Umphrey Lee room 241 brimmed with excitement Wednesday, Aug. 28 as a packed audience chattered about the upcoming debate.

The debate, a passionate exchange of ideas and experiences between the SMU team and its rival Wiley College, impressed the crowd with cheers and
“uh huuuuhs!”.

Victory ultimately chose Wiley with a dominating 3-0.

Dr. Ben Voth, director of debate at SMU, has other things on his mind than victory though.

“Today, August 28th, is an important day to remember that words matter,” Dr. Voth said.

The date he’s referring to commemorates the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, a battle for civil rights won by rhetoric.

It’s also a chance to shine a light on one of Voth’s personal heroes – James L. Farmer, Jr.

Many readers will recognize Farmer as the unsure teen prodigy played by Denzel Whitaker in the 2007 film “The Great Debaters.”

The real Farmer played a critical role in the success of the Civil Rights Movement.

Among his achievements, Farmer created the Congress of Racial Equality and helped organize events like the freedom bus rides in the South.

If Martin Luther King, Jr. is the “head” of the Civil Rights Movement, Farmer acted as its “hands and feet,” Voth said.

“He did the key components that ended segregation in the United States.”

Farmer’s longtime commitment to civil rights is remarkable, considering his start as the captain of the Wiley College debate team at 14.

Farmer himself underscores the power of words to affect change.

“If a person is going to change the world, they have to be a debater,” Voth said.

Today, most debates occur online. Readers are likely familiar with the mud-slinging battlegrounds of comments sections. The key difference here is face time, something unavoidable for activists like Farmer.

“There is something important about face-to-face and the word becoming flesh as opposed to the Internet,” Voth said.

Debates like this one are hoped to inform and inspire young people into engaging the world around them head-on.

The topic of the debate — “America is faltering on MLK’s dream in 2013” — has already affected one person in the audience.

“It kind of pissed me off to see where we are,” Jamal Mack, a junior studying civil entrepreneurship at Paul Quinn College, said.

Controversies like the New York City “stop and frisk” law and the death of Travyon Martin motivate Mack to change the world.

“It helps me work harder to accomplish the dream and make it a reality,” Mack said.

Christopher Medina, director of forensics and QEP at Wiley College, is glad for another rewarding debate with SMU.

“This was an amazing opportunity for discourse. A true celebration of where we’ve come,” Medina said.

Medina, however, is quick to emphasize his team’s argument.

“Our debaters are right,” Medina said. “We have not achieved the dream, and must continue to [fight for it].”

This is the fourth debate between SMU and Wiley College. Their first debate occurred in 2009 on SMU’s campus.