King’s Hosts Annual Empire Debate Tournament

The Bard College Debate Union who won in the Grand Final round || Photo Courtesy of Bard News.

The King's College debate teams gathered this weekend for the Empire Debate Tournament. King’s has hosted the Empire Debates for nine years; it is a tournament known among other schools for the quality of its judges and motions. 

The event represented multiple colleges including the University of Vermont, CUNY, Vanderbilt, Rochester, and more.

Debaters began filling up the City Room at 7 a.m. Saturday morning to await the general assembly and hear the motion for the first round of debates. The turnout this year included roughly 100 debaters and another 60 participants who either judged rounds or served as equity officers. The debaters covered topics like social media royalties, the reunification of Ireland, a travel ban and the importance of political figures.

The tournament consisted of five rounds without elimination and the teams who came in top progressed on to the novice finals. 

In the novice final rounds, debaters argued the motion of, “This house believes the powers of pardon and commutation should be held in the legislative branch, instead of the executive branch.” 

A team from Vanderbilt University advanced on from the novice finals and a team from Bard College won the Grand Final round.

King’s was not represented by a full debate team as members of the King’s Debate Society (KDS) were all organizing the event, with some students filling in to debate and judge. The KDS exec team handled all of the logistical aspects of the tournament, ranging from food pickup to setting up classrooms.

 The KDS has had a successful year so far. This semester, the team has traveled to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York and George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

“This year we had almost 160 participants from schools all over the region including Canadian competitors—marking the largest size of Empire Debates in its nine-year history. The purpose of hosting the event is to facilitate meaningful discussions about the matters of principle and policy that define human society, “ said KDS Vice President Brent Buterbaugh.

Over spring break, the KDS will travel to Vienna, Austria to participate in an international tournament.