Past Bughouse Square Debates
Kevin Coval accepting the 2017 John Peter Altgeld Freedom of Speech Award
Darryl Holliday and Mary Wisniewski, 2017 Main Debate
Bughouse Square Heckler, 2010
Altgeld Award Winner Kartemquin Films (Gordon Quinn and Justine Nagan accepting), 2010
Main Debate Reenactment, Lincoln and Douglas Debates, 2009
Bughouse Square Debater Tom Tresser, 2009
Bughouse Square Protester, 2009
Former Dill Pickle Winner and Bughouse Square Debater Rob Sherman, 2009
Main Debaters John A. Fritchey and Joseph A. Morris on Choosing the President by National Popular Vote, 2008
Altgeld Award Winner Dawn Sherman and Newberry President David Spadafora, 2008
Bughouse Square Debater Mike Ervin, 2008
Bughouse Square Debater Kelly Underman, 2008
Environmental Encroachment Marching Band, Bughouse Square Debates, 2008
Studs Terkel, Bughouse Square Debates, 1980s
Bughouse Square Heckler, 1989
Bughouse Square Debater Andy Arellano, 1986
“Dust off your old soapbox,” 1986
Bughouse 2021: Out of the Closets and Into the Streets
Bughouse 2021 featured a virtual discussion about the origins of Chicago’s Pride Parade, its connection to Bughouse Square—right across from the Newberry—and the history of LGBTQ+ culture in Chicago during the 1970s.
Bughouse 2020
Bughouse 2020, hosted by the Newberry Library and co-sponsored by the Society of Smallness, GCE Lab School, and the Washington Square Park Advisory Council, was held virtually the afternoon of July 22.
Throughout the afternoon, a series of speakers got on their virtual soapboxes to hold forth on the theme of VOTING.
The 2019 Bughouse Square Debates
Welcome and Introduction: Mayor Lori Lightfoot
The Main Presentation: Natalie Y. Moore, South Side Reporter, WBEZ Chicago, and Charles Whitaker, Dean and Professor, Medill School, Northwestern University, The Legacies of 1919
Algeld Freedom of Speech Award: Derrick Blakley, longtime broadcast and print journalist, recently retired from CBS 2 Chicago
Dill Pickle Champion Soapbox Winner: Scott Priz, Trump’s Camps Are Not What We Have to Be
The 2018 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Winifred Curran, DePaul’s Sustainable Urban Development Program, and Ghian Foreman, Greater Southwest Development Corporation, Neighborhood Improvement, or Gentrification?
Algeld Freedom of Speech Award: President Robert Zimmer, on behalf of the University of Chicago
Dill Pickle Champion Soapbox Winner: Geoffrey Cubbage The Dirtiest Election in Cook County: Where Sewage and Politics Intersect
The 2017 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Darryl Holliday, City Bureau, and Mary Wisniewski, Chicago Tribune, What Constitutes Legitimate Journalism in a Hyper-Connected World?
Algeld Freedom of Speech Award: Kevin Coval, Young Chicago Authors
Dill Pickle Champion Soapbox Winner: Ada Cheng, Alien Forever?! The Institutionalization of the Alien Status among Naturalized Citizens
The 2016 Bughouse Square Debates
PDF of Program
PDF of QR Codes to Studs Terkel Radio Archive Selections
The Main Debate: John Nothdurft, Heartland Institute, and Tom Tresser, CivicLab activist, Is Chicago Broke? Solving the City’s Budgetary Woes
Algeld Freedom of Speech Award: WITNESS
Dill Pickle Champion Soapbox Winner: Kate Duva, Power to the People Who Care: A Warrior Mama’s Manifesto
The 2015 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Troy LaRaviere, Chicago Public Schools, and Bruno Behrend, the Heartland Institute, Public or Private? What Should Be the Future of Public Education in Chicago?
Altgeld Freedom of Speech Award: Wendy Kaminer
Dill Pickle Champion Soapbox Winner: Rachel Goodstein, Tough Talk for Tough Times in the Toddling Town: Serious Solutions for the Second City’s Crises
The 2014 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Presentation: Don Washington, The Mayoral Tutorial
Altgeld Freedom of Speech Award: Journalists Mick Dumke and Ben Joravsky
Dill Pickle Champion Soapbox Winner: Erwin Lutzer, “The Supremacy of Jesus”
The 2013 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Lester Munson, ESPN.com, vs. Tom Tresser, Civic Activist, How Much Is It Worth to the City to Keep the Chicago Cubs?
Altgeld Freedom of Speech Award: Chicago Students Organizing to Save Our Schools, represented by Israel Munoz, Clementine Freye, and Jamie Leann.
Dill Pickle Champion Soapbox Winner: Enrique Perez, “Why Rahm is Unbeatable!”
The 2012 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Jon Anderson, Occupy Chicago, vs. Eric Kohn, Chicago Tea Party, Who’s to Blame for the Great Recession, Big Government or Big Business?
Altgeld Award Winner: Laurie Jo Reynolds
Dill Pickle Champion Soapbox Winner: Sam Singleton Atheist Evangelist, An Appreciation of Appreciation
The 2011 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Kenzo Shibata, Chicago Teachers Union vs. Richard Lorenc, Chair of the Chicago Chapter of America’s Future Foundation, Collective Bargaining and the Public Sector: Is collective bargaining compatible with public service?
Altgeld Award Winner: Leslie F. Orear
Dill Pickle Winners: Seth Dodson and Kellen Alexander, Screaming Louder: The Power of Volume in Modern Debate
The 2010 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Otis McDonald, plaintiff in McDonald et al. v. City of Chicago, Illinois, et al. vs. Garrett Evans, Survivor of the 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre, Gun Control in the City
Altgeld Award Winner: Kartemquin Films
Dill Pickle Winners: Pam Selman and Evan Ribot, Students are Americans, Too!
Listen to highlights of the Debates recorded by WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified
Watch a video created by Kartemquin Films
The 2009 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: In honor of the Lincoln Bicentennial, the Bughouse Main Debate was a reenactment of the famous 1858 Lincoln-Douglas Debates, featuring Michael Krebs as Abraham Lincoln and Larry Diemer as Stephen Douglas
Altgeld Award Winner: Barbara Thill
Dill Pickle Winner: Tom Tresser, Chicago 2016 Olympics: Biggest Disaster to Hit Chicago Since the Great Fire!
Listen to highlights of the Debates courtesy of WBEZ 91.5 Chicago Amplified
The 2008 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: John A. Fritchey, Representative for the 11th District of the Illinois General Assembly, vs. Joseph A. Morris, a lawyer and member of the Bars of the Supreme Court of the United States and the Supreme Court of Illinois, That the American People Should Choose the President by National Popular Vote
Altgeld Award Winner: Dawn Sherman
Listen to highlights of the Debates recorded by WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified
The 2007 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Voter Slam on Immigration, hosted by Marj Halperin of the Bread and Butter Forum
Altgeld Award Winner: Jorge Mujica
The 2006 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: John H. Cox, Chicago native and 2008 Republican candidate for President, vs. Michael Silverstein, University of Chicago professor of anthropology, linguistics, and psychology, Is American democracy exportable as U.S. foreign policy? (Can it be imported to Cook County?)
Altgeld Award Winner: The American Library Association
The 2005 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Christopher F.H. Robling, former news anchor and talk show host on WMAQ and WBEZ, vs. Marilyn Katz, founder and president of MK Communications, Inc., Is the U.S. on the road to real national security?
Altgeld Award Winner: Seymour Simon
The 2004 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Joseph A. Morris, President of the Lincoln Legal Foundation and Director of the American Conservative Union, vs. John A. Knight, Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois Lesbian and Gay Rights/AIDS Project, Is same-sex marriage un-American?
Altgeld Award Winner: Dr. Quentin Young
Read the speech given by Seymour Simon in honor of Altgeld Winner Dr. Quentin Young
The 2003 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: John E. McNeal, former Assistant Illinois Attorney General, vs. Michael Silverstein, University of Chicago professor of anthropology, linguistics, and psychology, Are we safer with fewer civil liberties?
Altgeld Award Winner: Governor George Ryan
Read Governor Ryan’s thank you note to Bughouse Square Committe Chair Diane Ciral
The 2002 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Dr. Quentin Young, past President of the American Public Health Association, vs. Joseph A. Morris, President of the Lincoln Legal Foundation and Director of the American Conservative Union, Is corporate healthcare killing you?
Altgeld Award Winner: Studs Terkel
The 2001 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Reverend Eugene Winkler, Senior Pastor of the Chicago Temple/First United Methodist Church, vs. Kenan Heise, writer and award-winning journalist for the Chicago Tribune, Is there a God?
Altgeld Award Winner: Lila Weinberg
Read Lila Weinberg’s thank you note to the Bughouse Square Committee
The 2000 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Seymour Simon, former Illinois Supreme Court Justice, vs. Joseph A. Morris, President of the Lincoln Legal Foundation, Should capital punishment be abolished in America?
The 1999 Bughouse Square Debates
Read an invitation from Bughouse Square Committee Chair Diane Ciral to Justice R. Eugene Pincham, asking him to be a Bughouse Main Debater and his reply
The 1998 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: J. Quinn Brisben, 1992 Socialist Party candidate for President, vs. Joseph Morris, Lincoln Legal Foundation, Karl Marx: Dead or Alive?
The 1997 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Michael Silverstein, University of Chicago professor of anthropology, vs. Leon Todd, Director of the Milwaukee School Board, Multiculturalism: Ebonics or Moronics?
The 1996 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Jacky Grimshaw, Center for Neighborhood Technologies and Political Activist vs. Joe Morris, Lincoln Legal Foundation, Dole: Do we Deserve Him? Who Should Lead the Country?
In 1996, Washington Square Park was rededicated with a plaque acknowledging it as a center of free speech known as Bughouse Square. Read correspondence about the new plaque, placed in conjunction by the Newberry Library and the Chicago Park District
The 1995 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: James Wall, President of the Christian Century Foundation and Editor of Christian Century vs. Larry Horist, President of Thomas & Joyce, Inc. and Chairman of the Foundation for Research, Education and Empowerment, The Contract For or On America
Read a note from Bughouse Square Debater Justice R. Eugene Pincham to the Bughouse Square Debates Committee
The 1994 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Susan Catania, former State Representative vs. Mary Anne Hackett, member of Concerned Women of America, Feminism: A Mystique or a Mistake?
The 1993 Bughouse Square Debates
The Main Debate: Studs Terkel vs. Tom Roeser, The Sixties: A Dream or a Nightmare?
See the official Pickle Nickle of Bughouse Square