The weekend of February 2nd and 3rd was an exciting one for the Colgate Debate Society, as they attended the 2013 Empire Debates at The King’s College in New York City. Three Colgate teams competed; Alexa Windsor ’13 and Jack Holland ’13, Madeline Allen’16 and Melissa Haller ’16, and Anna Proios ’16 and Lorelai Avram ’16. Julia O’Neil ’16, Lillian Laiks ’15, Yusra Siddique ’16, and Asabi Rawlins ’16 also represented Colgate as judges.

After six great rounds, including the motions “This House would lift all sanctions in North Korea,” “This House would donate luxury wealth to the poor” and “In the event of a zombie apocalypse, This House would leave the weak behind,” all three Colgate teams finished strong.
Madeline and Melissa broke first to novice finals with 10 points. Madeline also was the fifth novice speaker for the tournament.

Anna and Lorelai also broke to the novice finals with 8 points, winning the novice championship on the motion: “This house would ban all civilian gun ownership.”
The Empire Debates were a great experience for all of the debaters and judges who participated.
