King’s Debate Society Competes at Yale

Three teams from the King’s Debate Society competed at Yale University from November 4-6, arguing  tough topics including the creation of an independent Kurdish state, whether religious leaders should publically endorse political candidates and policies, and if governments should nationalize credit ratings agencies. Over 180 teams were in attendance, including teams from universities in Canada and China.

“This was the fifth tournament I’ve attended this semester, and it had some of the most challenging debate topics that I’ve seen this fall,” said KDS President Audrey Cooper (’18). “Many rounds required specific knowledge about niche topics such as the militarization of Japan or the cultural relevance of repatriated artifacts and art. I was incredibly proud of our teams for their commitment before the tournament in preparing to debate such a wide range of topics.”

Every KDS student who attended the tournament chose a current event or key political issue to research, and wrote a brief about the subject which they shared with the team. Cooper said, “I think this preparation is a big part of the society’s success, both inside and outside debate rounds. After all, it’s impossible to engage the marketplace of ideas unless you have a working knowledge about what’s going on in the world.”

Every KDS team won at least one of their rounds, including beating tough teams from Cornell, Harvard, and West Point. In addition to upperclassmen debaters Audrey Cooper (’18) and Grayson Logue (’18), four novice students also attended: freshmen Kathryn Caswell (’20) and MaryKathryn Samelson (’20) returned for their second tournament of the semester together, and Koby Jackson (’20) debated at his first tournament with fellow first-year, Jackson Kane (’20). In their last debate, Caswell and Samelson were matched against the top novice teams to compete for a spot in the novice semifinal.

Maggie Ford (’20), Lauren Marchand (’18), Onassis Puente (’19) and Benjamin Sanders (’18) also attended the tournament as student judges. Puente judged at the 2015 Yale I.V., and returned to observe the competition again this year.

Coach Josiah Peterson judged half of the rounds and then watched each of the teams in one of their rounds. “Yale is the toughest competition in North America and I was eager to see how our teams would handle themselves under the pressure. I was consistently impressed. I saw one of our novice teams in a room of varsity students confidently expounding a case on property rights that surprised me with its sophistication and intricacy. Another novice team was thrown into the front half of a round about nationalizing credit agencies. Rather than panicking, they reasoned out a case through analogies and gave two of the best speeches in the round. I get to see our teams in practice all the time, but it renewed my enthusiasm and confidence to see our teams holding their own against the top schools in the country. Their hard work is paying off and I couldn’t be prouder.”

To close out the semester of competition, Cooper and Logue will represent KDS at the Oxford I.V. at the University of Oxford (November 11-12) and the Worlds Universities Debating Championship at The Hague in The Netherlands (December 27-January 4).

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