The Goldfarb Center organizes the William R. and Linda K. Cotter Debate Series, bringing to campus experts who debate pressing contemporary issues such as the privatization of social security, anti-terrorism tactics, and immigration policy.
Previous Cotter Debates include (listed in reverse chronological order):
Foreign Aid and the Environment (Nov. 10, 2011)
Nigel Purvis, president, Climate Advisers and nonresident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution
James Roberts, research fellow for Economic Freedom and Growth, The Heritage Foundation
Social Security Financing for the Future (Apr. 3, 2011)
Henry Aaron, senior fellow and Bruce and Virginia MacLaury Chair in Economic Studies, The Brookings Institution
Stuart Butler, distinguished fellow and director, Center for Innovation Policy, The Heritage Foundation
The Amethyst Initiative: The Legal Drinking Age in America (Oct. 29, 2009)
David Rosenbloom, president and CEO, National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Colubmia University
John McCardel, president, Choose Responsbility
Whose Interests Does Academic Freedom Protect in the Age of the Internet? The Individual or the Institution? (Apr. 27, 2008)
Robert O'Neil, director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression at the University of Virginia, and former president of the University of Virginia and the University of Wisconsin
William L. Thro, university counsel and assistant professor of government at Christopher Newport University, and former solicitor general of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Healthcare Reform in America (Apr. 27, 2008)
Michael F. Cannon, director of health studies at the Cato Institute
Dr. Hugh Waters, associate professor of international health development, Johns Hopkins Blomberg School of Public Health
Urban Transportation Policy (Oct. 8, 2007)
Todd Littman, director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Protection of Free Expression and an authority on the 1st Amendment.
Sam Staley, university council and assistant professor of government at Christopher Newport University
The People, The President and The War: Who is in Charge? (Nov. 29, 2006)
Jeff Selinger, Ph.D. candidate in government, Cornell University
Chris Appel '07 and Ralph Kettell '07, Colby College
Maine Ballot Question I: "Do you want to reject the new law that would protect people from discrimination in employment, housing, education, public accommodations and credit based on their sexual orientation?" (Nov. 2, 2005)
Michael Health, Maine Christian Civic League
Ted O'Meara, Maine Won't Discriminate
Balance Between Effective Policy and Human Rights Concerns When Battling Terrorism (Apr. 14, 2005)
Rand Beers, former White House counter-terrorism adviser
Margaret Crahan, Dorothy Epstein Professor of Latin American History at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York.
Jack Devine, Center Intelligence Agency (ret.)
Joseph Saunders, deputy program director, Human Rights Watch
Privatization of Social Security (Apr. 3, 2005)
Laurence Kotlikoff, professor of economics, Boston University
Steven A. Sass, associate director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and author of The Promise of Private Pensions (Harvard University Press, 1997)
Please contact Professor John Turner with ideas for future debates. 
