King’s Debate Society Breaks Records During Season Opener at Bard College

NEW YORK CITY – September 23, 2015 – The King’s Debate Society season began on September 19-20, 2015, at the Bard College Invitational, and KDS brought nine teams and seven judges—the largest group the Society has ever brought to a season opener, and one of the largest groups brought to a debate tournament in the Society’s history. Of the King’s debaters, sixteen had never competed at a college debate tournament before. With only two weeks of practice under their belts, the team debated a wide range of topics, such as whether or not all European nations should set quotas distributing refugees, if “hacktivism” has done more harm than good, and if victims of natural disasters should be able to sue their governments for negligence.

The debaters proved to be up to the challenge. Of the six novice teams, Kaitlyn Hasegawa ’19 and Benjamin Sanders ’18 claimed 9th place novice team, and Kyle Kendrick ’19 and Philip Reeves ’19 claimed 6th.  Grace Karls ’19 and Jared Neikirk ’19, and Amos Chapman ’18 and Trivette Knowles ’18 placed in the top four, qualifying for the novice final. In the round, they debated whether or not employers should have access to prospective employees’ criminal records, and, after a spirited debate, Chapman and Knowles won the round, becoming the novice champions of the tournament.

Debate Society President Jonah Ortiz ’17 and his partner, Lucy LeFever ’16, ended the preliminary rounds as the 2nd seed out of 88 teams. Novice team Audrey Cooper ’19 and Grayson Logue ’19 finished fifteenth, qualifying for the open elimination rounds. The two King’s teams faced off against each other, along with teams from Vermont and Cornell, in the quarterfinal debate. They debated whether or not Bollywood actors should endorse skin lightening products, and if people should change their skin color in order to advance themselves in society.

“Debating rounds about refugees, convicts, oppressed minorities, and victims of natural disasters remind us that debates are ultimately about people,” said Jonah Ortiz. “Beyond the trophies and speeches, when we debate, we’re really just asking how we can make this world better for the people who live in it. Our novices got to experience that for the first time this weekend, and with our strong showing, I believe that we have a lot to look forward to this year.”

On October 2-4, King’s will be competing at the Yale Inter-Varsity debate tournament. Later this semester, King’s will be sending teams to tournaments at Hart House I.V. in Toronto and the Huber Debates at the University of Vermont. Ortiz and LeFever will be competing in the world championship this December in Greece.

Also in attendance were Rachel Cooley ’19, Onassis Puente ’19, Campbell Sinnett’18, Abby Poit ’16, Lance Gocke ’19, Kyle Trivanovich ’17, Christian Tegge ’17, Serenity Richardson ’16, Mary-Ellen Souza ’19, Elon Wood ’18, Anastasia Neishtadt ’19.