The Brandeis Academic Debate And Speech Society held a public debate last Friday against the Yale Debate Association during this past weekend's Brandeis-hosted tournament. The public, informal debate, which had no announced victor, examined whether or not Israel should assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists, and, also, if assassination is an appropriate approach.

Both the Yale and Brandeis teams are members of the American Parliamentary Debate Association, which is comprised of over 50 universities primarily along the East Coast, including Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University and the University of Chicago.

The Yale Debate Association currently holds first place for APDA Club of the Year, while BADASS holds second place.

Brandeis acted as the opposition team and chose the stance in favor of assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists. The Yale Debate Association was left to defend the argument that such assassinations are unjustified.

The debate featured one two-person team from Brandeis and one from Yale. Yale Debate Association members Michael Barton and Zach Bakal, both sophomores, who are currently ranked 10th and eighth for APDA Speaker of the Year, respectively, and sixth for Team of the Year, took on BADASS president Russell Leibowitz '14 and Keith Barry '13, who are currently ranked third and seventh for Speaker of the Year respectively, and third for Team of the Year.

"We've worked really hard to build our team. It was just a few years ago that we weren't even top 10," said Leibowitz in an interview with the Justice. "We've moved all the way up to second now, which is the highest that Brandeis has ever been in history, so it's pretty cool."

After all four speakers completed their arguments, the floor then opened for any of the approximately 45 spectators to make a one-minute speech and convey their own opinions.

Barry, for Brandeis, and Barton, for Yale, concluded the debate. Only two students volunteered to speak when the floor was opened; one supported the assassinations and one opposed the assassinations.

"We just really want to bring discourse to the Brandeis community, and we thought that holding a public debate ... would really have an opportunity for people to hear about an important issue that's going on now, and start some dialogue about it," said Leibowitz.

Leibowitz also made it clear that much of the team's success is due to an emphasis on open participation, and with this public debate the team had an opportunity to get this point across to the University community.

"We've spent a lot of time making sure that everyone knows we have an all-comers policy, that we're open to anyone who wants to join," he said. "So people just make a really good group of friends on our team, and that encourages practicing more, going to tournaments and really just building a good environment to people who care."

Although no winner was announced and the event was only an opportunity to interest the Brandeis community, both BADASS and Yale Debate Association members were engaged and elated to be a part of this public debate.

"Debate is amazing because it allows for an interchange of ideas at a very logical level with lots of different comparative analysis about different arguments and different things people say," said Bakal in an interview with the Justice. "We love coming out here and debating with our friends at Brandeis ... and we really do like being out with them, so it's fun to just come here, but it's also really fun to engage in this debate."