both viewpoints. 

Students from all four grade levels attended the debate. Arielle Sibley-Grice ’26 said, “The discussion was very professional and well-organized. I thought it was a great example of what respectful political discourse should look like on campus. The opening information was particularly helpful, and I really liked the live Q&A as students could watch and engage themselves.” 

The political organizations plan to host more Open Discourse Forums. They are currently planning two more before the end of the year.