When Chris Loghry was earning his master’s degree in communication in 2016, his primary goal was to become the debate director for Emporia State. Later that year, he got the job.
“When they hired me, I told them, ‘A lot of people want a job. I want this job,’” Loghry said. “I was fortunate enough to get it.”
On Sept. 15, Loghry was one of 33 faculty members informed of their dismissal from the university effective in May following the Kansas Board of Regents passing a framework that would allow faculty dismissal regardless of tenured status.
Gwen Larson, director of media relations at ESU, didn’t respond to the email requesting for administration comment.
“It’s sad in a regard because I could have done a lot of other things,” Loghry said. “But this is what I wanted to do, and it’s a real, real bummer that they’re taking it away from me.”
ESU debate began in 1874, according to the ESU website, predating even the first sandlot football games at ESU, then called the Kansas State Normal School. In the 2012-2013 academic year, alumni Elijah Smith and Ryan Wash helped ESU make debate history as the first university to “unite the crowns” and win the The Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) and National Debate Tournament championships in the same year.
With his dismissal, Loghry said he’s not only losing his job but losing the community he’s lived in and loved nearly the entirety of his adult life.
“I was really excited that I could continue to be part of the legacy in Emporia and Emporia State University, really make that my home,” Loghry said. “And now I have to try to figure out something else, to go somewhere else. They kind of took that away from me. I don’t know what else I could or would do in Emporia if it wasn’t work at the University and coach the debate team.”
While he doesn’t yet have a plan for what he will do after May, he says it is “extremely likely” it will not include staying in Emporia.
“Loghry is both one of the most intelligent people I’ve known and the most caring,” said Savana Reed-Valizan, a sophomore history major and member of ESU debate who will be transferring after this year due to the program’s discontinuance. “He is an asset to not only the school but to the community.”
Both Reed-Valizan and Squid Monteith, 2020 ESU graduate and debate alum, attested to Loghry’s love for Emporia and his students.
When Monteith was looking at potential universities to attend, his one concern was being a part of the debate team, leading him to ESU and Loghry in particular.
“A lot of the conversations I had with him made me just feel safer in a new institution,” Monteith said. “He was very open to some of the concerns I had, he had excellent advice, and ultimately, when I stepped foot on campus as an actual student, I felt comfortable knowing that I have a place to go to if I feel uncomfortable elsewhere.”
Reed-Valizan also credits her success in debate to Loghry, saying debate would not be the same without him.
“The thing that I was concerned about going into college is that debate is a really, really stressful activity,” Reed-Valizan said. “Coaches can either make that worse or make that better, and I think that Loghry makes it a pleasant experience by first making sure that the things that we do in debate are for fun as much as they are for wins.”
Loghry knows first-hand what it is like to be altered by debate, saying that without it, he would have never left his small town in Wyoming and gone to college.
“My mom made me do debate in high school,” Loghry said. “I was getting in a little bit of trouble, and she’s like, ‘You have to do extracurriculars, and you’re gonna do debate.’ She made me do it. I fell in love immediately, and then I was like, well, I gotta keep doing this, and the only way to keep doing it is to go to college.”
Now, decades later and years after doing his part to expand the legacy of ESU debate, Loghry has no choice but leave Emporia debate behind.
When Loghry walked into the Earl Center to be dismissed after not being told what the meeting was about, he was greeted by two people he had never met.
“It was hilarious to me because they’re saying all this stuff like ‘We know that you’re a great and valued instructor’ or whatever,” Loghry said. “You don’t know me. You don’t know who I am. I’ve never said two words to you.”
In the meeting, he was told he was free to take that day and the next one off, an offer he declined as there was a debate tournament the following day.
“I was so goddamn busy that day; I didn’t have time to be fired,” he said.
He immediately told his students what happened and coached them through the tournament that weekend as the news hung over them like a dark cloud, he said.
“We were in the van the day after we found out he got fired,” Reed-Valizan said. “It was just obvious that everyone in the car was the most concerned about him, obviously, but he wouldn’t talk about that at all. He was just like, ‘We will make sure that you have your season,’ and was just very concerned about the debate team.”
While Loghry said the outpouring of support from the community has been immense, he still doesn’t feel there is much hope for saving ESU’s debate program.
“The support has been overwhelming in a good way,” Loghry said. “And I fear that there’s literally nothing to be done because the money’s already been spent.”
With the university announcing reinvestments in different departments, Loghry asks for the university to show where the money saved by terminating debate is going, saying the students, faculty and community “deserve answers.”
Sarah Spicer advises The Bulletin on stories about Emporia State’s framework to dismiss employees.
Sam Bailey is writing stories from the faculty perspective. Advocacy journalism upholds all other ethics and standards of journalism, including accuracy, fairness and independence, while accommodating dissenting views and creating an inclusive platform for debate.