“Coaching Debate in Prison: Education and Redemption” is the theme of the 2023 Pflaum Lecture. The event on Wednesday, March 8, features David Register, 2004 Emporia State alum, faculty fellow and director of debate for the Bard Prison Initiative.
Register began his teaching and coaching career at the University of Vermont, working with the Lawrence Debate Union and teaching public speaking. After traveling the world Register began teaching at New York’s Bard College in 2012.
At Bard, Register began working with the Bard Debate Union and teaching public speaking, and he also opted to teach for the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI). BPI is a college-in-prison program offering a high-quality liberal arts education to incarcerated individuals in New York. Register helped to found the BPI Debate Union at the Eastern New York Correctional Facility, creating a space for Bard students at Eastern to compete against students from other colleges and universities.
During his first years at BPI Register was part of a documentary series called College Behind Bars, executive produced by Ken Burns and directed by Lynn Novick. While filming the documentary in 2015, the BPI Debate Union defeated Harvard.
Register will be speaking about his time with the BPI Debate Union at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, in the Preston Family Room in the Memorial Union. The lecture is free and open to the public.
The Pflaum Lecture is presented by the Department of Communication and Theatre and is supported by the Performing Arts Board. It is held annually to honor the memory of Dr. George R.R. Pflaum who came to Kansas State Teacher’s College in 1923 and served on the faculty for more than 40 years. He was an active member of the Emporia community until his death in January 1977.