Harvard Duo Wins Parliamentary Debate Nationals

Joshua P. Zoffer ’14 and Ben D. Sprung-Keyser ’15 were named the youngest team champions in the history of the American Parliamentary Debate Association’s national tournament on Sunday, marking the second consecutive year that a Harvard team has won the tournament.

Zoffer and Sprung-Keyser, members of the Harvard Speech and Parliamentary Debate Society, defeated a team from Syracuse in the tournament’s final round by a judge’s vote of 5 to 2.

“It’s incredible,” Zoffer said of the championship win. “We had some idea coming in that we had a chance to do really well, and we certainly didn’t think it was impossible that we would win, but we definitely were not expecting it.”

Sprung-Keyser echoed Zoffer’s sentiment, adding that “[they are] extraordinarily proud to represent Harvard while winning.”

Zoffer and Sprung-Keyser participated in several rounds of competition throughout the weekend at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Each round is debated two-on-two, and the pairs of competitors that speak first choose the topic of debate. In the final round, Zoffer and Sprung-Keyser chose to speak on whether or not the U.S. should break up big banks.

Zoffer said that the final round inspired a new sense of focus and determination.

“At the start of the tournament, getting to the final round seems incredible, and you say to yourself, ‘I would be really happy just to be in the final round,’” Zoffer said. “As soon as you are in that round, your expectations totally change, and then suddenly, coming in second no longer feels like an acceptable option.”

Zoffer and Sprung-Keyser prepared for nationals by writing up the cases, or topics of debate, they would choose to speak on during the tournament. Though they were not partners for most of the year, both competed throughout the last two semesters. Zoffer said that he has spent close to every weekend of the year at a tournament.

“It’s just incredibly impressive to us that they were able to win this tournament, especially because they’ve only partnered with each other a limited number of times,” said Julia B. Clark ’14, president of the HSPDS.

Going forward, Sprung-Keyser said he and Zoffer will continue to work together and prepare for the world championship tournament in the winter, which is run in the British parliamentary debate format, rather than the American two-on-two style.

“The goal is to keep debating and to keep getting better,” Sprung-Keyser said.

—Staff writer Madeline R. Conway can be reached at mconway@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @MadelineRConway.