The BQDC Team Photo 2013-2014 (Photo Credit: Taylor Blackburn ’15).

The Brooks Quimby Debate Council concludes its most competitively successful season in recent institutional memory, ranking among the top debate programs in the United States and throughout the world.

Results for American Parliamentary Style (APDA) Tournaments

Tournament Wins
BU Novice: Zoë Seaman-Grant & Matthew Kahn

Varsity Breaks
Columbia: Taylor Blackburn & Matthew Summers (3rd)
Harvard: Blackburn & Summers (5th)
Brandeis: Blackburn & Summers (2nd)
Brown: Blackburn & Summers (3rd)
Northeastern ProAms: Seaman-Grant & Summers (5th), Blackburn & Kahn (9th)
Wesleyan: Summers & Kahn (2nd)
Middlebury: Blackburn & Summers (6th)
Providence College: Blackburn & Seaman-Grant (4th)
Wellesley: Blackburn & Summers (2nd)
Yale ProAms: Stewart & Kahn (7th)
Stanford: Blackburn & Seaman-Grant (3rd)
UConn: Shannon Griffin & Evan Binder (6th)
MIT: Summers & Nate Rifkin (Middlebury) (7th)
BU: Blackburn & Summers (2nd)
Penn Nationals: Blackburn & Summers (9th)

Varsity Speaker Awards
Columbia: Blackburn (7th)
Harvard: Blackburn (4th)
Brandeis: Blackburn (1st), Summers (6th)
Brown: Blackburn (9th)
Northeastern: Summers (7th)
Wesleyan: Summers (6th), Kahn (8th)
Middlebury: Summers (6th), Blackburn (7th)
Wellesley: Summers (6th), Blackburn (7th)
Stanford: Blackburn (6th)
MIT: Summers (8th)
BU: Summers (8th)
Penn Nationals: Blackburn (6th)

Novice Breaks
Vassar: Seaman-Grant & Kahn (1st)
Brandeis: Seaman-Grant & Kahn (3rd)
Brown: Seaman-Grant & Kahn (2nd), Michael Stone & Jake Villarreal (3rd)
Wesleyan: Seaman-Grant & Tessa Holtzman (5th)
Dartmouth: Kahn & Tim Luciano (Brandeis) (2nd), Stone & Villarreal (3rd)
Middlebury: Villarreal & Dmitriy Redkin (3rd)
Providence College: Redkin & Noah Levick (4th)
Wellesley: Seaman-Grant & Amelia Berg (Brandeis) (1st), Kahn & Danny Jaffe (Brandeis) (2nd)
Stanford: Kahn & Villarreal (6th), Redkin & Holtzman (7th)
MIT: Seaman-Grant & Kyle Grigel (Penn) (2nd), Kahn & Berg (Brandeis) (5th)
BU: Seaman-Grant & Luciano (Brandeis) (1st)
Penn Nationals: Seaman-Grant & Kahn (3rd)

Novice Speaker Awards
Smith: Kahn (5th)
Columbia: Kahn (1st)
BU Novice: Seaman-Grant (7th)
Vassar: Seaman-Grant (2nd), Kahn (8th)
Harvard: Kahn (3rd), Seaman-Grant (9th)
Brandeis: Seaman-Grant (3rd), Kahn (6th)
Brown: Seaman-Grant (4th), Villarreal (6th), Stone (8th)
Northeastern ProAms: Kahn (3rd), Seaman-Grant (4th)
Wesleyan: Kahn (1st), Seaman-Grant (4th)
Dartmouth: Kahn (1st), Stone (7th)
Middlebury: Villarreal (4th), Redkin (5th)
Providence College: Seaman-Grant (1st)
Wellesley: Seaman-Grant (1st), Kahn (3rd), Redkin (10th)
Yale ProAms: Kahn (5th)
Stanford: Seaman-Grant (1st), Kahn (5th), Redkin (8th), Villarreal (9th), Holtzman (10th)
MIT: Seaman-Grant (7th), Kahn (8th)
BU: Seaman-Grant (1st), Kahn (9th)

Results for British Parliamentary (BP) Style Tournaments

Tournament Wins
Yale IV: Taylor Blackburn & Jack Stewart
Brandeis IV: Blackburn & Stewart
Kings IV: Stephanie Wesson & Ben Claeson
Purdue Nationals (USUDC): Blackburn & Stewart

Varsity Breaks
UVM IV: Emily Schwalbe & Claeson (Semi-Finalists)
Chennai Worlds (WUDC): Blackburn & Stewart (21st), Wesson & Summers  (39th)

Varsity Speaker Awards
Yale IV: Blackburn (9th)
Cambridge IV: Blackburn (6th)
Brandeis IV: Blackburn (2nd), Stewart (8th)
Kings IV: Wesson (3rd), Claeson (5th), Schwalbe (9th)
Purdue Nationals (USUDC): Blackburn (6th)

Novice Breaks
Brandeis IV: Dmitriy Redkin & Noah Levick (2nd), Zoë Seaman-Grant & Matthew Kahn (4th)

Novice Speaker Awards
Brandeis IV: Kahn (7th), Redkin (9th)

Sent Abroad
Oxford IV: Shannon Griffin & Alex Daugherty, Wesson & Summers, Schwalbe & Claeson
Cambridge IV: Blackburn & Stewart, Sasha Grodsky & Jillian Zook
Chennai Worlds (WUDC): Blackburn & Stewart, Wesson & Summers

Results for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Novice APDA Tournament (In-House)

Speaker Awards
5. Mike Stone
4. Quang Nguyen
3. Jake Villarreal
2. Tessa Holtzman
1. Zoë Seaman-Grant

Team Awards (breaking to finals)
2. Jake Villarreal & Mike Stone
1. Zoë Seaman-Grant & Tessa Holtzman

National Champions Taylor Blackburn ’15 and Jack Stewart ’14 (Photo Credit: BQDC)

Taylor Blackburn and Jack Stewart win National Championship at Purdue University.

At the United States Universities National Debate Championships (USUDC) held at Purdue University on April 13, the team of Taylor Blackburn ’15 and Jack Stewart ’14 claimed the BQDC’s first national title in the storied history of debate at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. Taylor and Jack outperformed debaters from some of the most competitive debate programs in the United States. At an event featuring over 300 individual speakers, Taylor and Jack defeated debaters from Cornell, Yale, and Loyola Marymount in the final round.

In addition to Taylor and Jack’s victory in the final round, all other ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ teams in attendance cleared to elimination rounds as well. Stephanie Wesson ’14 & Matt Summers ’15 advanced to semifinals, while quarterfinalists included the teams of Emily Schwalbe ’14 & Ben Claeson ’15 and Shannon Griffin ’16 & Sasha Grodsky ’16. This outstanding achievement for the debate program at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ marks the conclusion of perhaps the most competitively successful season in the council’s history. President Jack Stewart outlines the significance of the BQDC’s multiple landmark achievements during the season in a letter to the team:

Even within the context of the BQDC’s long track record of competitive success domestically and internationally, on both fronts, the 2013-2014 season stands out. We’ve doubled our historical total of World’s breaking teams (from two to four), won the novice title at the Brandeis IV, placed two novices in top ten APDA’s novice-of-the-year, advanced four teams to quarterfinals or farther at the U.S. Universities Debate Championship (USUDC), and landed a team in the top five in APDA’s team-of-the-year rankings.

Taylor and Jack’s victory at the USUDC marks the conclusion of an exciting and successful season for the BQDC, but Jack notes that the team’s accomplishments this year signal great promise for the program in upcoming seasons:

As historic as this year has been for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ debate, the team is poised for even more success in years to come.

For the full story about the USUDC victory published in the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ newsfeed, visit this link.

Members of the Class of 2014 (Photo Credit: Taylor Blackburn ’15).

Members of the BQDC assemble for the Annual Team Banquet.

Each spring, the Brooks Quimby Debate Council hosts a team banquet to celebrate the achievements of the senior class and to reflect on the team’s accomplishments over the course of the season. Following the team dinner, each member of the graduating class offers brief remarks about his/her experiences while a member of the BQDC. This year, the BQDC graduates the following members of the class of 2014: Evan Binder, Chris Bolger, Emily Meade, Sara Maneval, Emily Schwalbe, Amy Strada, Jac Stewart, and Stephanie Wesson.

Following the senior speeches, Jan Hovden, Ph.D., offered her remarks on the season and the many achievements of graduating debaters. Each year, the BQDC presents a series of awards to members of the council for outstanding contributions and performance in debate. The following awards were presented at the banquet to members of the council for the 2013-2014 season:

The Oren Nelson Hilton Award: Given to the man or woman adjudged best in extemporaneous speaking: Taylor Blackburn ’15

The Charles Sumner Libby Prize: Given to two members of the Quimby Debate Council who have most contributed to the debate program through outstanding service to the Council: Emily Schwalbe ’14 and Matt Summers ’15

The Almon Cyrus Libby Prize: Given to the best debater in his or her first year of competition: Zoë Seaman-Grant ’17

The Irving Cushing Phillips Award: Given to the student who has made the most progress in debate or public speaking: Evan Binder ’14

The Clair E. Turner Award: Given to three students who have shown in the preceding year the greatest forensic ability and integrity in public debate: Taylor Blackburn ’15, Matt Summers ’15, Jac Sewart ’14

Robert J. Branham Award: The prizes will recognize individual excellence in overall performance, presentation, special effort, improvement or support for the team and its ideals: Emily Schwalbe ’14 and Ben Claeson ’15

The Christopher M. Laconi ’05 Debate Award: Given to a graduating senior who has demonstrated outstanding eloquence in public debate: Stephanie Wesson ’14

The BQDC and Brandeis (Photo Credit: Zuhayr Reaz ’16).

The BQDC and Brandeis host an intercollegiate public debate on Thursday, Feb. 27 at the Perter J. Gomes Chapel.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ defended the motion: This house believes that feminism is incompatible with capitalism.  Representing the BQDC were Jack Stewart ’14 and Taylor Blackburn ’15, who earlier this season finished as the 21st place team at the World Championships in Chennai, India.  On the Brandeis bench were Megan Elsayed ’14 and Michael Norton ’16; both Megan and Michael are veteran debaters who have won many awards on the American Parliamentary Circuit. 

The debate proved to be a resounding success; many students remarked on the interesting and thought-provoking nature of the motion, in addition to the talent and eloquence of the speakers, who received great praise for their skill in argumentation – great job everyone!

Left to right: Wesson ’14, Summers ’15, Balckburn ’15, and Stewart ’14 at Chennai Worlds 2014 (Photo Credit: BQDC).

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ debaters make program history when two BQDC teams advance to elimination rounds at the WUDC in Chennai, India.

At a tournament of over 600 of the world’s greatest debaters from over 70 different countries, four daring ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ies rose to the top and made team history when they cleared to elimination rounds at the world’s most prestigious debate tournament.  The team’s success at WUDC 2014 adds further distinction to what is proving to be the program’s most successful year ever in British Parliamentary Debate.

Jack Stewart ’14 & Taylor Blackburn ’15, who previously made team history by winning both the Yale and Brandies Inter-Varsity BP Tournaments, finished in 21st place out of almost 350 teams!  Stephanie Wesson ’14 & Matt Summers ’15 also cleared, coming in 39th place, making 2 of the 7 American teams to break at Chennai Worlds representatives from the BQDC.  Last year, Ben Smith ’13 & Cat Djang ’13 doubled our team’s total count of WUDC breaks, and this year Jack, Taylor, Steph, and Matt have doubled that total for the second consecutive year!

For the full story published by the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Student, visit this link: