Almost 200 debaters converged on the Hill this weekend for Tufts' parliamentary debate tournament.
Seventeen schools sent a total of 87 two-person teams to the tournament, from which Dartmouth sophomore Andrew Wansley and freshman Mostafa Heddaya emerged victorious.
The Tufts team participates in the American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA), a nationwide circuit. Though most colleges that participate are on the East Coast, schools as close as Harvard and as far away as the University of Chicago fielded teams this weekend.
Almost all APDA schools host tournaments.
"The way the circuit works is each school usually hosts once a year," said sophomore Will Ehrenfeld, who served as tournament director this weekend. That means that there are between one and two tournaments every weekend.
As hosts, the members of Tufts' debate team acted as the tournament's judges rather than competitors.
"We judged and organized things and worked behind the scenes," Ehrenfeld said.
He said that judging provides a unique insight into debating. "I think it helps everyone improve their own personal skills for a debate [because] it gives you a very different perspective when you watch and critique others," he said.
A large number of judges were required, 22 of whom were current members or alums of the Tufts debate team. Additionally, there were around 30 judges from the other schools, and a few other Tufts students were recruited because of the tournament's large turnout.
So far this year, only Harvard and Yale have hosted larger tournaments. Tufts' tournament was popular in part because it featured a pro-am setup, meaning that each team could have at most one experienced, varsity debater.
The majority of the teams were comprised of one varsity debater and one newcomer.
"It's a unique style that's really valuable for young debaters," Ehrenfeld said.
There are only two pro-am tournaments each year and both occur on the same weekend. The other was held at the University of Pennsylvania.
Extensive preparations and planning were necessary in order to accommodate so many visiting students.
Housing arrangements, for example, were a challenge, according to Ehrenfeld. While students from nearby schools were able to go home Friday night, around 90 needed housing.
Many team members opened their homes to the visiting students and Harvard debaters also took in some competitors.
"We were able to house everyone that needed it," Ehrenfeld said.
The tournament began Friday afternoon and drew to a close with the completion of the final round at around 9 p.m. on Saturday.
Wansley and Heddaya squared off against a Yale team in the finals and proposed that McCleskey v. Kemp was wrongly decided by the Supreme Court. In the case, the Court ruled that statistical evidence that African Americans were executed at a higher rate than white defendants was not a sufficient reason to take Warren McCleskey off of death row after he was convicted of armed robbery and murder.
Ehrenfeld, a second-year debater, feels that the weekend marked a major achievement for Tufts' team.
"It was a turning point for the team in that it was way bigger than any tournament we'd held before," he said. "It [brought] an increase in respect for the team."
