Over winter break, Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society competed in the 28th World University Debating Championship at Assumption University of Thailand in Bangkok, with one two-person team advancing as far as the semifinal round, a first in Brandeis history. The Brandeis team consisted of Evan Green-Lowe '10 and Joel Todoroff '09, who made it to the semifinals, as well as Alex Levine '08, Jackie Saffir '10, Mariel Gruszko '10 and Jason Gray '10. Jack Bouchard '10 participated as a judge.

"We did the best Brandeis has ever done in this particular championship in its history," said BADASS president Levine, who went with varsity teammates to the 10-day, student-run event, which ran from Dec. 26th to Jan. 5th.

According to Levine, the team was selected "by a highly selective process done by the BADASS executive board based on ability and commitment to the team." He says preparation involved everything from newspapers to Wikipedia to learning about different international organizations and conflicts. Similarily, Saffir explained, "Some teams read months of the Economist magazine, others kept up on newspapers, others bought fact books that had sections on the history and political background of all the countries of the world. We also practiced a lot with teams from MIT and Harvard."

It seems that the effort paid off. Semifinalists Todoroff and Green-Lowe ranked in the top eight teams at the competition, which is attended by debaters from some of the highest-ranking colleges and universities around the world, including Israel, India, Spain, China, England and Australia, among others.

To get as far as the semifinals, teams must last through both "in-rounds" and "out-rounds." The in-rounds are the rounds that occur at the beginning of the tournament.

The topics included, "'This house would assassinate Vladimir Putin,' to 'Taiwan should declare independence' to 'This house would deny scarce medical resources to the terminally ill,'" Saffir explained.

No eliminations are made until debaters' scores from all nine rounds are tallied and ranked in relation to each other. The top 32 teams emerging from this first set then face each other in the octo rounds, the first of the out-rounds. The out-rounds directly eliminate the losing teams and propel the winners to the next, more selective, pool-from octo to quarters, semis, and then finals, explained Levine.

Despite the intensity of the competition, it is not an all-work-and-no-play event. The teams also get a chance to be tourists. "We explored temples, got buried in sand on the beach, wandered around Bangkok," Saffir said. "To be cheesy for just a second, the best part of the trip was that everything I did, I did with six of my best friends."

The debate also presents a great opportunity for international interaction, and the organizers arranged forums, dinners and other social events to encourage debaters to interact outside of each round, according to the event's Web site.

"It's a competition first and foremost, but if you ask the people running it, they tell you that it's an opportunity to meet to people from other places," Levine said. "When you're in a room with Oxford's A team and Cambridge's A team and the best team from Monash [a top Australian school], you're likely to get your ass kicked, but you're also likely to learn a lot from them."

"The people who debated were sophomores and juniors," Levine, the only senior to make the trip, added about his team.

"How dominant and successful we're going to be reminds you that really, the sky's the limit, and that should be pointed out," he added.

"I think that momentum is important and that the team has been gaining momentum over the past semester," Todoroff commented. "Worlds was a testimony to the power of teamwork, and I think we will continue to see tangible benefits to the team's communal feel over the coming semester."

He also thinks that name recognition will help Brandeis in the upcoming North American Championships and other local debates.

"The talent we have is not a talent that is going away," said Levine, noting "It's a talent that's going to be on the team for two more years.