It’s hard to deny the dominance the Binghamton University Debate Team has over the competition this year as BU has defeated Cornell, Harvard and other top debate schools.
The Bearcat debaters have won contests at King’s College, University of Richmond, University of Vermont, West Point, Towson University and CUNY Baruch, not to mention taking second place at the Cornell Debate Invitational.
These debates require a significant amount of preparation.
“An enormous amount of research has to be done so people can know the arguments that might be made and how to respond to them,” said Peter Groh, a Novice competitor on the team.
The team researches 16 to 20 hours a week and members can practice individually. But for Groh, the commitment is worth it.
“The debate team is amazing,” he said. “It puts you in a position where you’re constantly learning and refining arguments, and in the process you pick up a ton of knowledge that can be really useful in other classes as well as in life.”
The intense practices are needed because a single debate can last as long as two hours. The team has recently been debating how to engage countries in the Middle East. The format of the debate entails four people. Two people argue for the affirmative side, and two arguing the negative, meaning they argue against engaging.
Groh said at these tournaments “we will generally be debating from 8 a.m. to about 10 p.m. on any given day.”
What is unique and special about Binghamton’s success is that most BU debaters have no prior competitive debate experience in high school.
“At most other universities, students need to have at least four years of high school experience, and sometimes start as early as middle school,” said the team’s coach Joe Schatz, who said he is very proud of his team.
Schatz works hard on recruiting incoming freshmen in hopes of polishing a competitor to “debate at 500 words a minute.”
Bill Sebelle is one such freshman who participates in six weekend-long debates every semester.
Schatz recalled Sebelle’s first debate.
“Bill was incredibly nervous entering his first tournament at King’s College,” Schatz said. “He started off the weekend with a win, which caused the nervous energy to transform into a competitive drive.”
Sebelle went on to win the tournament.
Some team members, according to Schatz, describe the activity “as more intense and more of an adrenaline rush than running track.”