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April 8, 2025, was a historic day for the Binghamton Speech and Debate team. For the first time in its history, and the first time a New York-based university has accomplished the feat, ��������Ƶ took home the trophy for the 79^th National Debate Tournament (NDT).

The most prestigious national debate championship in the U.S., this honor was decided after a 3-2 decision against the University of Kansas. This win follows a 2024 win at the Cross-Examination Debate Association (CEDA) Nationals.

Joe Schatz, the director of ��������Ƶ’s speech and debate program, said that the victory would never have been possible without dedication from the students, despite many having unusual backgrounds.

“This win proves that just because some students don’t qualify for a scholarship or transfer in later in their debate careers doesn’t mean that they don’t have what it takes to become national champions. It’s not all about the university resources and what you’ve done in high school,” he said. “The ability for a team like that to grow and see that they have a shot to succeed sets us up to be a very different program.”

While CEDA Nationals is considered the “people’s tournament” by debaters because it is open to anyone — and thus a bit friendlier — the NDT is a much more cutthroat competition.

Just qualifying for the tournament is a trial upon itself. Many people enter college with qualification as a goal for their senior year. The first time Binghamton did so was in 2005; that year, it was also hosted at Gonzaga University, in Spokane, Wash., the same location this year’s trophy was won.

“Schools can only send, at most, three teams. You’re only competing against top teams and their second-best,” Schatz said. “At NDT, people are there for the sole purpose of winning. This award on the national debate stage captures a lot more reputation and clout.”

Once they do make the competition, though, the work isn’t done. While the hope is that debate will coincide with the types of research that students are interested in, teams prepare with additional scholarship by dedicating to two-hour-a-week meetings with a coach and a three-hour-a-week squad meeting, at minimum.

Many of the highest performing teams, however, can put up to 30-40 hours per week into doing research independently, meeting with coaches and doing practice debates, says Schatz. Eli Turner- Louis and Jeremiah Cohn, whose work secured the NDT trophy, fall into this latter category.

The final debate topic this year concerned decarbonizing the United States through a market-based instrument. Affirmatives generally argue on a carbon tax or removing subsidies on fossil fuels — different ways to help green the environment.

But Binghamton, and Turner- Louis, like to do things a little differently.

“A big part of my strategies are not evidentiary in a traditional sense at all, but more personal narrative,” she said. “I’ve gone through struggle, and I’ve done that work; Binghamton has allowed me to start incorporating the readings and theory. But I think by using real experience, it breaks the form a little bit for other debaters.”

In the final round, Binghamton argued the negative; Kansas’ case involved instituting a luxury tax on carbon, which means amenities like heating and electricity wouldn’t be taxed, but private jetliner trips — luxury items — would be.

Binghamton’s ultimate win was secured when the team pushed back on the objective discussion and the opposing teams’ biases and subjectivities: Turner- Louis suggested that because of the disparity between Kansas’ higher resource pool and status, judges should vote for Binghamton — as a luxury tax on Kansas.

“When we approach teams that rely on the objective data and science and call them out with ‘Why is this important for you to research?’ and they give a generic answer, it’s clear they haven’t thought about how the education that they’re getting from debate is going to help do anything real,” Schatz said. “They’re researching the topic because that’s the topic, not because they’re necessarily personally invested.”

Many of Turner- Louis’ arguments reflect her ideas about race, gender and intersectionality. She first got into debate as a student at Brooklyn Technical High School, where she began to develop this technique. Then, after not receiving admission to her dream school, Rutgers University — where she hoped to attend due to its history of black “performance” debate — she went to Mercy College and stepped away from her passion.

Eventually, though, she chose to transfer to Binghamton because of its affordability, and she quickly returned to speech and debate.

“When I first came here, one of my goals was for Binghamton, as a state school, to be considered at the same echelon of private universities that have that access funding,” she added. “I knew how debate could be a form of survival for a lot of students of marginal communities, and I wanted to help make it accessible.”

Turner- Louis, who is now a senior Africana studies major, has already received graduate assistant offers to coach debate at graduate schools. This would continue a tradition she’s already established: she regularly meets with novices and JV team members to help develop their arguments, and she also coaches a high school team which recently won a Harvard tournament.

While the victories are nice, Turner- Louis said that being a coach has helped her grow, and that she’s been happy to share her knowledge with the next generation.

“These kids have all these ideas, but I can help clean it up,” Turner- Louis said. “I’ve seen the growth of their characters, too, and that’s really what makes it worth it. I want these black and brown students to see they have a chance to achieve the best.”