A Wake Forest University tournament saw a victory for the Binghamton University Debate Team as it ended its fall semester, cementing its status as one of the nation’s top-ranking debate teams.

The duo that led the team to their Wake Forest victory — Eli Turner-Louis, a senior majoring in Africana studies, and Jeremiah Cohn, a junior majoring in sociology — ranked as first- and ninth-best speakers in the country, respectively. Cohn attributed the team’s continued dominance to University support.

“This is the first time a team from Binghamton has taken down a large regular season tournament,” Cohn wrote in an email. “It was only possible thanks to the support the University provides us, both from professors who graciously allow us to take class off to compete, and from the University who funds our travel and coaching.”

This milestone is the latest in a string of recent accomplishments for the BU debaters, including a September victory at the Phyllis Schatz Invitational, an annual debate tournament hosted at the BU. At that tournament, the team was recognized by State Sen. Lea Webb ‘04 for winning the Cross-Examination Debate Association’s National Championship in March. Webb and Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo MA ‘84 passed a joint resolution during the 2023-24 legislative session recognizing their success.

Joe Schatz, the director of debate, said the team’s success was because of its members’ tireless dedication and preparation.

“Every student on the debate team is required to meet five hours per week with coaches in addition to putting in outside time to research and prepare,” Schatz wrote in an email. “Our team that won Wake easily treats debate like a full-time job, regularly spending more than twenty hours a week in the office in meetings and preparing, as well as countless hours outside of the office at home and at tournaments.”

He also credited Ryan Wash, the director of debate at Southwestern College, with whom the debate team has been working to build their success.

This year’s debate focused on whether the United States should adopt a clean energy policy aimed at transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable sources, including methods like a market-based instrument. The team had to prepare arguments for both sides of the issue and meticulously researched to anticipate the arguments presented by opposing teams.

The victory came after Turner-Louis and Cohn achieved an 11-1 record at the tournament, defeating the likes of Dartmouth, Emory, Harvard and Stanford. Over three days, the team competed in 12 debates — adding to around 30 hours of competition time. Despite having fewer resources, a smaller coaching staff and no debate scholarships, BU overcame these elite competitors.

“In short, it definitely demonstrates that the bang for the buck students get at Binghamton is excellent since the students we produce are able to stand up against some of the best students across the country,” Schatz added.

After defeating Kansas, BU advanced to face Michigan, the 2024 Emory national debate tournament champions. Despite Michigan’s debate team predating the founding of the University by four decades, BU defeated them in a 2-1 decision to secure the tournament win.

“It reveals that our win at CEDA Nationals isn’t a fluke and that we didn’t just have one good tournament at the right time,” Schatz wrote. “Rather, it demonstrates that our debaters truly are among the best in the nation and speaks volume to the excellence of Binghamton as an institution to achieve this level of success against private Universities, Ivy-League colleges, and programs with scholarship money and endowments larger than anything we could dream of.”