MIT team debates MCI Norfolk inmates on the opioid epidemic, 2017
MIT’s debate team faced off against the team of Massachusetts Correctional Institution — Norfolk, a medium-security prison, about the opioid crisis, 23 September 2017.
On September 23, 2017, MIT's debate team competed against the team of Massachusetts Correctional Institution — Norfolk, the medium-security prison where Malcom served time for robbery in the late 1940s:
Malcolm X is Norfolk Prison’s most famous former inmate...his experiences with the Norfolk Debating Society helped him to mature into one of the most influential public speakers of the twentieth century. He credited Norfolk Prison Debating Society as his "baptism into public speaking.”
T. Ehrenbold, J. Gertner, J. Muttitt, and M. Tannetta, "Malcolm X in the Norfolk Debating Society," States of Incarceration
The Norfolk Prison Debating Society disbanded in 1966, with 144 wins and 8 losses. Since re-forming in 2016, it has competed against teams from Boston College, Harvard, and MIT, among others. The MIT Prison Initiative, which offers the opportunity for both incarcerated students and MIT students to take classes in prison, organized the 2017 MIT-Norfolk debate, whose the theme was the opioid crisis:
MCI Norfolk extended the invitation to debate, and MIT accepted. The Norfolk team was assigned to support the stance, and the MIT team to oppose it.The MIT side brought up pros of opioid development, including fostering innovation and providing pain relief. Daniel, a debater on the Norfolk team, started running a “calculation” on the crimes of pharmaceutical companies. “Please forgive me if I’m a little slow in my tabulation –– it’s not like I went to MIT or anything,” he said. “I know we’re from MIT, but I promise you, not everything we say is just numbers,” Lily Jordan ’19, a debater on the MIT team, said, and was met with laughs in the audience.
On May 2, 1937, MIT was the first team to debate MCI Norfolk’s debating society, according to an article in the Harvard Crimson, as well as Natasha Haverty, an NPR journalist writing a book about the prison’s debate team. The March 15, 1938 edition of The Tech features coverage of the second ever MIT-Norfolk debate.
MIT’s debate team won by a few points, due to disqualification of one Norfolk speaker who went overtime. However, the MIT team shared the sentiment that they would have rather won without the technicality.
From "MIT team debates MCI Norfolk inmates on the opioid epidemic" by Anshula Ghandi, The Tech, 12 October 2017