Two Academy Debaters Participate in Tournament of Champions

On April 27-28, 2013, Alex Prossnitz ’13 and Jason Liou ’13 participated in the Tournament of Champions — a national Speech and Debate tournament to which the top 86 partnerships in the nation are invited.

Alex and Jason competed in Public Forum Debate with the topic: “Resolved: The continuation of current U.S. anti-drug policies in Latin America will do more harm than good.” They debated both sides of this topic quite vigorously seven times against seven different teams and finished with a record of 4 wins-3 losses.

Faculty member Jean Mariner provided the following description of the event:

A strategic error and early morning fatigue prevented Alex and Jason from clinching the first round, but they returned to their second round with renewed vigor and championed their opponents through bare-knuckling slick and smooth speech, punching impeccable arguments, and hooking strong evidence supporting their case, often sending their opponents to the ground. On a roll, they won the next couple of debates handily, finding new arguments, augmenting their arguments with data from the FDA and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. After the sounding of the bell that signified the end of the last preliminary debate, the judge sat fitfully sweating in excess of ten minutes as he decided how to cast his vote, which determined which team would advance to the elimination rounds. After a nail-biting silence that lasted a decade, the other team’s arm was raised in victory. Alex and Jason earned the respect of their peers, awe of their coaches, and 36th place at this prestigious national tournament. Pound for pound, they weigh in with the best contenders.

Congratulations to Alex, Jason, and coach Shane Gilbert ’12!

Up next: the National Forensic League’s national tournament in Birmingham, Alabama in June where Alex and Jason, joined by Grace Su ’15, Victor Wu ’15, Ria Mazumdar ’15, and Julia Lu ’14and coach Susan Ontiveros will debate the topic: “Resolved: The benefits of American drone strikes against foreign targets outweigh the harms.”