St. John's Debate Society Finishes Third In National Championship

The St. John’s University Debate Society reached their final debate placing third this past weekend at the United States Universities National Championship tournament held on the campus of Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

The team of Nipun Mahajan and Kamya Chandra bested 156 other teams from all over the United States and Europe to participate in the final round to determine the 2012 National Champion in Worlds format debating. St. John’s defended the motion, “This house believes the coming U.S. cuts to defense spending will make the world a better place.” The Final Round consisted of teams from University College Dublin, Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Yale University.

University College Dublin won the final debate, but since they are not from an American institution, they could not qualify to become the U.S. champion. That title went to Hobart and William Smith Colleges, with Yale and St. John’s University as runners up.

Debaters from all across the U.S. participated in the tournament, including the University of Alaska, Humboldt State University, The University of Vermont, University of La Verne, the U.S. Air Force Academy, the University of Michigan, Cornell University, Loyola Marymount University, Grove City College and many others.

Tim Barr, Logan Gomez, Elkhansaa Farhane, and Nelson Kezoh also represented St. John’s University. The team was also accompanied by Directors of Debate, Dr. Steve Llano and Dr. Jaime Wright, who judged and critiqued debates throughout the entirety of the competition.

The St. John’s Debate Society currently sits as third in the United States, second among Northeastern universities and 98th in the world. This championship concluded the 2012 competitive season, and the society will be back in action in September.

For more information, or to participate in the Debate Society, please contact Dr. Llano at llanos@stjohns.edu or stop by St. John Hall, Room 203.

Interested media can contact Dominic Scianna, Assistant Vice President for Media Relations by calling (718) 990-6185 or e-mail inquiries to sciannad@stjohns.edu.