Sookmyung Debate Competition; Annual Party Full of Critical Thoughts

Annually each May, Sookmyung Women’s University hosts a debate contest.  This year marked the 15th Annual Sookmyung Debate Competition.  The topic of this year’s debate was ‘Artificial intelligence is disastrous for the future.’  The topic is relevant these days with the recent Alpha-go and Sookmyung’s educational direction; i.e., its newly founded college of engineering, and its selections by PRogram for Industrial needs-Matched Education (PRIME) business earlier this year.  Initial team submissions were received and evaluated from May 2nd to 9th online.  From these applicants, a final 32 team competitor roaster was created.  Also, applicants were limited to students in their 8th semester at university and teams were limited to 3 members per team.  On May 11th, an information session was held in Myungshin Building for competitors.  A tournament was held for the 32 competing teams on May 21st in Myungshin Building.  Unfortunately, few students came out to support the competitors.  As a result, the scale of the debate competition was smaller than in previous years.  Seo Jeonghyeok, professor in charge of the debate competition, said, “The Sookmyung Debate Competition has a long a deep tradition.  I hope that in years to come, the debate competition would make non-subject activities to increase in our university.”