The West Virginia University Debate Team and the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences will host the annual John A. Jacobsohn Memorial Mountaineer Classic Debate Tournament this weekend. The tournament is sanctioned by both the Cross Examination Debate Association and the American Debate Association.

Each year a new subject is chosen as the debate topic for collegiate teams nationwide to research and discuss. This years topic is the national policy debate resolution:The U.S. Federal Government should adopt an energy policy requiring a substantial reduction in the total non governmental use of fossil fuels.Students participating in the tournament must be prepared to debate either for or against the statement.

Were very excited to have debaters and coaches coming to WVU from as far away as Florida, Georgia and Wisconsin,said Neil Berch, faculty adviser and an associate professor of political science.Its a great tribute to John Jacobsohns memory, and to the WVU debate program.

All of the participants will gather Sunday, Feb. 6, at 10:45 a.m. in Room 459 of the College of Business and Economics Building for the presentation of individual speaker awards and the announcement of qualifying teams for the final debates, which will take place following the ceremony.

The tournament is named in memory of the WVU Debate Teams long time adviser, John Jacobsohn, a faculty member in the Department of Political Science who taught courses in Latin American politics and government, international law and international human rights. He authored several articles for academic journals and a book,Introduction to Political Science,published in 1997. Jacobsohn served as the coach of the WVU Debate Team from 1990 until his death in 1997.

Professor Jacobsohn would be pleased to see all the education going on in his name,Berch said.