by Dora Galván
Staff Writer
The Forensics Department, along with its debaters, will host a fundraising speech night titled “From This Side of the Planet” April 17-19 in Founders Hall.
“It’s going to be a combination of drama, comedy and intellectual discussion,” said Justin Jones-Rodriguez, associate director of forensics. “It’s also a showcase of what we do.”
The fundraiser will help the department in sending more teams to the World Debating Championships and other competitive tournaments throughout the world.
“We have a pretty good budget but as our team gets more and more competitive we need more money,” said Jones-Rodriguez.
Jones-Rodriguez also emphasized that “From This Side of the Planet” will be a mode to expose the talents and strengths of internationally acclaimed debaters Ryan Knowles and Stefan Chacon.
Jones-Rodriguez said “From This Side of the Planet” is a way to “share what we do with the La Verne community because people don’t know and think that we’re all about debate and we’re not. We do a lot of theatrical blasphemy, hilarious stuff.”
“The reason we’re calling it, ‘From This Side of the Planet,’ is because we are literally the top-ranked debate team in this hemisphere, and we’re not shy about sharing our success, because it was very hard to get there,” said Jones-Rodriguez.
Tickets for the fundraiser will be sold in advance, and can be obtained at the Forensics office, the University of La Verne Bookstore or from any debater. The cost is $5 per person.
