The Brandeis Debate and Speech Society hosted the New England Invitational Debate Tournament last weekend at Brandeis. The event, sponsored by the American Parliamentary Debate Association, brought several of the top debating teams from colleges and universities across New England, New York and New Jersey for a weekend of debate here at Brandeis. Brian Schon '06, the publicity director for the Brandeis Debate and Speech Society, and coordinator of this past weekend's event, said that Brandeis has been hosting both regional and national tournaments since the mid 1990s. The tournament featured over 60 teams from 18 different schools. Some of the more successful schools represented here included Harvard, Brown and New York University.

Schon said that as hosts they usually don't participate because they are responsible for running the tournament. This includes organizing five rounds of debate for all participants, championship rounds and providing trophies for the winners. Additionally, the Brandeis debate team arranges for the participants to have three meals; Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast and a Saturday wrap-up banquet as well as Friday evening entertainment and housing.

"We bring them here to show them a good time and also have education between other schools. This is also a great chance to make friends," Schon said.

Schon also added that Brandeis has a long tradition of running tournaments and credits the Rapaporte family who left a large trust fund which goes towards funding the tournaments.

"It is a great opportunity to display the Brandeis community to other schools," Schon said.

Schon said that Brandeis would be hosting many tournaments in the future because it helps spread the Brandeis name and that it is the best fundraiser for the organization. He also emphasized that debate tournaments at Brandeis are going to be an annual event and encourages the community to participate.

"Part of our goal is to further the good faith of Brandeis throughout the country," Schon said.

Parliamentary debate, the format used in this past weekends tournament, is different from regular format in that the topic of debate is picked randomly and that it is a two-on-two team setup in which one can always rely on another team member to carry and support their arguments.

Students who attended the tournament from other schools were very excited about the parliamentary debate format and the experience of going to these tournaments.

Ben Hebert, a junior at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who has been doing debate for three years, likes the different tone that this style of debate takes on.

"It is less formal than most debates, it is more fun and impromptu," Hebert said.

Hebert also stressed the camaraderie and friendship that is built between team members on these trips to other schools.

"It is like having a road trip with your friends every weekend," Hebert said.