King’s Debate Society Hosts Sixth Annual Tournament

On March 25 and 26, the King’s Debate Society hosted its sixth annual Empire Debates. The Empire Debates tournament has developed a reputation among World’s format debaters in the region as a smoothly executed, competitive tournament with quality judges and motions. This year’s event was no exception, attracting over 100 debaters and 40 judges from 19 institutions.

The King’s Debate Society was pleased to host Cornell University senior EnTing Lee as Chief Adjudicator. Lee’s accolades include champion and top speaker of the North American Women’s Debating Championships and a two-time finalist at the Yale IV. Joining Lee were University of Rochester senior Syed Reefat Aziz and KDS President Audrey Cooper (House of Margaret Thatcher, PPE ‘18). The adjudication team determined motions for each of the tournament’s five preliminary rounds and three elimination rounds, engaging debaters in conversations about the sale of organs, the feminist movement, and Mexico’s involvement in NAFTA.

Coach Josiah Peterson and the KDS executive team managed the logistical side of the tournament, with support from over a dozen King’s students. Instead of representing King’s in the competition, these King’s debaters served as judges and backup debaters for other teams, transformed classrooms into debate rooms, and carried hundreds of burritos from Chipotle.

Teams from Columbia University, Patrick Henry College, Vassar College, Cornell University, Hobart and William Smith, the City University of New York, and a Columbia-Brandeis University hybrid advanced to the semifinals. In the final, Brandeis-Columbia, Columbia, Cornell, and Vassar argued “This house prefers a world in which all people actively believed in determinism as opposed to a world in which they believed in free will.” Cooper chaired the judging panel in the finals, which included KDS Treasurer Onassis Puente (House of C.S. Lewis, PPE ‘19) and former KDS Vice President Jeremy Cerone (House of Winston Churchill, PPE ‘13), among others.

Puente said, “Judging the final was a great experience because I got to apply the philosophical analysis skills that I learned in my medieval philosophy course. This weekend was exciting, stressful, and also very rewarding because of the high level of competition and the timely manner in which the tournament was run.”

Cornell students Ankur Biswas and Inbum Lee won the the Empire Debates 2017. The top speaker award went to Tanner Terry, of Columbia University.

In the novice final, three teams from the University of Vermont and a team from Cornell debated the motion, “This house would withdraw all military aid from Israel,” with Lilly Oates and Emily Bruggeman from the University of Vermont emerging as winners. KDS Vice President Trivette Knowles (House of Lewis, PPE ‘18) and Kat Samelson (House of Clara Barton, PPE ‘20) served on the judge panel for that round.

The annual Empire Debates is an opportunity for King’s to practice what Peterson calls “intellectual hospitality.” Through thoughtful planning, hard-working volunteers, and an experienced adjudication team, the Empire Debates drew debaters from across the world, strengthening relationships and elevating the competitive experience.