The Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society hosted a tournament from last Friday to Saturday involving over 200 students from 25 schools across the country, a competition that was part of the American Parliamentary Debate Association network, which includes over 30 liberal arts colleges and universities.BADASS could not compete in the tournament, but provided housing, venues and judging for the debaters. Debate tournaments usually include three rounds on the first day and two rounds on the second day. After these rounds, the winners take part in the final rounds later in the day.

Each debate is composed of two teams of two members from each school, one side representing "the government" and the other side representing "the opposition." Schools can send multiple teams or even mix students from different schools, forming hybrids. Each school in the APDA hosts a tournament, allowing for one event every weekend from October to April.

The Brandeis tournament was unique because the government side brought the question to debate, while the opposition side had never seen the topic before. Each team usually approaches the round with full knowledge of the topic and the side they will be taking. The opposition side got to choose which side it wanted to defend. Also, because of the large number of teams competing, the tournament finals involved octo finals, as well as quarter, semi, and finals, narrowing the final teams from eight to two. Each team was allowed to present its case and answer its opponent's rebuttal.

One of the octo finals involved a Brown team against an equally skilled Brown/Tufts hybrid. The debaters argued over the merits of voting in an election. The Brown/Tufts team asserted that voting in elections allows citizens to take part in a democracy and gives their country legitimacy. The Brown team, acting as the government side, argued that maximizing the number of voters through advertising, volunteering and donating money to campaigns while not actually voting individually would be more effective. The Brown/Tufts team won and faced a Harvard team in the quarter finals.

While BADASS was not participating in the tournament, it had a heavy hand in organizing the event. "Four out of five of the judges are Brandeis alumni," said BADASS' Brian Botnick '09. Judging is dependent upon each adjudicator as well as each case.

"We try to make it as objective as possible," said Carly Greenberg '11. Judges look for contradictions in each speech, how well the speaker presents their case, and the speaking style. Each round has a winning team. The individual speakers are also rated one through four, and one person is selected as the winning speaker.