The 2017 Bughouse Square Debates

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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The Main Debate: Studs Terkel vs. Tom Roeser, The Sixties: A Dream or a Nightmare?

See the official Pickle Nickle of Bughouse Square