Yale Debate Association Cap- Demonstrated the Continual Commitment 1 of Yale’S Alumni to the Team and Circuit
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THE Yale Stampedes to Victory at 2014 APDA YALE DEBAT National Championship E ty in a debate about the commercialization of rap. ASSOCIATION Yale also forward- ed the youngest team to break at nationals, with 11 2013/2014 Newsletter sophomores Tony Nguyen Debaters (DC ’16) and Edwin Zhang Qualified for The YDA by the Yale Caps Thrilling Season with National Title (MC ’16) advancing to Nationals Numbers: quarterfinals after hand- ing defeat to William and After a season Mary by proposing a case that saw a hard fought about net neutrality. race for APDA’s Team of the Year Title, Yale runs The tournament also to finals at the North The Yale Debate Association cap- demonstrated the continual commitment 1 of Yale’s alumni to the team and circuit. YDA’s U.S. American and United tured its first American Parliamentary Kate Falkenstein (SY ‘12) served on the Ranking States Universities De- Debate Association National Champion- bating Championships, a ship in five years this past may at the Uni- tournament’s tab staff, with Andrew Con- fantastic performance at versity of Pennsylvania, where for the nery (PC ‘13), David Trinh (TD ‘12), Max the World Champion- sixth consecutive year Yale led the league Dovala (SM ‘13), Ben Kornfeld (DC ‘13), ships, and another successful year atop and Diana Li (DC ’15) finishing in 9th and in the number and skill of debaters quali- Robert Colonel (SY ‘13), and Nate Blevins fied for the tournament, falling short only (PC’ 12) judging. 5 the list of the best debate teams in the 10th place with Nick Cugini (CC ‘14) and APDA National to previous Yale records. country, Yale captured its first American Eric Brooks (DC ‘14). Championships Parliamentary Debate Association Na- At the same time, the YDA had an Zach Bakal and Michael Barton 6 tional Championship since 2009. While Years in a Row incredible year on North American and defeated the team of Quinn Maingi and Yale had finaled at the tournament in as top US Team international British Parliamentary cir- Sean Leonard from Rutgers in the final 2011 and 2012, and narrowly lost the cuits, with Sam Ward-Packard (SY ‘14) round, opposing a case about how San chance to do so in 2013, the team of Zach and Sesenu Woldmariam (BK ‘14) reach- Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk should Bakal (CC ‘14) and Michael Barton (BK ing the finals of the North American have been depicted in the eponymous ‘14) defeated teams from across the coun- Championship, while Barton and Ward- 2008 film. “Yale BB” was one of five Yale try to claim victory in a national champi- Packard broke first at Oxford, finaled at teams to reach the tournament’s elimina- onship that saw one of Yale’s most suc- Cambridge, semifinaled at the World tion rounds. In quarterfinals, the pair cessful years yet at the tournament. Championships, and then reached the faced the Yale team of Allison Douglis 11 The early part of the year was finals of the U.S. Championship. (BK ’15) and Joanna Zheng on a case Tournaments 5 dominated by one of the most competi- about tort law. Douglis and Zheng had Won Unsurprisingly, the YDA contin- Breaking Teams tive races for APDA’s Team of the Year previously defeated a team from Ameri- ued to prove itself as the best team in the at Nationals (TOTY) award in recent years, with Bar- can University in the octofinal round in a United States through its continued dom- ton and Bakal locked in a close battle with debate on Saudi Arabian foreign policy. inance of APDA’s College of the Year a pair of debaters from Harvard. While Bakal and Barton also faced the Yale team (COTY) ranking, where Yale accumulated Harvard ultimately gained the upper of Nick Cugini and Diana Li. On a differ- nearly double the points of the second- hand, Yale would go on to dominate the ent side of the elimination bracket, Eric place team. This ranking reflects an ex- TOTY standings regardless, with Barton Brooks and Sam Ward-Packard also cellent class of new novices, and the dedi- 13 and Joanna Zheng (TC ’14) taking third made the octofinal round, losing narrow- cation and involvement of the YDA’s Top Speaker position to Bakal and Barton’s second, ly to adversaries from Brandeis Universi- Awards members to every aspect of the team. Yale Continues Reign as Top School on Yale Leads US Charge at Northams APDA Throughout the year the YDA tournaments at Brandeis and Harvard three teams, nearly half the number of competes at more than 40 tournaments, itself. While Bakal and Barton suffered total American teams in the break. The across the country and world. Domesti- an early defeat at Harvard, they emerged team of Zach Bakal and Michael Barton cally, many of these tournaments are in victorious from the Brandeis tournament reached the quarterfinal round of the the format of American Parliamentary once again clutching the lead in the TOTY tournament, while the team of Allison 4 debate, sanctioned by the American Par- race. Unfortunately, a string of Harvard Douglis and Joanna Zheng made octofi- 3 Of the Country’s wins at Brown, George Washington, and nals, as did the team of Reed Berry (ES Teams Top 10 Teams Maryland meant that Yale’s remaining ’16) and Nathaniel Rubin (SY ‘15). These Advancing to wins and valiant defeats were unable to achievements were topped only by Mi- Elimination turn the tide. The North American Champion- chael Barton claiming the title of top Rounds ships (“NorthAms”) - held this year at the speaker, Yale’s third time winning the While Yale fought fiercely with Harvard University of Ottawa—is a unique debate award in four years. for the top spot on the TOTY board, Yale tournament that brings together schools steamrolled the rest of the circuit for The tournament also saw substan- from Canada and the USA in a hybrid of third place, with Barton and Joanna tial success for Yale’s novice teams, with Canadian and APDA styles. Yale has tra- Zheng handily winning a pair of tourna- Evan Lynyak (MC ‘17) and Henry Zhang ditionally been very dominant at North- ments and finishing behind only another (ES ’17) reaching the novice final, unfor- Ams, most recently winning the title in Yale team at Stanford. At the same time, tunately being defeated by a team from the years 2009 and 2011. Despite not Yale rounded out the TOTY board with the University of Toronto’s Hart House winning outright, even this year the YDA the partnership of Nick Cugini and Diana Debating Society. outperformed the rest of the American Li finishing ninth, and Li repeating her contingent at the tournament, breaking 4 performance with Eric Brooks to capture Of the Country’s 10th TOTY as well. 1 Top 15 Speakers The YDA routed the APDA in the Rank of Yale’s COTY “race.” In typical Yale fashion, the Best Speaker liamentary Debate Association. Through- YDA accumulated over 200 more points out the year the YDA and its members than the combined total of the second compete at tournaments every weekend ranked team, and qualified the plurality in an effort to qualify for Nationals and of debaters for the national tournament. earn points towards APDA’s prestigious APDA also recognizes the perfor- year end awards: Club of the Year, Team mance of individual speakers through its of the Year, Speaker of the Year SOTY awards. In this category too, Yale (“SOTY”) and Novice of the Year shone. Zach Bakal won three tourna- (“NOTY”). ments to finish the year ranked 2nd, This year’s TOTY race was a while Michael Barton secured 9th place. 216 hard fought struggle between Yale and Harvard which featured excellent per- 0 More Points than 2nd Place formances by numerous Yale debaters. The YDA gained the upper hand early Other U.S. schools on as Zach Bakal and Michael Barton de- to break more feated Harvard’s Shomik Ghosh and Josh Zoffer in the semifinals at Johns Hopkins. than 2 teams However, Harvard’s victory at Columbia turned the tables going into a series of What We’ve Been Debating Yale Dominates in British Parliamentary Sesenu Woldemariam On the YDA we debate primarily in two formats: successfully made it to American Parliamentary the final round, finish- British Parliamentary ing behind McGill in a debate about religious In American Parliamentary debate, the government (or affirmative) team pro- leaders in politics. At poses a topic of their choosing — usually a case they have written in advance. The op- the same time, fresh- 4 position (or negating) team has only the 7 minutes of the first government speaker’s men Adil Hakeem (PC 3 Of the Country’s speech to think of their counterargument. ‘17) and Shirley Kuang Consecutive (TD ‘17) won the nov- Top 10 Teams For example, in the Semifinals of the 2012 APDA National Championships, the Years of Yale ice division and title of government team Yale CF (Nick Cugini and Kate Falkenstien) proposed a hypothet- Top Speakers at best first-year team in ical—asking whether the government should ban a pill that parents could take to as- BP Nationals North America. sure their children would be straight. The opposition team, Yale BK (Nate Blevins & Ben Kornfeld) defended their side in the round by arguing for the justness of the gov- Back home, Yale had a ernment’s use of people as an end. The government team won the debate. A video of number of notable the round can be found at the following address: http://videos.apdaweb.org/?p=552 achievements.