B.A.D.A.S.S.

Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society

New Year of Debate

B.A.D.A.S.S. is off to a great start this year!

Russell Liebowitz and Keith Barry, the indomitable Navajo Blanket took the 1st place trophy at the prestigious Harvard tournament this past weekend after a Brandeis vs. Brandeis showoff in quarterfinals with the Brandeis Loving Shayna team of Sam Datlof and Brendan Fradkin. 

Our novices, strong in number, have also done well this year with a number of awards, a few highlights of which would be Mike Abrams taking 2nd speaker at BU Novice and the Brandeis Dragon Chef team of Megan Elsayed and Jess Maskin taking novice 4th place at Columbia.

Brandeis is currently 3rd in the nation, keep up the great work team!

Click-through to full invite

Click-through to full invite

Rutgers

Congratulations to Andrew Husick, Rich Weisbach and Russell Liebowitz for a fine job representing Brandeis at Rutgers 2011!

Presidential Office Hours

Rich Weisbach, our new president, now holds an informal meeting in Usdan Monday nights from 6:30 -7:00. These are a lot of fun and we recommend you attend if you are considering joining the team!

And now, an update from Russell Liebowitz

There is a new force to be reckoned with in the world of debate. Since the beginning of the semester, the Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society (BADASS) has been living up to its name, taking the debate circuit by storm. The team has surged to become the fifth team in the nation ahead of schools ranging from Princeton to MIT. This rise has been facilitated by weeks of strong debate from the growing club. At the Bates Debating Championships, the duo of Russell Leibowitz and Keith Barry braved dangerous driving conditions on their way to dominating the tournament. After winning six straight rounds, they dispatched the top team from Stanford in a lopsided round to win the tournament. The clear victory, on a 6-1 decision, moved Brandeis’ name into the spotlight. 

The following weekend, Keith Barry and Alex Self schooled teams from the east coast of the United States to Northern Canada at the North American Championships in NYC. Their 17th place finish was the best Brandeis showing at the title tournament in years. BADASS successes have continued since. The team arrived this past weekend at Providence College on a high, just looking for people to argue with and they found them. The team of Andrew Husick and Brendan Fradkin went 5-0 in preliminary rounds making it all the way to semifinals under the banner of Brandeis Saganato at the Japanese themed bonanza. Their fourth place finish, coupled with the 9th and 10th place showings by Keith Barry and Rena Singer, and Russell Leibowitz and Richard Weisbach respectively, left the tournament’s top 10 list filled with Brandeis names. This weekend Brandeis looks to continue its run as it sends teams to tournaments at Williams College and George Washington University. 

-Russell

Happy New Year, BADASS!

Our new web interface is almost completed, and as part of the last stage of the renovations we’ve added an “About the Team” section.

If you’d like to be included, e-mail Shira a photo of yourself and:

  • your hometown
  • your major
  • how many years of debate experience you have, and with what styles
  • debate career highlights
  • a sentence or two about yourself with whatever information you want to share

The sooner you get me this information the sooner it can go up on the website, so start sending those e-mails!

The American Parliamentary Debate Association

APDA Web is the official online presence of the American Parliamentary Debate Association. The American Parliamentary Debate Association is an intercollegiate debate association featuring membership from dozens of colleges and universities across the United States.