BU debate team reaps national title

After months of training and countless competitions, the Boston University Debate Society took first place in the American Parliamentary Debate Association national tournament on April 23, beating their season-long rival from Yale University.

Alex Taubes and Greg Meyer, both seniors in the College of Arts and Sciences, comprised the winning team. In addition to winning the championship held at the United States Military Academy at West Point on April 22 and 23, the pair was awarded Team of the Year, and Taubes was awarded Speaker of the Year by the APDA.

More than 70 teams participated in the national tournament, representing almost 50 colleges and universities from across the nation. Other competitors included teams from Stanford University, the University of Chicago and Harvard College.

The top BU team faced the Yale team in three separate debates during the competition, narrowly defeating them in the semifinals on a 4-3 decision before defeating a second pair in finals on a 6-3 decision, Taubes said.

Both in the finals and semifinals, BU was assigned the “government” position, allowing them to argue a topic of their choice. While this position may appear advantageous, Taubes said that this usually is not the case.

“The last decade of the competition, only one team has won from the government side in nationals,” Taubes said. “Usually, it is an advantage to be on opposition, but we were so confident in our case, we preferred the government side.”

The topics BU chose to debate were often controversial, which is typical of Taubes and Meyer’s debate style, he said.

“Greg and I have a reputation for counterintuitive arguments. We like to push the envelope. We don’t necessarily agree with what we’re saying, but we like to spark a genuine debate with our selection of case.”

In the semifinals, Taubes and Meyer argued 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade violated constitutional law.

“We both agree with the Roe v. Wade ruling, but we wanted to pick a controversial topic,” Meyer said.

In the final round, Taubes and Meyer said they argued that all recreational drugs should be legalized and taxed, and that the money should be used for rehabilitation services.

“I don’t think all drugs should be legal,” Taubes said, “but there is certainly room for a debate.”

Taubes said extensive preparation went into practicing for the championships.

“Greg and I met every day for two weeks prior to the competition. We talked about arguments and bounced ideas off each other,” Taubes said. “For inspiration, we also watched a lot of videos about athletic victories because debate is like a sport, even if it isn’t athletic.”

While both Taubes and Meyer are graduating this year, they both said they plan to remain involved with debate in different ways.

Meyer said he plans on staying in Boston and continuing to advise the BU Debate Society.

“I’m still going to remain involved with the BU team. There is the potential for another school to ask me to coach them, but I’m going to be attending all the BU tournaments and assisting them,” Meyer said.

Taubes, who will be working in Washington after graduating from BU, said he plans to coach the debate team at American University in the fall.

“I hope to stay involved with debate in general,” Taubes said. “It has improved my time management skills, communication skills, and made me a better public speaker. I’m going to stay involved with the BU debate team and help raise its profile. I think it could be a very strong team in the future.”