MONMOUTH, Ill. — Debaters from Oxford University will visit Monmouth March 16-17 to visit classes, conduct exhibitions and compete in a public debate on March 17 at 6:30 p.m. in the Barnes Electronic Classroom in Hewes Library.

“The Oxford Union is regarded as the most famous debating society in the world,” said Ron Bronson, founder of Scotspeak!, Monmouth College’s academic and forensics society, who said that the visit to Monmouth is part of their tour of the U.S. that also includes Bates College in Maine and the University of Virginia.

Founded in 1823 as an arena for the free exchange of ideas among students, the Oxford Union became the forum for political debate at the university. Many British prime ministers have served as past presidents of the Oxford Union, and such world figures as Robert F. Kennedy, Mother Theresa, Yasser Arafat, Madeline Albright and Nelson Mandela have addressed its members.

Debate began at Monmouth in 1868. In the 1940s, Monmouth’s debate program was one of the best in the nation, and this legacy of excellence continued into the 1960s. Since the revival of academic competitions at the college in 2002, Monmouth has participated in parliamentary debate, speech, Model United Nations, Academic Quiz Bowl and Model Illinois Government.

This is not the first time Monmouth has played host to a group of British debaters. In 1925, Cambridge University competed against Monmouth students.

Competing for Oxford is a formidable team that includes Thomas Goodhead, World Masters debating champion; Nicholas Sloboda, 15th place speaker at the 2004 Worlds in Singapore; Edward Tomlinson, president of the Oxford Debate Union; and Lucinda Orr, former Debater of the Year at the Oxford Union and a postgraduate student in American Foreign Policy at Oxford.

Monmouth’s competitors in the Wednesday evening debate will be Bronson, a junior from Plainfield, N.J.; Josh Sonnenburg, a sophomore from Portland, Ore.; and Brandie Miller, a sophomore from Milledgeville.