Current Success

2011-2012 At-a-Glance

The college policy debate resolution is the timely topic of democracy assistance to the Middle East..  The specific topic wording is:

Resolved: the United States Federal Government should substantially increase its democracy assistance for one or more of the following: Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen.

Dapper Emory Coaches James Herndon, John Turner, Ed Lee, Kirk Gibson, and Nick Miller dressed for success for the GSU opening tournament.

Emory Debaters Finish Strong at Vanderbilt Tournament

Over 50 teams from the South and Midwest gathered in Nashville for the Vanderbilt debate tournament October 14-16, 2011.  Five teams from Emory attended, four in the 33 team Open Division and one in the 14 team Novice Division. In varsity Emory held four of the top six seeds after the six preliminary rounds including the Junior Sophomore team of Rajesh Jegadeesh and Lisa Li, the undefeated top seed, and Juniors John Holland and Fayzan Rab, the undefeated second seed. The

Sophomore-First Year team of Wilma Qui and Amrit Basu finished 5-1 as the fourth seed and the Senior team of Erin Collins and Jessica Moore were 4-2 and sixth seed. In the Octafinals, Jegadeesh and Li advanced over the University of Florida, Holland and Rab over the University of Miami, and Collins and Moore over Missouri State University.  Qui and Basu were upset by the University of Georgia on a 2-1 decision.  Holland and Rab and Collins and Moore lost in Quarterfinals to Wayne State University and the University of Kentucky respectively.  Jegadeesh and Li defeated Missouri State before bowing out in semifinals to the University of Georgia. Erin Collins was named eleventh speaker, Fayzan Rab tenth, and Jessica Moore ninth.  Rajesh Jegadeesh was named top speaker at the tournament.

In the novice division, Eric Zhang and Aaron Tucek won five of six debates and finished the preliminary rounds as the second seed.  They defeated Appalachian State in the quarterfinals and Wayne State in the semifinals.  In the final round, they lost to the University of Florida.  Zhang was named 11th speaker and Tucek was seventh.

Young Emory Debaters Continue to Improve

Over 150 of the best teams in the nation gathered at the University of Kentucky October 1-3, 2011.  Emory fielded eight teams in the tournament.  Three Emory teams finished with winning records and seven of eight won at least half of their debates.  Sophomores Megan Cambre and Matthew Pesce again cleared to the elimination rounds before losing in the double octas to the eventual tournament champions from Georgetown University.  Pesce was also named 25th speaker out of more than 300 students assembled. The Junior-Senior team of Ellie Kuenzel and Matt Senghas and the Junior team of John Holland and Fayzan Rab also finished with 5-3 records but did not squeeze into the elimination bracket as they missed on speaker points.

Emory Debate Successfully Begins 2011 Season at Georgia State

160 debate teams from across the country opened the debate season at Georgia State September 17-19, 2011 with 132 teams in the varsity division.  Emory entered 10 teams in the open division, the largest entry of any squad at the tournament..  Emory's entry consisted of five seniors, five juniors, seven sophomores, and three first years.  Two Emory teams reached the elimination rounds and two other teams finished with winning records.

Rajesh and Lisa were 32nd seed and lost on the Negative to top-seed Northwestern in double-octas.  Megan and Matthew were 16th seed and defeated the University of West Georgia in the doubles before losing a Negative debate to Northwestern in the octafinals.  The teams of Matthew Senghas (Senior-Vermont) and Ellie Kuenzel (Junior-Oregon) and David Mullins (Sophomore-Texas) and Greg Adler (First Year-Florida) both finished with winning records.